READING THE BOOK OF SECOND KINGS CHAPTER TWENTY three.
Young King Josiah cleans the temples of the Lord and Judah from pagan worship, it is time to check our own homes, churches and lives to see if there is anything that is kipping us from having a communion with God and get rid of it.
Our favorite verse in 2 Kings Chapter 23 is:
The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. (2 Kings 23:3 NIV)
Lesson
Renew our covenant to faithfulness.
- From verse 3 to 20, the bible lists the various pagan customs and gods that had been worshiped in Judah: It is amazing how the different gods and objects of pagan worship were placed inside the sacred temple of God, the same temples that were boiled for God to abide among them. This should make us reflect on what pagan customs and objects of worship are being introduced in our homes, we must pray with our family and together work to eradicate them.
- After the reform reached all Judah and its surrounding areas, there was a Passover feast with a whole new meaning: re-dedication and renewal of the covenant. Make the decision to renew your covenant with the Lord, talk to Him in prayer and on the next communion service renew your pact with God.
- “A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it. Our heavenly Father is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. But it is our work, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer, to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His blessing. A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer.( Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 121.)
Prayer.
Dear eternal heavenly father, you know everything from the past to the future. Our only prayer is to open our understanding to strip away from our lives all the pagan practices in our lives. In the name of Jesus, Amen