At the age of eighteen, having already been a King for more than half his life, Josiah sent his man, Azaliah, along with a cleanup crew into the temple to tidy the place up.

Israel was at this point a pagan nation. They had fallen away from God and for several hundred years, they had served other Gods. They did “evil in the sight of God.” They had sex temples and altars where they could sacrifice their children – these were among the evils they committed. So yeah, it was pretty bad…

“King Josiah, while we were cleaning up we found this “book.” After Hilkiah (the High Priest) blew off the dust he read a bit of it and you wouldn’t believe this but it appears to be “the book!” Azaliah stood before His King offering him “the book.” (2 Kings 22-23)

You know why I write? Why I try to blog? Yes, it is one of the ways I process, clarify, resolve, and receive revelation – but mostly I write for Maddy, Ethan, and Eva. I write for my kid’s kids and their kids as well. I want to write them a legacy of the goodness of God. I want to write them a story about the love of God. I want to build them a foundation upon which they can know love and in turn love. I want to write prophetically in the timeless voice of God “you have a great destiny, a holy purpose.” I want to write that they would know who they are and because of that knowledge, they would radically impact the world they live in.

Three hundred and twenty years before King Josiah found the book there was a prophet by the name of Jeroboam. Jeroboam prophesied to this nation about a coming King who would destroy the evil altars that Israel had set up. This King would restore the nation back to God. He even prophesied this King’s name. “He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: “O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you, he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.” (1 Kings 13:2)

When Josiah’s clean-up crew found “the book,” Josiah had it read aloud in its entirety. Can you imagine what happened in his heart when he heard his name mentioned? Can you imagine what kind of impact that had on him?

If you don’t know the story of King Josiah, he went on from this discovery to completely destroy every trace of evil upon the land. He was zealous in his pursuit of the promise he received. He was intent upon fulfilling what God gave him to do. 2 Kings 23:25 says “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength…”

That seems like a pretty good reason to write eh?

Thank you Kris Vallotton – Kris is a pastor at Bethel in Redding CA. He spoke this word a few years back at a writing conference and it impacted me greatly.

Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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