Hi First Presbyterian Church,
It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! As I mentioned during worship last Sunday, if you’re following along with our one-year Bible-reading journey, you will notice that we finished the book of Psalms on Monday. The Bible-reading plan is designed so that, after one year, we will have read through the book of Psalms twice. If you’re goal is to read through the whole Bible once, you may decide that you want to skip the Psalms readings from here on out. However, you may also decide that reading a Psalm every day includes some variety to your daily readings and that you want to keep reading the Psalms a second time. Either way, it’s up to you to decide what will add the most meaning to your Bible-reading experience.
My hope for this Bible-reading journey is that you will discover the life-giving value that meditating on the Bible every day adds to your spiritual life. In fact, one of our readings from the Old Testament this past week helps to emphasize this point. In 2 Kings 22:1 - 23:30, we read about the reign of Josiah, King of Judah. His 31-year reign occurred in the years 641-610 BC. We’re told that he was a faithful King who loved God and wanted to lead his people to obey the Lord. It said of Josiah, “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him” (2 Kings 23:25).
Prior to Josiah, the people of Judah had not been faithful in worshiping God. They regularly worshiped other gods besides the Lord. As a result of their worship of other gods, the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem had fallen into disrepair. King Josiah began a campaign to repair the Temple and, during the repairing of the Temple, something amazing happened. We’re told that the they found “a book” while they were cleaning out the Temple (2 Kings 22:8). What book did they find? It was the book of the Law of Moses! It had simply been sitting in the Temple, neglected for generations! For years and years, the people of Judah had not been reading the scriptures because they didn’t even know they existed! One of the king’s officer read the words of the Law to him, and “when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes” (2 Kings 22:11). Josiah tore his clothes because he was overcome with grief, because he suddenly realized that the people of Judah had been rebelling against God’s will for so long!
What did Josiah do in response? He had the scriptures read to all the people, who also realized that they had been unfaithful to God. Josiah then went throughout all of Judah and got rid of all the altars where the people had worshiped other gods and deposed all the priests who lead the people to worship these other gods. And for the first time in generations, the people remembered God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt and observed the Passover.
This is a remarkable story! It shows us, on the one hand, that neglecting to read the scriptures leads us into ignorance and sin, because the scriptures reveal God’s nature and will to us. On the other hand, reading the scriptures and following their teachings leads us to obedience and greater faithfulness to God.
This is my prayer for all of you. I hope your experience of reading through the Bible leads you into obedience and greater faithfulness to God. Our official one-year journey will end in 6 months, but don’t stop reading then! You don’t have to necessarily read through the whole Bible every year, but maintaining a daily discipline of spending time with God in the scriptures is vital to your spiritual health. Like Josiah, may your reading of the Bible lead you to turn to the Lord with all your heart, soul, and might!
Peace,
Pastor Aaron