True Repentance, True Humility

As I said yesterday, I'm up through II Chronicles in my reading. And the last person on my list from yesterday was Josiah. I'm gonna talk a little bit more about him today.
Josiah became king of Judah when he was only eight years old. Can you imagine? I'm mean, I'm sure that he had advisors that helped him make the important decisions he had to make, but fate of the entire kingdom of Judah ultimately rested in his very young hands.
But Josiah started things off right. He followed the Lord just as David had. Considering David was called "a man after God's own heart" I think that Josiah looked to a pretty good person for an example.
Now Josiah's own father had done evil in the sight of the Lord, and Josiah could have followed that example, but he went in the way that he knew to be right, and he didn't turn from it.
He even made restoration for the evil that his father had done. He tore down the altars and images made to other gods. He restored the house of the one true God that the evil men had torn down in his father's time. During the time of restoring the house of God, the book of the law was found, and it was read before Josiah.
When Josiah heard what the book said, he rent his clothes.
In Josiah's day, when someone rent their clothes, it was a sign of true shame and repentance. Josiah was humbling himself before God, not just because of his sin, but because of the sin of his fathers. Josiah was troubled before God because he knew that Judah deserved God's punishment for their sins.
Because of Josiah's humility, God promised to hold off his wrath until after Josiah died. And Josiah used his lifetime to lead the people of Judah back to God.
Josiah's was a life of true humility and true repentance. And because of that, God granted him favor.
Josiah's is a story that reminds me to be humble. It reminds me that no matter what position I am in, I should never be too proud to call out to God in repentance. Just as Josiah did not let his high position as king keep him from humbling himself before God, I shouldn't ever let anything keep me from being humble before him.
You can read Josiah's story in II Chronicles 34-35. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.