Road Trippin With Rachael

Who?

King Josiah is the boy king. That is probably  the biggest thing that he is known for, and we can read his story for ourselves in II Chronicles 34. While as a boy Josiah became the king of Israel, his life paints a picture of what it truly means to see God’s grace working to keep us from being as bad as we have the potential to be. 

Under Josiah’s rule, the temple would undergo a renovation, where the Word of the LORD would be rediscovered. The people of Judah had for generations at this point, had horrible kings who had both turned away from God and had lead the people to turn from Him as well. As a result, they had actually managed to misplace the Torah in the temple. To put it in modern terms, it would be like the Pope losing his Bible – its basically unthinkable.  Once the Word is found, it is read to the king, and Josiah repents and has faith. This sparks a reformation across Judah where at the national level they tear down the signs of pagan worship and reestablish temple worship.  Josiah, in the middle of so many bad kings, helped to turn the people back to God. 

What Do We Learn From Josiah?

As we look at the life of Josiah there are several things that we can see. 

1. God doesn’t allow us to be as bad as we have the potential to be. Josiah was the child of an absolutely horrible man  (King Amon – also recorded in II Kings 22:2))- and yet, Josiah had a heart that was open to responding to God, to hearing what the Word preached, and he responded to it. 
2. God puts people in our lives to help us. While Josiah may have come to the throne as a young boy, he was surrounded by people who feared and honored God – even in what seemed to be impossible circumstances.  
3. Great change doesn’t always take place overnight. Josiah was eight when he became king, sixteen when he began to seek God, and twenty when began to reform Judah, and he was twenty-six when the Word of the Lord was found. 

God works in mysterious ways, and He will always bring his people back to Him; sometimes through an eight year old boy-king.