II Kings 23:24 “Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, 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.”
Following the Script
This summer, Nik Wallenda crossed the Grand Canyon on a tightrope. He walked on a 2-inch thick steel cable suspended 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River. While this daredevil attempt seems insane (I love hiking the Canyon, just not on a tightrope!), it is the type of script the Wallenda family has followed for generations.
I wonder what your script is. “The Rices (or your family name) have always done _____.” Maybe your family has done the same thing for decades. Sometimes a “script” can be helpful, but you must decide what script you are going to follow. Josiah was a man with centuries of pagan, godless, idol-worshipping relatives, but he went off script and served the Lord. He didn’t follow the script of his family; he followed the Scripture of God. Josiah was a king of action!
Will you follow the script or the Scriptures? There is no reason to repeat the actions of past generations that do not line up with God’s Word! We are living in a day when anything the Bible says is completely counter to our culture. Oprah isn’t the authority; Hollywood isn’t the authority; and my great-great-grandfather isn’t the authority, either. God is the Authority.
What Josiah did was radical, but only because the standard had become wickedness. He broke the precedent that Jeroboam and many kings before him had set. So, in your life, which script will you follow? Which authority will you follow?
Following Scripture will enable you to see farther, clearer, and deeper than you otherwise would. See life through the eyes of God by reading His Word and following His script for you. You are not a slave to the script you’ve been handed!