But They That Seek The Lord
Let’s imagine for a minute what kind of a person you would have become if you were raised in a family where your grandfather was a wicked, idolatrous and murderous person who shed much innocent blood. Despite God’s warning and calling for your grandfather to repent, he continued his evil deeds for decades. God brought great judgment upon your grandfather for his sins. As a result, he did end up repenting of his wicked ways towards the later years of his life; however, the damage was done. Your father, watching the judgment of God upon your grandfather played out in front of his eyes, instead of choosing to fear God and living a righteous life, he chose to live wickedly and committed atrocious sins against God just like your grandfather did. As a consequence of his sins, your father was murdered when he was only twenty-four years old.
Growing up in this dysfunctional family, all you ever knew from the men of your family were wickedness, sin and evil. At the age of eight years old, the entire family’s responsibility is upon your shoulders. How do you repair the damage that was done? What path should you choose?
Imagine being an eight-year-old where most of us have probably for the most part, enjoyed the privilege of being carefree children. We did not have to worry about the great responsibilities of adults such as putting food on the table, paying the bills, leading a godly home or even a greater burden of leading a nation. Yet, that was what Josiah had to do when he was only so young. After the damage that his grandfather Manasseh and his father Amon caused to their family and nation by their wicked deeds, Josiah was left with a nation that was ravaged by sins, idolatry and the inevitable coming judgment of God. How does someone so young make the right decision?
those of us who have read the Bible, know this story and Josiah’s decision. Against all the odds, Josiah chose to follow God regardless of the terrible choices that his grandfather and father made. Josiah “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (2 Kings 22: 2). During the reign of Josiah, he kept the Lord’s commandments, cleaned up the land of idolatry, broke down the houses of the sodomites, and slayed all the priests of the high places (2 Kings 23). He commanded the people of the land to keep the Passover unto the Lord. Josiah was so godly in how he lived unto the Lord that God described him as “and like unto him was there no king before him, that 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; neither after him arose there any like him” (2 Kings 23:25).
Both Manasseh, Amon, the wicked kings before them and the entire nation angered God so much with their evil deeds and idolatry that they would have brought God’s judgment upon them already if it were not for Josiah. Because of Josiah’s tender heart and godly decision to stand up in the gap against the tide of evil and seek the Lord with all his heart, the nation was spared for thirty-one years during Josiah’s reign.
You could say that it was Josiah’s godly decision to live and follow God’s commandment for his family and his nation that God spared the nation during Josiah’s days. You could even say the Lord purposely spared the nation for thirty-one years to give them space to repent. Either way, God was still showing Himself merciful and long-suffering to sinners. It is not the Lord’s desire that anyone should perish but that they should come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved.
Perhaps like Josiah, your earthly family is dysfunctional. You have not known any other way but sinful lifestyles. However, you do not have to choose to live a wicked life. You can still choose to follow the Lord to live a godly life and break the vicious cycle of sins within your family. Nothing is impossible for God. He will bless you if you choose Him, and follow His Word as standards for your life and your family.
For those of us Christians, we should stand up against the tide of evil in this nation and proclaim the Word of God boldly. God’s judgment is coming. We should seek to turn as many souls to the Lord as possible while there is still time. The day is coming when it will be too late as the world will face God’s wrath and judgement!
