The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commandments. (2 Kings 23:3)
MY PEN HOVERED over my prayer journal as I wrestled with fear concerning the choices of someone I cared about. Years before, God had helped me surrender the people I loved to Him. I knew that trusting Him with the future brought peace, but worry clouded my memory of that lesson.
By standing before God and the people of Judah to renew the covenant with the Lord, Josiah continued a pattern that characterizes human and Hebrew history. Sin pulls people away from the Lord and into a spiral of destruction. The only way to reverse the downward trend is to return to the Lord and His ways. Josiah’s willingness to set the example and submit himself to the Lord in front of the people of Jerusalem created a beacon of light in the middle of a dark time.
After a lot of prayer, I finally loosened my grip on the situation with my friend and renewed my commitment to trust the future to God. The shift for the better in my heart was instantaneous. The Lord never has to renew His covenant with us—He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Thankfully He seeks to bring us back to himself even when we don’t measure up to His standard. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up to a restored relationship with himself.
Identify an area of your life that needs renewal, and ask for God’s help.
Leah E. Good is a daughter of God, lover of stories, and passionate orphan care advocate. She lives with her family in beautiful New England.
© 2018 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
