Drastic Measures

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Drastic Measures was written by Tim Gustafson. The ornate ceremonial bow and quiver had hung on the wall of our home in Michigan for years. I'd inherited them from my father, who acquired the souvenirs while we were serving as missionaries in Ghana.

Then one day, a Ghanaian friend visited us. When he saw the bow, he got a strange look on his face. Pointing to a small object tied to it, he said, That is a fetish, a magic charm. I know it has no power, but I would not keep it in my house. Quickly, we cut the charm from the bow and discarded it. We didn't want anything in our home intended for the worship of something other than God. Josiah, king in Jerusalem, grew up with little knowledge of God's expectations for his people. When the high priest rediscovered the Book of the Law in the long-neglected temple, Josiah wanted to hear it.

As soon as he learned what God had said about idolatry, he ordered sweeping changes to bring Judah into compliance with God's law, changes far more drastic than merely cutting a charm from a bow. Believers today have more than King Josiah did, much, much more. We have the entire Bible to instruct us.

We have each other, and we have the vital filling of the Holy Spirit, who brings things to light, large and small, that we might otherwise overlook. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 2 Kings chapter 23 verses 3 through 7. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord, to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes, and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. The king ordered Hilkiah, the high priest, the priests next in rank, and the doorkeepers, to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem, those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the starry hosts. He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.

He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, there are a lot of things in this life that can become idols to us. Whether it's money or relationships or possessions, help us to be alert and open our eyes to anything that may become more important to us than you, and then lovingly turn our eyes back to you. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Stephen, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.