Josiah became king of Judah when he was eight years old. His father Amon had been murdered after two evil years on the throne. His grandfather Manasseh had been one of the worst kings in Judah’s history, planting idols, burning his own sons as offerings to false gods, and turning the entire nation away from the LORD. Josiah inherited a mess he had nothing to do with creating.
He was eight.
But something in him was different. At sixteen he began to seek after the God of David his father. At twenty he began to purge the land of idols. At twenty-six, when the book of the law was found in the temple, he tore his clothes and led the nation in a covenant renewal that had not been seen since the days of Samuel.
One young king with a tender heart and a whole generation of Judah pulled into a reformation because of it.
This is the story of how one person made a difference in a nation that had been drowning in idolatry for two generations. In Part 1 we are going to look at the heart behind making a difference. In Part 2 we will look at the people that made it happen. But it all started with one young man who decided to seek God when nobody around him was.
1. It Starts With One Person Seeking God
2 Chronicles 34:3 “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.”
Josiah was sixteen years old when he began to seek God.
He was not the most qualified or the most experienced. He was just the one who decided to seek God when nobody else was.
Every reformation in the Bible starts the same way. One person decides that seeking God is more important than fitting in with the culture around him. Then everyone else gets drawn into what that one person started.
* Nehemiah wept over Jerusalem’s walls before anyone else did, and the whole rebuilding project started with his broken heart
* Elijah stood on Mount Carmel alone against 450 prophets of Baal, and Israel returned to the LORD because of that one stand
* Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat (Daniel 1:8), and God used him to shape the empires of Babylon and Persia
* Paul went from one Damascus road conversion to planting churches across the known world
None of these people had a team or following when they started. They had a heart to follow God and that was enough for God to build a movement on.
You do not need permission to start seeking God. You just need to be the one who decides. Everybody else will either join you or get out of the way.
2. You Can Make a Difference in a Mess You Did Not Create
Josiah did not inherit a healthy nation. He inherited two generations of ruin.
His grandfather Manasseh reigned fifty-five years, the longest reign of any king in Judah’s history, and most of it was evil. 2 Chronicles 33:6 “And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.”
Manasseh repented late in life, but the damage was done. The idols he planted were still standing and altars he built were still smoking.
His father Amon reigned only two years, and 2 Chronicles 33:22 says “he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father.” Amon was murdered by his own servants after two years of doubling down on his father’s sin.
That is what Josiah walked into at age eight.
He did not create that mess; he inherited it. And he still decided to do something about it.
Christians, if we aren’t careful, love to wait for the perfect environment before they serve God.
Some of us are sitting in messes we did not create. You did not build the wreckage. You are just the one standing in it now!
Josiah is proof that God calls people to make a difference in messes they did not create.
3. You Do Not Have to Have Everything Figured Out to Start
The reformation started six years before the book of the law was even found.
Josiah began to purge the idols at age twenty (2 Chronicles 34:3). The book of the law was not discovered until his eighteenth year as king, when he was twenty-six (2 Chronicles 34:8-14). That means for six full years Josiah was tearing down idols, breaking down altars, and reforming the nation without the complete written Word of God in his hands.
He did not wait to have everything figured out. He worked off what he knew was right. He acted on the little revelation he had. And when the Word was finally found, it confirmed and deepened everything he had already been doing.
A lot of Christians never do anything for God because they think they need to understand everything first. They want to master theology before they serve. They want to know every answer before they open their mouth to help someone be saved.
This is wrong. Your knowledge will always be limited because you aren’t God.
It’s good to know what you believe and to study. But don’t let that stop you from loving, helping and serving.
Josiah started with what he had and we should do the same.
If you wait until you have it all figured out, you will never make a difference. Start with what you know God wants you to do right now. Read one verse and obey it.
4. One Tender Heart Can Delay Judgment on a Whole Nation
When Josiah finally heard the book of the law read to him, he tore his clothes.
2 Chronicles 34:19 “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.”
He had already been working to change the nation for six years and he still tore his clothes. He was not proud of what he had accomplished and he was broken by how far his nation had drifted. He sent his men to Huldah the prophetess to inquire of the LORD, and Huldah brought back a hard word about coming judgment.
But then she gave a second word, one that was just for Josiah.
2 Chronicles 34:26-28 “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have heard thee also, saith the LORD… thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place.”
God delayed the coming judgment on Judah because of one man’s tender heart.
God did not cancel the judgment. Judah was going to Babylon. But He held it back for a whole generation because Josiah’s heart was tender and he humbled himself before God.
One man’s brokenness bought a whole nation more time.
You may not be able to stop everything that is coming on your family, your church, your country or your generation. But your tender heart matters more than you think. Christians who weep over sin, who tear their heart at the state of their nation, who humble themselves under the Word of God are the ones who hold back judgment for the people around them.
The Christian who thinks his personal humility does not affect anyone else has never read 2 Chronicles 34. Josiah’s tender heart bought Judah a generation of peace.
You are not too young, too late, too broken or too new. If your heart is willing to seek God, you already have everything you need to make a difference.
Josiah started at sixteen. Start where you are.
