because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard you-this is the LORD’s declaration-therefore, I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see the disaster that I am bringing on this place.’ ”
Then they reported to the king.   2 Kings 22:18-20

This Scripture passage speaks of King Josiah. He became king at 8 years old and began to eagerly seek the Lord at the age of 16. His grandfather had been an evil king who had destroyed the temple and set up many pagan altars and had led the people in idolatry. Josiah was restoring the temple and bringing about reform in the land. While restoring the temple the book of the law was found. It is believed this may have been either the Pentateuch which is the first five books of the Bible or at least Scripture from Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 which speaks of judgment. Josiah was sickened by the fact that Judah had gotten so far away from God. He grieved over the way they had disappointed God. He sent five of his top advisors to a prophetess to seek the Lord and see what God had to say about all of this. Sadly, this prophetess had a message of impending doom for Judah. Judah was going to be captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and taken into captivity in Babylon.

But the Lord said because King Josiah had sought Him with his whole heart and God saw he had a tender heart and because he had humbly repented, God would allow him to live out his reign in peace. Josiah would never see the devastation that Judah would suffer because of their sins. They had angered God to a point of no return, but God did agree to spare Josiah because Josiah loved God with all his heart and had done right by God.

We are seeing some horrible things in the world today. The news reports have been getting worse and worse over the last few years. It’s easy to hear what’s happening in the world and think we are powerless. But my friend, when we trust in God, we are far from powerless. We have His power. We can trust in Him to take care of us no matter how bad things get. Remember what Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.” The best thing that can happen for a Christian is the rapture or our death. This is when we will begin spending eternity with our Lord and Savior. We will be reunited with those who have gone before us. We will be in a place where there is no more death, grief, crying or pain (Revelation 21:4). We will walk on streets of pure gold, with city walls that have foundations containing precious stones like sapphire, emerald, topaz, and amethyst. The gates will be made of pearl (Revelation 21:18-21).

Josiah didn’t just stop there and just thank God for sparing him. He dug his heels in and worked harder to create more reforms for Judah. He didn’t consider the situation hopeless, He revved up his reforms. He did all he could in the time he had left to carry out the words of the law or what was their Bible at the time. Verse 25 says there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength according to the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him. God still carried out His judgment against Judah, they were taken captive and brought to Babylon. But there were men and women who loved the Lord. Perhaps Josiah’s reforms inspired some of them. These were people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Esther, Mordecai, and Nehemiah just to name a few. These people continued to fear God and serve God through their captivity and God took good care of them. You can read about them in the books of Daniel, Esther and Nehemiah.

Don’t worry about what’s going on around you. You may not be able to change that. But you can dig your heels in and serve the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength. You can lead by example. You can trust in Him, and He will take good care of you.

Have a great day!