Do You Restore God’s Word?

[232 words]

“Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant … about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book” (2 Chronicles 34:21).

Josiah was a restorer of right worship and living in a generation that had strayed greatly from God’s Word. In fact, the book of the law had been lost for quite some time, lying unread and unfollowed, no doubt, in a dusty and forgotten corner of the temple—or perhaps Hilkiah knew all along where it was and was waiting for the terrible reigns of Manasseh and Amon to end and a king with the repentant spirit of young Josiah to come to the throne? The king’s reaction was not just to reform a few things. He tore his robes when he heard the words of the Law and connected their problems with not following God’s commands. How different than today when many see the Bible as a joy-killer or as the source of all societal problems! Not only did Josiah remove all idols and have the people serve the Lord as God commanded, they did it as long as the king lived.