Beware the mid-life crisis, thinking you can handle yourself by now. That’s when the devil gets you!
Young Josiah was relentless in seeking to obey the Book found in the house of the Lord. Thankfully, it wasn’t all negative, dealing with past sins. The nation celebrated with him in keeping the Passover. But following that, the divine record gives a “Moreover.” “Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land…that he might perform the words…written in the book” (2 Ki 23:24-25). In the shadows, on the back streets, he found those “that peep, and that mutter” (Isa 8:19, KJV). They all had to go. And so it must be. It’s “the little foxes that spoil the vines” (Song 2:15), and “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Gal 5:9). It wasn’t only the large images shamelessly standing in the town square that had to go, but the little household idols, too. My father often prayed in the morning that we would be protected from the little sins—the look of the eye, the tone of the voice, the attitude of the heart. As Paul warned, “Do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph 4:27, NIV). As with our Savior, it could be said of Josiah, “Zeal for Your house has eaten me up” (Ps 69:9). No wonder God gave this testimony: “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” (2 Ki 23:25). But Josiah has one last lesson to teach us. When “Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt” came through on his way “to the aid of the king of Assyria” (v 29), Josiah decided to pick a fight with him. The decision was fatal; he was killed at age 39. The lesson? It’s good to “fight the good fight” (1 Tim 6:12), but not good to intrude in other people’s business.