SEEK GOD while you’re YOUNG!
May 13
Bible Reading: 2 Chronicles Chapters 34-36
SEEK GOD while you’re YOUNG!
"Josiah was eight years old
when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the
Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to
the right hand or to the left. For in
the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the
God of his father David...all his
days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers." (2 Chron 34:1-3, 33)
Josiah was a
very young boy when he ascended the throne of Judah. At the tender age of 8, he
was naïve and not having the maturity to make important decisions, he started
with doing the right things as he closely followed the steps of his great
ancestor David (2 Chron 34:1-2).
However, Josiah made a very important
decision when he entered into the eighth year of his reign. At
the age of 16 when he was entering into the age of temptation, and had the
administration of his kingdom wholly in his own power and nobody to restrain
him; even then he began to seek God
earnestly (v. 3a). He cleaned up Judah and Jerusalem of all idols and
images (v. 3b-7) thus obeying the first of the Ten Commandments that God had
given to Israelites through Moses. Then, he repaired the house of the Lord his
God (v. 8-26). Even God testified through Huldah the prophetess that his heart
was tender (v. 27a) and he was sincere in his devotion to God. When he was
convicted by God’s word, he humbled himself by tearing his clothes and weeping
before God (v. 27b). On hearing God’s words of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem,
he gathered all the elders (v. 29) and went into the house of God for a public
reading of the Book of the Covenant (v. 30). Thereafter, he made a renewed
covenant with all the inhabitants of Jerusalem "...to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His
testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform
the words of the covenant that were written in the book" (v. 31). The
chapter concludes with the following words: “...all his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their
fathers” (v. 33b). What a wonderful
example Josiah is for all young people everywhere!
Remember now your
Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult
days come and the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in
them" (Eccl
12:1). As David has written in his psalms - "For
You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth" (Psalms
71:5) - let God be your trust when you
are young.
It is a great decision to seek God earnestly when you’re young!