Put God’s Word first
Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow 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 this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. ~ 2 Kings 23:3
Have you ever cleaned out a closet and discovered something you forgot you even owned? Maybe you found a favorite jacket, an old picture, or something you once thought was so important that you just had to keep it. Sometimes we don’t realize how much has been pushed aside until we start clearing things out. The same can happen in our spiritual lives. We can allow distractions, habits, and the opinions of the world to crowd out God’s Word until we need to make room for what matters most again.
In today’s scripture reading, King Josiah took the discoveries made during the restoration of the temple and led the people back to God’s Word. When the Book of the Law was read aloud, Josiah recognized how far the nation had wandered from God’s instructions. He didn’t simply agree that the words were important and then go back to business as usual. He acted! He renewed the covenant with the Lord, removed objects of idol worship, and led the people in restoring the Passover celebration. Josiah understood that hearing God’s Word meant responding to it.
What a timely message for us today. We live in a world full of competing voices, endless distractions, and ideas that often pull us away from God’s truth. It’s easy to say we believe the Bible, but the real question is whether we’re allowing it to shape our choices, our priorities, and the way we live. We can’t change the direction of the world by ourselves, but we can choose to let God’s Word direct our own lives and influence the people around us.
Here are three important ways to live as God’s people in a world that desperately needs His truth.
1. Let God’s word lead you, even when it reveals something that needs to change
When Josiah heard the Book of the Law, he didn’t ignore the parts that made him uncomfortable. He recognized that the nation had wandered from God’s ways, and he took the message seriously. God’s Word wasn’t given just to make us feel good. It also corrects us, challenges us, and shows us where we need to make changes.
It’s easy to welcome Scripture when it encourages us, but what happens when it points out a wrong attitude, an unhealthy habit, or a choice we know isn’t pleasing to God? We can make excuses, blame our circumstances, or decide that the passage doesn’t really apply to us. But God’s correction isn’t meant to push us away from Him. It’s an invitation to return to His wisdom and experience the freedom that comes from walking in His ways.
Follow these practical ways to get started:
- Read Scripture with a willing heart. Before you open your Bible, pray, “Lord, show me what You want me to understand, and help me be willing to follow.” Don’t read just to finish a chapter. Give God room to speak to your heart through His Word.
- Be honest when Scripture exposes an area that needs attention. Maybe you’ve been holding on to resentment, speaking negatively about someone, or allowing worry to control your thoughts. Instead of making excuses, ask God to help you take the next step toward change.
- Put what you learn into practice. If Scripture reminds you to forgive, make a decision to begin releasing the offense. If it teaches you to speak with kindness, pay attention to your words at home and at work. If it calls you to trust God, take the practical step you’ve been avoiding because of fear.
God’s Word isn’t meant to sit on a shelf looking impressive. It’s meant to shape the way we live. Even the most beautiful Bible won’t change our lives if we never open it, and highlighting every verse in yellow doesn’t count as obeying all of them!
2. Remove what takes God’s place in your heart
After Josiah heard God’s Word, he took action to remove the objects and practices associated with idol worship. He understood that the people couldn’t return wholeheartedly to God while continuing to make room for the very things that had drawn them away from Him.
We may not have carved images sitting in our homes, but anything we put ahead of God can begin to take a place it was never meant to have. Our idols may look like the need for approval, the pursuit of success, our finances, entertainment, social media, or the desire to control every outcome. These things aren’t necessarily wrong in themselves, but they become a problem when they begin to direct our lives more than God does.
We can even turn good things into distractions. Serving at church, caring for our families, and working hard are all valuable, but none of them should take the place of our relationship with the Lord. God wants more than our activity. He wants our hearts.
Follow these steps to get started:
- Ask God to show you what has been taking too much of your attention. Is there something you reach for before you pray, something that regularly steals your peace, or a priority that keeps pushing your time with God to the bottom of the list? Be willing to recognize it honestly.
- Set healthy boundaries around distractions. You might choose to put your phone away during Bible reading, limit time spent scrolling, or establish a regular time for prayer. You don’t have to throw your phone into the Jordan River. Just make sure it isn’t running your life!
- Replace unhealthy patterns with godly habits. Removing something that pulls you away from God is a great start, but make room for something that draws you closer to Him. Replace constant negative talk with gratitude, worry with prayer, or time spent criticizing others with opportunities to encourage them.
- Take action when God makes the next step clear. If a relationship needs attention, make the call. If you need to apologize, be humble enough to do it. If you’ve allowed a habit to take control, seek accountability and support.
Returning to God often involves both letting go and making room. When we stop giving unhealthy things our attention, we can give more of our hearts to the One who deserves first place.
3. Make your commitment to God more than just words
Josiah didn’t keep his response to God’s Word private. He gathered the people, read the Book of the Covenant, and renewed their commitment to follow the Lord. Then he continued taking action to restore worship and obedience among the people.
There’s something powerful about making a decision to obey God and then putting that decision into action. It’s one thing to say, “I need to pray more,” and another to establish a daily time to pray. It’s one thing to say, “I want to be a better example,” and another to choose patience when someone tests every ounce of it!
Our faith is personal, but it isn’t meant to be lived in isolation. Our families, friends, churches, and communities need to see what it looks like when someone takes God’s Word seriously. We don’t have to be perfect to influence others. We need to be willing to keep growing, admit when we’re wrong, and demonstrate the grace and truth of Jesus in everyday life.
Follow these steps to get started:
- Make one specific commitment to God this week. Instead of making a general promise to do better, choose a practical step. Read one chapter of Scripture each morning, pray for a family member daily, or spend time encouraging someone who needs hope.
- Invite someone to grow with you. Share what you’re learning with a trusted friend, join a Bible study, or pray together with your family. Encouraging one another helps us remain faithful when life gets busy.
- Let your actions support your words. If you talk about God’s love, demonstrate it in the way you treat people. If you believe in forgiveness, be willing to extend it. If you trust God’s provision, practice generosity and kindness rather than living only for yourself.
- Keep returning to God when you fall short. A commitment to follow the Lord doesn’t mean you’ll never make a mistake. It means you don’t use your mistakes as an excuse to give up. Confess your sin, receive His forgiveness, and continue walking with Him.
Josiah’s story reminds us that one person’s willingness to respond to God’s Word can influence many others. We may not be kings leading an entire nation, but we can influence the atmosphere of our homes, the culture of our workplaces, and the lives of people God brings across our paths. A faithful life can speak loudly in a world full of noise.
Today I want to encourage you to let God’s Word take its rightful place in your life. Don’t settle for simply knowing what the Bible says. Let it shape your choices, change what needs to change, and lead you into a deeper relationship with the Him. Like Josiah, be willing to respond when God shows you something that needs attention. Remove the distractions that have crowded Him out, renew your commitment to follow Him, and let your faith become visible through the way you live.
The world doesn’t need more people who simply talk about truth. It needs people who know God’s truth and are willing to live it with courage, humility, and love. You may not be able to change everything happening around you, but you can begin with what God has placed in your hands today. Open His Word, listen with a willing heart, and take the next step of obedience. One surrendered heart can make a difference, and God can use your faithful response to encourage others to return to Him, too!
Today’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 23
1 Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.
2 The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord.
3 Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow 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 this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people.
7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.
8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate.
9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.
13 Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon.
14 And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image.
16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
17 Then he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?”
So the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
18 And he said, “Let him alone; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.
19 Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.
20 He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
22 Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.
25 Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
26 Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.
27 And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’ ”
28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
29 In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him.
30 Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
32 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
33 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34 Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.
35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
37 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
Journal:
- What has God’s Word been showing me about an area of my life that needs to change?
- Is there anything taking more of my time, attention, or affection than it should?
- What practical step can I take this week to make room for God and His Word?
- How can my choices and attitudes help others see the love and truth of Jesus?
- What specific commitment can I make today to follow the Lord more wholeheartedly?
