Josiah Turns His People to God

Now is the time!

I want to be a Josiah. No, I don't mean I want to be king of anything. And my name suits me just fine. I want to have this life record and witness: "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left" (2 Chronicles 34:2). Don't you also want to own that kind of testimony?

My friend, if you and I both truly want that for ourselves, we have to aim our lives at it. We cannot live aimlessly or with the wrong aim and still hope to achieve such a wonderful life summary. The next verse tells us how to aim: "For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father." That's it! While he was yet young, around sixteen years old, he began his search for God and His ways.

Sixteen -- a time of driver's licenses, of high school, and of discovery. Sixteen -- a time of fun, of frivolity, and of fancies? But sixteen is no time to be focused on and serious about spiritual things, is it?

Let me ask you this, then. If sixteen isn't the time, when is it? And what guarantee do you have of reaching that age or wanting to be serious about spiritual things then? If seeking after God is unimportant at sixteen, then it is unimportant at forty-three or at any other age.

If I reach 09/22/02, I'll be forty-three -- too late for me? Well, I can't start now to seek after God at age sixteen. But better to start now than never!

"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6). Now is the time that He may be found, so seek Him now! I challenge you to team up with some friends in seeking after God. If that is too spiritual for them, then seek Him on your own (and maybe consider a new batch of friends also!).

"And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD" (2 Chronicles 12:14). Take a lesson from this wicked king. You now know in advance what your harvest will be if you do not seek after God. Never forget that you can't do what's right if you don't prepare your heart to seek Him.

"To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation" (Hebrews 3:15). Since God is calling you to seek Him, don't provoke Him by hardening your voice to His call.

"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38). It bugs me when I call out to people and they just turn and walk away from me. When people draw back from God and His life, He takes no pleasure in them. So let's be His joy and delight by drawing closer to Him!

"Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually" (1 Chronicles 16;11). Whether you're around sixteen or going on one hundred sixteen, make the search after God the constant essence of your life. Students, missionaries, nurses, teachers, truckers, carpenters, homemakers, care givers, plumbers, secretaries, farmers, technicians -- without regard to occupation, everyone has the opportunity and duty to seek God continually. It's never time to quit.