Choose Your Path

12 Oct Choose Your Path

Read 2 Chronicles 34:1-21
Thought for the Day: No matter what others do, I can live faithfully.

It seemed like Josiah had been set up to fail from the start. Both his father (Amon) and grandfather (Manasseh) had ruled as King of Judah – but each of their reigns had been marred with unfaithfulness to God. Josiah’s father’s reign was so chaotic that he was murdered in a coup attempt by his own servants. Even so, the coup failed and the conspirators were put to death. With no one left fit to govern, the people turned to an unlikely new ruler: a little 8-year-old boy named Josiah. Seemingly against all odds, Josiah broke his family’s dysfunctional cycle. In his teens, Josiah came to personal faith in God and this led him to take direct action. He personally traveled throughout Judah to remove the idols both his father and grandfather had allowed. Once he had finished, Josiah led an effort to repair the house of the Lord where a lost Book of the Law was found. After hearing it read, Josiah was deeply moved: “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.” Rather than giving up and reverting to his family’s old ways, Josiah knew that, no matter what anyone else had done before him, he would live by faith!

Throughout our lives, we face our own Josiah Moments where we must choose one of two paths. Do we continue down dysfunctional cycles or do we turn to God? The lesson of Josiah is clear – it is impossible to simultaneously continue a dysfunctional cycle and faithfully serve God. While at first, this may seem like a daunting truth, it is actually quite freeing. Since we can’t do both, we must each make a choice. When we choose, let’s remember that no matter what anyone else does (or has done before us), we can choose to live faithfully!

In Christ,
Pastors Stan and David