Devotional - July 4, 2004

Josiah became king and did more good than any other king before him. In fact, he was one of the only ones who did "right" in the eyes of the Lord. In fact, he did so much to honor God, one might say his reign was more like revival. But if you think it was the result of the positive things he did as king, think again.

He REMOVED the idols from the temple (2Ki 23:4) ; he DISCHARGED unholy priests (vs.5); BURNED Asherah poles and GROUND THEM TO ASH (Vs.6); TORE DOWN the housing of prostitutes (Vs. 7-8); DESECRATED altars to pagan gods, PULLED THEM DOWN, SMASHED THEM and sacred stones before DISPOSING of them (Vs. 10,12); REMOVED articles of false worship from the holy Temple (Vs. 11); DUG UP the bones of false prophets and BURNED THEM (Vs. 16); REMOVED and DESTROYED the shrines and high places that were places of false worship (Vs. 19); SLAUGHTERED the high-place priests and BURNED human bones on them in DESECRATION (Vs. 20) and He GOT RID of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, idols and everything that was offensive to God (Vs.24).

Josiah restored liberty to the people by removing the influence of false gods and idol worship from among them. May we as God's people learn a lesson that is alien to most Christians. We are a people of war, not peace. That is, if we are to be at peace with God, then we must always be at war with sin and those who promote it.

David, a man after God's own heart, knew what Josiah learned. We should not tolerate, nor be hospitable to any influence in our country that offends Jehovah God or we risk alienating Him and losing our liberty at the same time.

In the United States, we celebrate Independence Day today. Most of us take our liberty and peace for granted not realizing that there was a lot of negative things done for a positive reason in the past that secured our freedom. As our armies are spread across the globe today, may we remember the sacrifice of those who have lost their life in pursuit of peace as well as those who live to risk the same thing today.

On this day of Independence, I thank God for all the patriots present and past who serve God and country faithfully. I also pray for godly leaders, who will, like Josiah listen to God and do what He expects rather than what men expect who seemingly have the power to keep them in office.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( 2 Ki. 23:31-25:30 Ac. 22:17-23:10 Ps. 2:1-12 Pr. 18:13 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society