What is Most Precious?

When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.” II Kings 22:11-13

In 2nd Kings Chapter 22 we have the story of Josiah an 8 year old who became king of Israel. 18 years into his reign he ordered that the temple be repaired. In the process of repairing the temple a priest found the book of the law. The Book had been covered up for years & years. The people of the Lord had not been reading it or following it’s instructions. When Josiah heard the Word of the Lord through the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. He said, “Surely the Lord’s anger burns against us because we have been willfully disobeying Him.”
He repented for his disobedience and the people followed suit & they too repented. He went & destroyed all the idols the people had made. He made the people quit burning incense to other gods. In short, because of the discovery of the Word of God, there was a short term revival in the land of Israel.
The people of God in that day had covered up the Word of God and did exactly what they wanted to do. They relished in their pleasures and each man was doing what was right in his own eyes. Does that not describe the Church in America today? We have covered up the Word of God in different ways. We have covered it up even though it’s in plain daylight. We have the Bible everywhere. Most homes have 5-6 copies of the Bible in their home! But we have covered it up with dust or hidden it in our book shelves. Most Christians can’t even tell you where their Bible is. Even those that can, many of them can’t tell you the last time they opened it up and read it for themselves. Every Sunday after Church I walk through the sanctuary and find Bibles left in the seats. Invariably they will sit there until next Sunday. Does that mean they never read the Bible throughout the week?
Revival will come when God’s people have a hunger for His Word! It brought revival in Josiah’s day & it will bring revival in our day. If you don’t have a hunger for God’s Word, ask Him to give you a hunger. He will answer that prayer! We bring a lot of trouble on ourselves because we are ignorant of what God’s Word says about a thing. When we find out what God has to say about it & repent and are obedient to God’s Word, we will be blessed in all we do and revival will come to us!