4th Thursday of Advent (December 22) Josiah: With all his heart and all his soul

… and Amos the father of Josiah …
Prepare to Listen.  Light all 4 colored candles.  Let this prayer prepare you to listen: Save us, O God of our salvation, that we may give thanks to your holy name.
 
Prayerfully Read 2 Chronicles 34:1-3, 29-33
1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem.  2He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.  3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles, and the carved and the cast images….  29Then the king sent word and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.  30The king went up to the house of the LORD, with all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.  31The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.  32Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.  33Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel, and made all who were in Israel worship the LORD their God.  All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD the God of their ancestors.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
When he was 16 Josiah began to seek the God of David.  Four years later he purged the land of the idolatry Manasseh, his grandfather had established.  He ordered and funded the cleaning and restoration of the temple, clearing out Manasseh's idolatry.  And that’s when a portion of the Law of Moses was found.  It was read to Josiah, who was shocked to discover how far from God’s ways they’d all strayed.  He called an assembly of all the people at the temple and “he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.”
 
Before calling for the people to repent, Josiah set the nation an example of godly behavior, publicly making his own commitment to God, promising to keep God’s Law “with all his heart and all his soul.”  Did he perhaps read the portion of the law that says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might”?  Or, the bit about keeping these words of God in their hearts, reciting them often to their children?[1]  We don’t know what he read, but we do know Josiah modelled a life of commitment to obedience to the LORD.  It seems, the people copied him, as the Chronicler noted, “All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD the God of their ancestors.”  He’s an ancestor of Jesus who sets us all a good example.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
If you don’t know the story of this holy king, take time to read all of 1 Chronicles 34 and learn from his example of faith obedience.
 
Respond in Prayer
Lord, help me to live more like Josiah, seeking you and your ways as revealed in Scripture and committing to them with all my heart and soul, becoming an example for others.  Amen.
 
Live Obediently.  Obey God with all your heart and all your soul.
[1] Deuteronomy 6:5-8.