Has anyone ever told you were were “too much”? I am such a shameless enthusiast that I often quietly remind myself to just calm down. Case in point: a few years ago I needed a juicer. But I couldn’t afford the one I wanted—nay, needed. Luckily I found one on Craigslist. Joy of joys! After exchanging about ten thrilling and delightful messages with the seller, out of the blue he hit me with this: “I am thinking there’s a game going on here. It would be better if you stopped emailing me, because you’re making this too hard. I won’t respond to you any more.”
I blew the deal! All my overly enthusiastic nonsense pushed him away. Yes, it’s possible he wasn’t interested in hearing what I was planning to juice and for whom. Naturally, this wasn’t enough to deter me, so I asked my husband to reach out as a totally unrelated prospective buyer. They easily arranged the sale, and as my husband paid, the juice man confided, “You wouldn’t believe the crazy people I’ve had to deal with on Craigslist over this juicer!” To which my husband shook his head, “Don’t I know it.”
Maybe I should calm down about juicing delicious fruits and vegetables and reserve my zeal for something that truly merits all my energy, but what if there were an appropriate reason to be “too much”? King Josiah would probably not be very popular today; in his day, some might have called him a fanatic. The kings of Judah before him just allowed the country to drift along in the idolatry of their neighbors. What’s more, even the kings that followed him fell back into the same pattern.
But the words of the Lord were real to Josiah, and he took them seriously. Josiah knew he had fallen deep into the idolatry of the world. The Word of God, like a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), pierced Josiah with conviction and roused in him a zeal that may be foreign to many of us. Consider how fiercely and fervently he repented. If the Lord’s anger burned against it, Josiah was ready to smash it—idols, altars, towers, temples. He brought that same zeal to the whole of his kingdom, destroying every false idol and every false prophet in the land. He was a fanatic, and I think it’s safe to assume that many thought he was “too much.”
But look at the commendation he received from the Lord: “Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him” (2 Kings 23:25). Do you see it? He isn’t chided for overbearing zeal or reminded to calm down. Instead, he is lauded for keeping what Christ declared the first and greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). The first and greatest commandment is the territory of all us. And is this what it means to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and strength—to give all your energy to the destruction of idols and the defense of God’s words?
What if Josiah’s zeal wasn’t too much? What if it was the only right response to the conviction of God’s Word? The first and greatest commandment is the summation of the whole law of God, and it is this very commandment that Christ bids us to keep without wavering. Many of us live without much zeal, and some of us direct our zeal toward things that don’t matter. Instead, we should yield our hearts, all our enthusiasm—our heart, soul, mind, and strength—to the unchanging Word of the Lord. Go ahead and be “too much” for Him.
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21 thoughts on "Covenant Renewal"
Rebecca, I totally see myself in your meditation…I can be so enthusiastic, like a heat-seeking missile when I get a goal / little pursuit in mind… sadly, I’m not (even) equally zealous or energetic in seeking my Maker.
God help us.
It’s so scary to me that BOTH of Josiah’s sons “did evil”…I just want to yell “HOW?!? Weren’t you paying attention?! Did you learn nothing?!
But, perhaps I should turn the judgement on myself. OH, how I have seen the mercy and wonder of our great God in my life. May I seek Him relentlessly!
How many idols do I accept as part of the landscape vs fervently destroying? May God give me eyes to see the idols around me and boldness to speak against them.
Let me be too much for Christ and then Kingdom in the eyes of the world! Amen
I remember the first time I read through the kings of Israel and Judah. Every time I read it. It. Is. Heartbreaking. It is literally ugly and tragic as king after king did evil in the Lord’s sight and the people followed.
I remember the hope and peace I felt when I got to Hezekiah, hooray…someone stood for right, not perfectly…but there was an effort towards following the One and Only God. I was wrapped in the love of God to give him 15 additional years when he should have died. Then his son turned away and did evil in the site of God, and my heart broke. Manasseh was 12 when he became king, which means he was born in Hezekiah’s additional 15 years. I remember thinking, I wonder if Hezekiah would have wanted the extra time if he knew the son born to him would, during his reign, do so much evil? (Oh Jesus, I pray for the souls of our sons and daughters to not only spend eternity with You after they die but Lord, I want them to have your Life now. Bring the lost ones to You.)
When I came to Josiah and read, “Josiah did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or to the left.” and then “Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.” It was like a celebration of praise and worship. FINALLY!
Can you imagine, they had God’s Word…but buried in the temple…they were without the power and presence of God in their midst in Spirit or Word. They were left to the sin of self – which gets more putrid and ugly the longer it exists. God allowed the Word to be found in Josiah’s time. It was read to all. It was obeyed. Hooray!!! (How many Bibles do I have? How many versions? I am so blessed. Do I read them? Do I read them aloud to the people who matter?)
And yet again, the sons of king Josiah turned away and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. No…
On the, He Reads Truth site today, Chris Martin shares, “Judah, like the whole world, did not simply need a king who would stay on the path of righteousness. They needed the King who had created the path of righteousness and who would walk it perfectly on their behalf. Jesus Christ is the ultimate King of Judah and of the whole world. The Father “made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is the true King, who not only leads us in the ways of righteousness, but more importantly, has made us righteous before God, once and for always.
Thank you Jesus, for without You we are lost to a world of self, sin, and evil.
JESUS is KING. JESUS is LORD.
All that is good, all that is right, all that is holy – JESUS.
We are never enough. You are always enough. And, We. Are. Yours.
Incredible Love.
Incredible Power.
Incredible Grace and Mercy.
Thank you God.
Excellent meditation on the power of a heart yielding fully to the Word of God. Thank you!
As I read this story of Josiah and the idea of him by perceived as “too much”, I am reminded of Jesus speaking to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my My sake, he is the one who will save it. “ Luke 9:23-24 NASB
Lord, in your mercy and for your glory, help me and your people obey all your Words and follow this example of King Josiah to live ONLY for You by the power of the Spirit!
I pray that I would have that zeal for the Lord over and over. That people would see Jesus in me, and know without a doubt Who I serve.
Lord, work in me.
Amen! He too much for the Lord!
Mark 12:30 first shows up in Deuteronomy 6. The Jews of Jesus’s time and including Jesus would recite the verse every morning in the prayer entitled the Shema.
Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One, Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day.
What the world would be like if all people, all nations would love the Lord God with all their hearts and with all their souls and with all their might (or mind) and love your neighbors as ourselves! Revolutionary!
Let it begin with me!
“Josiah did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or the left.”
As I look around at all my stuff this morning, all that I’ve accumulated to make my life comfortable, it is as rubbish to me. The legacy I want to leave for my children is not these possessions. My heart’s desire is for them and their children to have Josiah’s zeal for the Lord. Not just lip service but actions that reveal they are confident followers of Jesus. There are so many pressures and temptations in this culture which dismiss faith as foolish and unnecessary. I pray for faithfilled leaders who will, like Huldah, proclaim the word of the Lord truthfully and clearly in the midst of an unbelieving and hostile generation. I pray for courage and boldness personally and in the church to destroy anything that is exalted above the Lord God. I pray for mercy and I pray for repentance and I pray for revival.
Amen! ❤️
Amen, Churchmouse, I couldn’t have said it better.
Yes Jesus!