2 Chronicles 34:26-27 "And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; (27) Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD."
Manasseh had died. His son, Amon, began to reign in his place for two years. Amon
was so wicked that his servants killed him. Now Josiah is reigning as king. The
Lord has touched his heart and he begins to clean the dilemma that has occurred
in Judah. As his great grandfather, Hezekiah, he started with the House of the
Lord. They began to repair the house of God and cut down all the groves of
trees where worship of idols occurred. They also cut the idols into pieces to
rid the nation of them. When they sent workman to repair the house of the Lord,
they found "a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses." The
people of Judah had gone so far away from the Lord that they even forgot there
was a book of the law in the house of God.
Isn't it amazing how quickly the house of the Lord becomes in disrepair? Within
two generations, the state of the nation goes down equivalent to the degree
that the state of the church had gone down. In Josiah's day, the church had
gone away from the Word of God. What were they using for their guide to worship
and standard of living? Be assured there is a correlation between the success
of the nation and the state of the spiritual matters of the church. The church
must maintain God's standard, not man's. A nation is at its lowest state when
man's standard is held as the highest thoughts of the land. But a nation is
blessed when God's Word is maintained as the highest standard of the land.
When they began to read the Word of the Lord to Josiah, he began to weep and
repent of the evil to which the nation had arrived. He began to seek the Lord
and the command of the Lord for the nation. As he did so, God sent His answer
to Josiah. "I have heard thee."
As Thanksgiving is just a week away, we begin to think of those things for
which we are thankful. Today, may we add to that list the fact that our God is
the only true and living God. He hears our prayers. He HEARS. We do not serve
an idol made of men's hands. We serve the Risen, Living Lord. Let us never
forget that and let us never turn from Him to serve any other. He lives. He
hears. He answers. Let us spend time with Him.