Josiah and the Essentials Underpinning Reform

“And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” (II Chronicles 34 : 2).

These words refer, of course, to King Josiah. They are noteworthy not least because in the Second Book of Chronicles, they form a summary, quite remarkably, of his thirty-one year reign in Jerusalem, beginning when he was a mere eight years old. Of how many kings and rulers can the same be said after the close of so lengthy a reign ? Contemporary comparisons point in the opposite direction : in respect of none of the long periods of rule which have been brought to a sudden end in the first few years of the Twenty-First Century would these verses form a fitting epitaph. In stark contrast, it can be said of Josiah’s kingship that in essence, it was marked by undistracted, singleminded, godly obedience.

When reflecting on either past or potential reform in both church and nation, it is easy just to take the simple step of focussing on what has been, or should be, done to bring about material change and reform. In no time at all, our thinking on reform is reduced to a matter a councils and conferences, debates and decisions, memoranda and meetings, pronouncements and programmes. Vital though these often are, Scripture regularly reminds us that change and reform are always the product of a prior, fundamental work of grace : an inner ordering of heart and mind which necessarily precedes and creates the right conditions for outward change and visible reform. Read more