Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes. 20 Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, 21 “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is 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.” 2 Chronicles 34:19-21
A priest did not weep, nor did a Levite weep, nor did a scribe weep, nor did the king's servant weep, but a tender-hearted king tore his clothing and wept when he heard the words of the law. People whose are supposed to weep did not weep, but a king wept. People who minister before God in His temple did not weep but a king wept. King Josiah wept because he realised that the people's and their fathers' sins had already brought God's wrath on the land, and that God's judgement would come soon. The king was well trained by God to respond to God’s word.
Josiah’s example serves as a wake-up call for people who minister before God in His temple to be more sensitive to God's word. God is raising so many Josiah’s in this land, whose spiritual eyes are awakened by God's word to perceive the present wretched condition of the land, intercede for the land, and proclaim God's plans.
Seeking God for 10 years made Josiah’s heart soft and tender to respond to God’s word immediately. We claim to seek God, but are our hearts soft, tender and quick to respond to God's word? Is our seeking of God, making us more responsive to God's word? We say we respond to God's word, but our actions don’t display it. Josiah's heart and body quickly responded to God's word. Consider how much God has trained and prepared this young king.
The king was not in a Holy place or the temple like a priest or a Levite, but he learned more about God in the place(King’s palace) where God had placed him. It is your heart, not your physical place of worship or profession, where God trains and instructs you. Is your heart a place where God comes and trains you? Josiah’s profession did not stop him from pursuing God. Josiah was trained by God himself. Unless God trains a person, that person cannot respond to God’s word. God's greatest blessing is - God Himself training you to respond to, trust in, and obey His word. Our profession or place of worship should not be a shortcoming to know God and His ways.
So many times, we think that in order to know more about God, we must be in His physical courts, such as a temple or a place of worship. We can learn more about God in our prayer closets as well. In our prayer closets, we can commune with Father God. After hearing God’s word, Josiah's spiritual eyes were opened and he could see the below things.
1) That they and their fathers did not keep God's word
2) That they were already under God's great wrath
3) That God's judgement is about to come
4) What needs to be done to prevent God's judgement
Did we have an experience like Josiah, when on hearing God's word, did it open our spiritual eyes to recognise sinfulness of our land and God's approaching wrath on the land? After hearing God’s word, Josiah began to have a burden for people. Only when God's word opens and we get a glimpse of sinfulness of the land and coming wrath of God can we get a burden for people and recognise the need for a Saviour. Josiah had to inquire from Huldah what needed to be done to prevent God's judgement, but we don't need to go to any prophet or preacher, but we can go to Jesus and intercede along with him. We recognise the need for a Saviour only when we understand how evil sin is and how far it has separated us from God.
How evil sin is - how vile and crooked it is, and how it has made us enter into a deep bottomless pit that leads to hell. We are unaware that sin has caused us to live near the gates of hell and that we can be pulled into hell at any time. Sin has exposed us to the direct wrath of God’s anger. The Cross of Jesus Christ shields us from direct wrath. God's direct wrath, for example is similar to Sun giving 5000 degrees of heat to Earth. How can we survive such extremely high temperatures of God’s wrath? The cross of Jesus Christ serves as a shield from this wrath. When we try to see God without approaching through the Cross of Jesus Christ, we see an angry God.
King Josiah began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, the moulded images, and the altars of the Baals, but it was not sufficient to cleanse the land and prevent God's judgement from coming on the land. He cleansed the outward places for worship for false Gods, but He was unable to cleanse or remove the false idols in people's hearts.
The idols were removed, but people still followed the ways of false idols. So many times, we say that idols or addictions in our hearts are removed, but we still follow the ways of the idols. For example - We say that we came out of addition of lust or alcohol, but we still continue to visit wrong places and websites. We think we have overcome our addictions, but we still hang on to the habits, places, or ways of addiction. Somewhere deep within our hearts we still enjoy that sin. This is a false overcoming of addiction of sin. True overcoming is a change of heart accompanied by the cleansing of sin and its ways. Even enjoyment of that sin must also be removed from our hearts. External cleansing without a change of heart and repentance cannot prevent God’s wrath.
Josiah may have even believed that His seeking of God for 10 years was not right because it was not completely aligned to God's word. He did what was right by breaking down the altars and removing the high places, but it was not completely sufficient to keep the words of the law. Josiah's cleansing of the land was 10-20% of what was required to cleanse the land from words of the law. Josiah only did 10-20% of what was required to prevent God's wrath. Only after discovering the book of law, did he realise his shortcoming and sought to seek help from Huldah the prophetess.
Our seeking God should be aligned with God’s word. Only when the word of God opens to us with the lens of the Holy Spirit can we realise our shortcomings in seeking God, worshipping God, and leading a holy life. Only when the word of God opens to us with the lens of the Holy Spirit do we recognise that some of our traditions and things we are doing for many years are big sins and how much we are misaligned to and far from God’s plans.
After seeking God for 10 years, how would Josiah react when he heard the words from the book of the law? He might have to restart his journey of seeking God. But this time, however, it is with better promises and plans from God's word. So many times in Christian life, it’s the same. Every time when the word of God opens, we might need to change the way we seek God. For some people, when the word of God opens their spiritual eyes, they might need to stop and begin their journey to seek God from beginning. Start seeking God based on the God’s word, and when it corrects you, accept the correction.
For many people, seeking God has become a routine they followed for many years. They did not allow God's word to change or restart their way of seeking God. That’s why their seeking of God became so dry, boring and lifeless. Seeking God is a life-giving living experience comparable to a boat crossing earthly waters and entering divine waters where we behold the glory of God, are swept up in God's wonders, and our souls are well refreshed with the atmosphere of heaven.
Seeking God is also similar to climbing countless mountains of God's nature and attributes. However, only one mountain is visible; after climbing the first, the second peak becomes visible, and so on. It's as if we climb the mountain of ‘God is love’ for the first ten years, then the mountain of ‘God is Holy’ for the next five years, and so on. It is a process of learning and unlearning. It’s an ascending and descending process. The only thing that stops us from seeking God is our pride that - we know so much about God i.e. we know God completely.
When we come to a place or position where we think we know God completely, that’s the place where our seeking God stops. There is so much to learn and know about God that even after seeking God for the next 10,000 years, there is still so much to learn and know about God. A saint once said, "If we know how God created the universe and runs it from the smallest molecule to the largest planet, then we will come to know a dot or a fraction of who God IS."
God is so marvellous and magnificent, that none of the created objects like angels or humans have fully seen God. Even the most powerful angels might not have seen God fully. Ancient of Days was one of the display of the complete form of God. Thousands upon thousands of angels were needed to minister to him in this form. Imagine how great and powerful God Is, and what a wonderful privilege it is to be associated with such a High and exalted God.
