A Rediscovery of the Word

Remember the joy you had when you found something that you lost a long time ago?  In the Bible, King Josiah was a young king of Judah when he sent people into the temple to make repairs.  As they cleaned out the rubbish the priest discovered something that had been lost and abandoned years ago, a copy of the Law of Moses.  They quickly brought the book to King Josiah and read it to him.  When Josiah heard the scriptures being read it affected him greatly.  The king didn’t waste any time but sent for someone to help him understand it.  Huldah the prophetess said that God was bringing judgment on the land because of Judah’s sinfulness.  Josiah spread God’s message to the nation and led the nation in a back to the Bible movement.

Just as Josiah rediscovered the Law of Moses, God’s people today need to venture into a rediscovery of scripture.  The Word is ignored and abandoned by so many who call themselves Christians.  Like Josiah, we need to be hit squarely by its powerful influence.  Josiah started by reading it.  So must we be engaged in a regular daily plan of reading God’s Word. As we read it, we need to also dig into understanding it.  We can avail ourselves of biblical teaching and preaching along with using helpful study aids.  Next, Josiah made sure that the message of God’s Word was not just kept to himself but proclaimed to everyone.  Our duty is not to just keep it to ourselves, but to make sure others hear the Word.  Then we need to pattern our lives after its teaching.  Josiah made a covenant to keep the Law himself and led the nation in renewed obedience.

The prophet Jeremiah was a contemporary of King Josiah and he shares with us what should be in all our hearts.  “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts” (Jer. 15:16).  Perhaps it’s time we all make a rediscovery of the Word.