Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, November 26, 2023
by Madison Johnston, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Our God is accountable in consequences and in reimagination.
We are supposed to expect great things from King Josiah. It’s possible that we are supposed to consider him something of a role model in a life of faith, too. The author of this text is very intentional and very constant in building Josiah’s credibility – he comes from an important and noble lineage, his moral character is notably high, he cares about the state of the Temple (and the well-being of the laborers who will restore it to its fullest glory), and in fear of judgment for Israel’s transgressions, he calls his entire nation to a kind of repentance. A return to life in and by the law of God.
Ultimately, Josiah’s efforts are not enough to deliver Jerusalem and Judah from judgment. The prophetess Huldah informs a team of leaders working alongside King Josiah that God is planning to hold God’s people accountable for years of betrayal, infidelity and transgression. While this should sound discouraging to us, we need to remember that all of Josiah’s efforts were not in vain. We also learn from Huldah that God notices the devotion and the love stemming from Josiah. God sees the Josiah’s devotion; God recognizes that Josiah has internalized the law and the love of God. So, God wants to be just as accountable to that love—that devotion—as God is to the lack of it.
Sometimes, in a life of faith, seasons of struggle are inevitable. No matter how hard we try to fend them off and no matter how purely rooted in love our intentions may be, there are major pieces of our circumstance that lie outside of our control. (Here is a good tie-in to our secondary text, the story of the Road to Emmaus. So much of the good news that the apostles stumble upon is good news after-the-fact. Their recognition of Jesus among them happened what feels like a bit too late.) But what the Spirit is telling us this morning is that no effort and no intention in faith is ever wasted. The love we feel for and show God moves God and shapes our relationships with God. It is valuable in its own right, but it also extends beyond itself and grows goodness, even in times of hardship.
