6/27/2011
7:22:03 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Sacrificing his life
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Ki. 23:25-30; 2Chron. 35:20-27
Message
of the verses: “25 Before him there was no king like him who
turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his
might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.
26 However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with
which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with
which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 The LORD said, "I will remove Judah
also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem,
this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ’My name shall
be there.’" 28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are
they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went
up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet
him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at Megiddo. 30 His servants drove his body in a chariot from
Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. Then the
people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made
him king in place of his father.”
“20
¶ After all this, when Josiah had set
the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on
the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. 21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying,
"What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming
against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has
ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is
with me, so that He will not destroy you." 22 However, Josiah would not turn away from him,
but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the
words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of
Megiddo. 23 The archers shot King
Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am badly
wounded." 24 So his servants took
him out of the chariot and carried him in the second chariot which he had, and
brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his
fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah.
And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to
this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also
written in the Lamentations. 26 Now the
rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of
the LORD, 27 and his acts, first to
last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.”
This
is the last sub-point under the forth main point from the 12th
chapter of “Be Distinctive” and it tells the end of the life of Josiah. Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary for some reason does
not cover verses 25-27 of 2Kings 23 so I want to include these verses in
today’s SD.
As
I read these three verses of 2Kings I could not help but marvel at the life of
Josiah, for after looking at his life from the pages of Scripture and what he
had done as king there is no doubt that the things written about Josiah were
never done by any other king in the history of Israel. Whenever he got hold of the book of the Law
he did all that he learned from it as far as what a king should do and not do. I have a great deal of respect for Josiah as
I read about his life and what he did and by reading about his life I can take
from it some things that I need to put into practice in my life as a believer
in 21st century America, for I am not living in too different of a
culture that Josiah faced when he was king of Judah, for this nation that I
love has a great deal of moral problems that have led to a great deal of other
problems like financial problems, but most of all problems in the church as the
Church in America is very weak compared to what it was even 35 years ago when I
first became a believer.
Josiah
was pro-Babylon and went up against the nation of Egypt who was going to aid
the Assyrians in their battle against Babylon.
There is no directive from the Lord telling him to be involved in this
battle, and yet the king of Egypt tells Josiah that the Lord had told him to go
up against the Babylonians, in fact Neco the king of Egypt says that he was
aiding Assyria because the orders came from the mouth of God. This is difficult to understand as to whether
or not God had spoken to Neco, but at any rate there is no evidence that Josiah
had any leading of the Lord to fight in this battle.
The
things that Josiah did as king were great in the eyes of the Lord as seen in verses
25-27, but the damage had already been done by his grand-father Manasseh, and
the wrath of the Lord was going to come against Judah just as it did against
Israel and a short 22 years after the death of Josiah Jerusalem will be
destroyed and a remnant will be shipped off to Babylon to continue the line of
David until Messiah would come. I
believe that this was all in the plan of God and that the death of Josiah,
although humanly speaking was early, in God’s timing it was perfect for God had
to destroy Judah on account of His attributes and also on account of his
covenant that was made with them that they had broken many times. After the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC Israel
would not be a nation again under their rule until May 5, 1948 when the dry
bones would begin to come together as Ezekiel would prophesy about in chapter
37.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Humanly speaking it was a waste to see Josiah
die at such an early age, but God’s plans are perfect because His wisdom is
perfect and for that great attribute of God I can rest assured that even though
life gets tough at times, and it is now, that God’s wisdom is something that I
can trust in my life to make it what He wants it to be.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service
this day.
2.
Continue to learn contentment through this difficult
time in my life.
3.
Put on the spiritual armor for the battle is fierce.
6/27/2011
8:06:13 AM
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