King Josiah by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sorry it’s been so long; I’ve been busy with special meetings at church and have had problems with Wi-Fi. Anyways, I just want to share something from my Bible reading today. I was reading in 2 Kings 22, and I noticed something in verse 11: “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law[the part of the Bible that they had], that he rent his clothes.” So why did the king rend his clothes? In Bible times, you would rend your clothes to show great sorrow and/or consternation. It was also a sign of repentance. King Josiah rent his clothes because he was shocked at what the Bible said and how well it applied to his people. He realized it was an indictment against his kingdom for the sins of the people and was saddened at what their punishment was to be. He wanted to show God that he was sorry for the way the Israelites were acting and asked for forgiveness and deliverance. Then I thought about myself; what do I do when a hear a sermon or read a verse that convicts me? Do I do as King Josiah? Do I just ignore it, or even worse, pretend that I am sorry to try and fool God into forgiving me(tip: it doesn’t work)? God forgive me if I ever do anything other than truly repent and get right; that is the only way I will hear something like what God tells the king in verses 19 and 20: “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.
Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.”