Fri.’s Devo.- The Power of Our Testimony

Read: 2 Kings 22:3-23:30; Acts 21:37-22:16; Psalm 11-6; Proverbs 18:11-12 Josiah had the priests repair and clean out the Temple. While doing this they found a copy of the Law of Moses and read to Josiah probably Deuteronomy 28-30. It is about the national covenant and the blessing of obeying the Law and the curses of not obeying the Law. He gathered the people and read the whole book to them. Josiah repented immediately and began national reform like no other king had done before or after him. He got rid of all the idolatry in the land even on the high places. As he was destroying all the altars he came upon the tomb of the prophet who had prophesied that Josiah, by name, would do exactly what he was doing then (1 Kings 13). He told them not to disturb his bones. God still had to punish Jerusalem for their idolatry but not during Josiah’s reign since he repented like he did. He was killed by Neco king of Egypt in the valley of Megiddo. The people mourned his death so hard even Zechariah wrote about it (Zechariah 12:11-12). Josiah’s son, Johoahaz became the next king. In Acts, while the Roman officers were trying to get Paul to safety against the mob, Paul saw the opportunity to preach and asked if he could speak to the crowd. When Paul spoke in Greek, the officer was so surprised he let him speak and the crowd grew silent. He spoke to them in Aramaic (Hebrew). This caught their attention. Paul began giving them his own conversion story. Lord, there is nothing more powerful than a conversion. Today we read of two powerful ones - Josiah’s and Paul’s. May we never doubt the change you can bring in a soul.