Obedience For God's Sake

When Josiah hears the Words of the book of the Law read out loud he immediately knew the nation was in trouble. They had broken faith and become corrupt. He could see the writing on the wall and on the pages. The sin of the nation demanded judgment according to the promises of the Law. So when Hilkiah brought Huldah the prophetess to interpret the times for the king he was most likely unsurprised by her words. 

2 Chronicles 34:23–25 (ESV) And she said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, 24 Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. 25 Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.

There it is... an inevitable judgment to come. But Huldah qualifies this judgment in terms of it's arrival:

2 Chronicles 34:27–28 (ESV) because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. 28 Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.’ ” And they brought back word to the king.

YET... even after hearing that the judgment on Judah was inevitable and irreversible at this point, Josiah does not just give up on the Lord considering obedience pointless. In fact, he does the very opposite. He goes even further to seek the Lord and bring Israel back to Him.

2 Chronicles 34:29–32 (ESV) Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up to the house of the LORD, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 31 And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32 Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

You know what this is called? This is called obedience for God's sake. So many people obey for their own sake. If God gives the goodies to good people, then let's be good and get the goodies. That is not at all about the Lord, that is entirely about us. But Josiah here is dedicated to God because it is the right thing to do. Nothing will change the Lord's will concerning Israel and yet he obeys and serves the purposes of the Lord. 

It's called a non-economic relationship with God. It's honoring Him because He is the Lord. And it is largely missing in today's Christian experience because so many want things from the Lord but do not want to know the Lord. Huldah tells Josiah the key to it all was his "tender" heart. A tender heart is ready for God to speak regardless of the outcome. A tender heart is open to God's plan no matter what may come. A tender heart is ready to obey because God is worthy and to be trusted. 

In the end, Huldah's prophesy comes true and Josiah will rest in peace. He goes down as one of Judah's greatest kings because he served God for God's sake. Centuries later, Jesus will obey the Father through the Cross. He will lose for our gain. He will suffer for our sin. He will obey for God's sake so we can be saved for God's purposes. 

John 14:30–31 (ESV) I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.