True Transformation

In 2 Kings 22-23, we read of the reign of Josiah, king of Judah - one of the few kings who had a heart that was completely committed to following God.

Josiah undertook great work to remove evil from the land of Judah. He was thorough in his destruction of idols and places used for idol worship throughout his kingdom. There was nothing and no one left related to idol worship. Josiah followed God as completely as he knew how.

But then we read these words about Jehoahaz, who succeeded Josiah as king:
"He did evil in they eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done." (2 Kings 23:32)

After a king who followed God so fully, as Josiah did, this seems almost unexpected. Even if he didn't follow God to the same degree as his father had, to have Jehoahaz turn and do evil in God's eyes . . .

How could this happen? How could Judah's kings go from zealously following God to doing evil in His eyes so quickly? What happened?

To read it seems shocking, but when I really stop to think about it, it's actually a really common cycle in our lives as well. We can be passionately following God in complete obedience for a while, and then we're walking in disobedience to God's ways right after that.

At a glance, there doesn't seem to be any logical reason for why this happens. Whether we see it happening in Scripture or whether we see it in our own lives or the lives of those we know, it doesn't really make sense at first.

The more I think about this, the more I begin to wonder if part of it isn't that it's easy to go along with passionate obedience when that's what you're surrounded with, but not experience the true heart change yourself. And I wonder if that's what happened to Jehoahaz.

He would have been a part of some of Josiah's reforms and likely caught up in them. But he may not have experienced the true heart change that needs to go along with it. So when he became king and was no longer following a leader who passionately and completely followed God. Jehoahaz went back to where he heart really was.

And I think the same things can happen to us. We go to an event where God is really at work and get caught up in the excitement of it. We go along with it all on the outside and no one looking at us is going to see us as any different from anyone else. We may not even realize there's anything different for us, then for others. But, as soon as we're not in the environment or with those people, we go back to our old way, because we didn't experience the true heart transformation that others did.

So, how do we guard against this? Is there anything we can do?

I think this is where we need to be intentional about inviting God in. When Josiah was made aware of all of God's truth, he wasn't willing to do anything less than all God required of him. Josiah made sure he was dealing with all of the sin in his life and in his kingdom. Josiah didn't just deal with the obvious. He was thorough in removing all remnants of idol worship from God's people.

This has to be our attitude as well. If we're going to experience true, lasting transformation, we have to invite God in. Once we invite Him is, we need to give Him full freedom to deal with all that He finds.