A GENERATION OF JOSIAHS
Eight years old. What does the average 8-year-old do these days? Instant message friends? Rock the PS2? Eat pizza and rent DVDs? Sure, there’s some school in there, and in some cases, church, but your run-of-the-mill 8-year-old doesn’t really have much to do in the way of responsibility, all things considered.
Certainly none of them could be king, right?
Unless they happen to be Josiah, who took over the throne of Judah at the tender age of 8. And what a culture he inherited – Judah’d been on a roller coaster of beliefs, rocketing back and forth between worshipping Jehovah and false gods, depending on which king was ruling.
So Josiah stepped in, and after getting his feet wet with that whole ruling-the-people thing, began to seek God at the age of 16. At 20, he started purging all the filth from Judah and Jerusalem: carved idols, cast images, altars and high places to false gods – they all started coming down. And just to show he was serious, he got rid of the false priests and their followers, too (it’s a bit graphic; read about it in 2 Chron. 34:4-5).
Then a major thing happened at the age of 26: he decided the time had come to repair the temple of the Lord. The former kings of Judah had allowed it to fall into ruin, and Josiah wanted it restored to its former glory. But this is where the story gets interesting: while some of the priests were overseeing the reconstruction, they discovered a book. And not just any book: it was the Book of the Law of the Lord, as given through Moses. Interestingly, Josiah didn’t leave what he had learned…in his 20’s he was prepared to impact his generation. That sounds strangely like the Student Leadership University Mission Statement!
The priests brought the Book to Josiah and after hearing the contents he, rightfully so, flipped out. “Great is the LORD’s anger that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book” (2 Chron. 34:21).
God, being a God of mercy, tells Josiah not to worry, that because he (Josiah) had a responsive heart, he would have peace. Josiah renewed Judah’s covenant with God, and led the nation to a revival and a transformed place of rightness with God.
Our culture is much in the same place as Judah’s was then, I think. Apostasy is rampant, even in the church, and no one quite knows what to do with “The Millennials”. You know, these kids these days.
I can feel something big on the verge of happening here. I think God is raising up an entire generation of Josiahs, a generation of young leaders who are tired of our amoral society. Who are tired of a popular culture filled with blood, hate, violence, oppression, skin, and sin. Who are tired of seeing inauthentic, plastic Christianity. Who are keenly able to balance relevance to the world with the relevance of the Gospel.
You’ll notice Judah’s revival, if you will, didn’t happen until Josiah and his prophet friends discovered the Book of the Law. The only Bible they had. Josiah could only get so far in his reforms without that Book. Hezekiah, his great-grandfather reformed Judah, only to see it fall to his successor, Manasseh. Manasseh was one of the most evil kings in the history of the nation until he was captured by the Assyrians. He cried out to God, God saved him, and Manasseh turned his heart and the nation back to God.
Amon, Josiah’s father (and Manasseh’s son), was only king for 2 years and managed to undo all that Manasseh had done. He was evil enough to be assassinated by his own councilors, who then installed Josiah as king. Josiah found the Book and managed to have the lasting reforms his ancestors had sought. Plus, he was easily one of the nation’s most popular kings, with laments written about his death that became traditions among the people.
In our quest for success and significance, we can never forget the Word of God. Josiah only had the Mosaic Law and the words the prophets had spoken until then (The book of Isaiah, for example; and the words of Jeremiah, who was his contemporary). We have the complete Word of God. We have the Pauline epistles. We have Acts, Romans, Revelation. We have the gospels. Most importantly, we have the Risen Christ.
The big question is: Do we have the Josiahs? I pray that as we wrestle with budgets and ends…maybe we will recognize that our primary task is preparing this generation of Josiah’s. As a writer, teacher, coach and encourager, I am more concerned that our children are raised to lead and impact their world with the power of the risen Lord more than if we are developing the right political correctness. We must teach our future leaders how to think rather than berating them with what to think!
May we, as a generation become focused on raising up future Josiah’s!
