2 Chronicles 34:1-33

Tenderheartedness is one of the most important qualities that we can develop in our lives.  God looks for men and women who have responsive hearts that are sensitive to Him and His Word.  Josiah was a king that had a tender and sensitive heart and he truly sought to obey God throughout his entire life.  When he knew that something was right, he did it with all of his heart and sought to live in a way that was pleasing to God.  He started to reign as a young boy, so he was ignorant of many of the sins of his people and the will of the Lord.  However, as he grew up, he learned about the sins of His people and the commandments of the Lord.  He responded to this knowledge in humility, repentance and a resolve to do what was right.  God blessed Him because of his obedience and sensitivity.

JOSIAH PURIFIES THE LAND: Josiah was only 8 when he became king, so there was not really a lot that he knew or cold do.  However, as he began to grow he began to seek the Lord for wisdom and understood that the idolatry that his father and grandfather had practiced was an abomination to the Lord.  As a teen he began to go throughout all the land of Judah an Israel to tear down the altars of Baal and to destroy all of the other idols in the Land.  His actions were foretold when Jeroboam became king in Israel.  Josiah saw what was wrong and set his heart on turning from that sin of idolatry in his nation.  His desire was to please God.  None us knows everything, but the real question that we must ask ourselves is if we are obeying all that we do know.

JOSIAH PRACTICES THE LAW: As part of Josiah’s commitment to follow the Lord he ordered that the temple be purified and repaired.  As the Levites were going about this task, they found a copy of the Scriptures and so they brought them to Josiah.  It seems amazing that this copy of the Word of God had been lost or forgotten to the point that the king of Judah had no knowledge of its existence.  The Word of God is key to being able to please the Lord.  When the Law is read to Josiah his response is immediate repentance before the Lord.  He recognizes the failures of the people in the past and he humbles himself before the Lord by tearing his cloths in a sign of profound repentance.  When we become convicted of sin in our lives, we need to be faithful to turn from that sin and repent right away.


JOSIAH PLEASES THE LORD: Josiah’s attitude pleased the Lord.  God reveled that His wrath would come down on His people, but that Josiah would not experience these judgments because his heart was pleasing to the Lord.  God takes great delight in the obedience of His children and blesses them greatly as they seek to please Him.  Josiah not only repented himself, but he revealed the truth to the entire nation and called all of them to repentance and obedience.  We must always start be setting a godly example, but we also need to call others to follow our example so that they too can experience the blessings of pleasing the Lord.  It is a wonderful thing to have a tender heart and be able to experience the wonderful joy of the presence of God.

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