We chased the sunset. Jumping over rock piles and weaving through tourists returning from their day’s hike, we desperately hoped to catch the iconic Windows wallpaper view at Arches National Park. Stunned and out of breath, my friends and I watched the last of the sun’s rays dim through the aperture of the Delicate Arch.
The darkness overtook us fast. Only then did we realize why no one else was around for us to share this picturesque experience with: national parks don’t have street lamps. With zero cell service, our phones only served as flashlights to find the stone piles we had carelessly jumped over earlier, which were the only things that revealed the path home.
As our church has been studying the history of Judah’s kings, it has made me think about this national park trip differently. In a line of evil kings back-to-back, King Josiah feels like a breath of fresh air. Yet, even he was lost, needing to find a way home to God. What stone piles would serve as his markers to find the way home?
From an early age, Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, not turning to the left or the right (2 Kings 22:2). As he grew, he sought the God of David and eventually purged the kingdom of false idols and pagan altars. Yet, all this meticulous cleansing of a compromised people was as much a wandering as my national park adventure. When Josiah rediscovered God’s Word, it exposed just how far God’s people had strayed from the path of faithful obedience.
“And when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes… great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
2 Chronicles 34:19, 21 (ESV)
King Josiah had been seeking God, yet the only way he could fully understand God, himself, and his people was through God’s piercing Word. Yet it was not his exposure to God’s Word that made this king unlike those before or after him; rather, it was his posture.
“…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.”
2 Chronicles 34:26–27 (ESV)
The Bible describes God’s Word as a sharp sword that cuts and burns in those who are eager and humble (Hebrews 4:11; Luke 24:32). So was the case for Josiah. As a result, his response was to gather all the people to hear God’s Word and reestablish a covenant before the Lord to walk after Him and keep His commandments and statutes with all their heart and soul (2 Chronicles 34:29–31).
I’ve had moments like this. When I first read a book by Pastor Timothy Keller on the Gospel of Mark, I realized just how little I actually knew of God’s Word. Though I had been seeking God, my idea of who God was came more from my cultural Christian upbringing rather than from what was actually in the Bible. What has since followed are years of me seeking God as He has revealed Himself in His Word, undoing the god of my own making.
It’s not enough to know general things about God. It’s not enough to form a worldview around vague ideas or stake your life on patchwork concepts of Christianity. Our God is one who wants to be known by His people. In King Josiah’s day, He used His Law and Prophets to accomplish this. But today, we know God through the person and work of Christ, of whom the entirety of the Scriptures points to and hinges upon (Hebrews 1:1; Luke 24:27).
When God’s Word unveiled Judah’s depravity, King Josiah responded by tearing his clothes—an act of repentance and, ultimately, surrender to God's authority. This surrender not only serves as a model of humility and devotion but also foreshadows a future King.
For all of King Josiah’s meticulous cleansing, he still fell short of perfection. He couldn’t do enough to live up to the standard of holiness required by the Law. He was unable to prevent his own death. He couldn’t even stop the coming judgment of God’s people; he could only delay it. And that’s the point.
Jesus is the true and better King.
God’s Word reveals the standard required for us to be near to God. That standard is perfection, of which all fall short. Only the life and blood of the perfect King could fully satisfy the wrath of God for which our sins deserve. Without Christ, all our seeking of God and meticulous cleansing of our lives are done in vain. Yet, because of the richness of God’s love through the precious blood of Christ, those who place their faith in Him are ransomed from our former ignorance (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Our King Jesus made it not only possible to be saved, but also to live out our lives in obedience. We now have the ability to faithfully walk the narrow path of life without turning to the left or to the right. How? By following Him on the path of humility.
King Josiah responded to God’s Word in humility because of his sin. Yet, even in His perfection, Jesus responded to God’s Word in absolute humility. Jesus’ entire life posture was summed up in the prayer He uttered in the garden before enduring the cross: “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
This same kind of humility is how we may faithfully endure the Christian journey.
The path of humility looks like reading God’s Word, seeing our affections, thoughts, or actions at odds with it, and assuming we’re in the wrong. Instead of holding to our perceived strength, we take the downward path of repentance and faith again, and again, and again. This is the humble path of the Christian: to follow Jesus in the ever downward journey of humility that paradoxically leads to glory (Philippians 2:1–11).
Approaching God’s Word in humility is a painful, cutting process, but it is the path to eternal life. It is the path walked by Jesus Himself, and it is the path we get to walk alongside God as we share in the joys of intimacy with our King.
The tender, humble heart is heard by God. He meets us in our weakness and sin, and the perfect life of Christ is applied to our imperfection. As we journey on in this dark land, our path is illuminated by His Word. Our wandering is hopeless without His Light.
“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”
Psalm 119:105 (CSB)
“All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like a flower of the grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.
And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.”
1 Peter 1:22–25 (CSB)
Cling to His enduring Word and this good news of the gospel. Let it humble you, again and again, as it shapes and reveals the entirety of your life toward Christlikeness until the day we stand before our King face to face. His Word, like those rock piles on my dark journey through that national park, reveals our path home.
Want to dive deeper? Check out our sermon series guide on Kings of Judah, or watch the most recent sermon from our Kings of Judah sermon series.
