kings.

For my spending-time-in-the-Word time these days, I'm reading through the Bible using the Dr. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible.  I love it.  I read some of the Old Testament, some Psalms, some Proverbs, and some of the New Testament every day.  It took me a while to get the flow of it, not getting confused by going back and forth between the Old and New Testaments.  I love it- I love reading Dr. Stanley's notes and lessons as I come to them.  I love seeing the Old Testament Law come to completion in the New Testament.

Right now in the OT, I'm in 2 Kings.  I just finished reading about Josiah (2 Kings 22-23)- a king of Judah.  He was a great king- one of the only kings who "did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left."  And he became king when he was 8 years old!  He reigned 31 years.  What's so cool about his story is his response to the Word.  He came on the scene in the middle of a time where kings and all the Israelites had completely abandoned their Lord, who chose them as His people.  There were the faithful among prophets, priests, and commoners, but they were few and far between.  One prophet brought Josiah a copy of the Law, something that had been long since forgotten through kings passed.  This was Josiah's response: "The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant."  Josiah was so convicted that he completely overhauled his kingdom.  He destroyed all idols, abolished idolatry, got rid of idolatrous priests, and placed the Law back into practice.  He even got rid of the high places, something that the previous "right" kings could never seem to do.

Josiah was killed in battle at age 39. After his reign the next king "did evil in the sight of the Lord," and Israel was finally taken captive by Babylon as had been prophesied many years before, based on the evil that Israel committed for many years before that.  No matter how much good Josiah did, no matter how much Israel changed their ways, the Lord still had to carryout his promised judgement on His people. 

This made me think about what I'm doing for the Lord- am I doing right in the eyes of the Lord?  Will He be able to look at me when I stand before Him and say "well done, good and faithful servant"?  I'm sure He said that to Josiah.  We can look at Josiah's life and say, "what a waste; he could have lived his life however he wanted."  Or we can look at that and know that no matter what our future looks like, it's so important that we know, and stay in line with, what the Lord has commanded us to do, how He has commanded us to live, to make a covenant with Him to walk in His ways.

Psalm 73 is written by a man who looked at the evil people of the world, saw how rich and respected they were, and thought at first that it was futile to try to live in the ways of the Lord.  He thought that maybe all that he was doing for the Lord was in vain.  He could be living this life for himself, have all that he ever wanted in this world.  Then he said, "Until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end."  The evil will perish.  Those who follow Christ will live eternally with Him.  We can't think with the perspective of this world.  We have to think with an eternal perspective.  What we do in this world effects our eternity.  That's what it has to come down to.

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." -Colossians 3:1-3