Renewing Our Vows
This week we’re closing our series on Forgotten Kings.
We started on Jehoshaphat, a good man who sought God.
We looked at King Hezekiah, who did such good.
Hezekiah’s son Manasseh came into power for 55 years! And he did all sorts of bad stuff. And then towards the end of his life he repented and started making amends and doing good.
When he died his son Amon came into power and reversed it all again. Did all the bad stuff.
But he died soon, after only 2 years in office, and at only 8 years old his son came into power, our forgotten King of today: Josiah.
He was one of the good guys! His main legacy was that he re-initiated the covenant with God that the Jewish people had turned away from.
The Bride of Christ
Have you ever been to a wedding vow renewal service? Sometimes a couple who has been together a long time, standing strong in their relationship, want to renew their vows as a sign of their ongoing love. Other times, a couple may have drifted apart for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps they stayed married, but they kind of started living separate lives, or perhaps they even separated officially - and then they reconnect, and so they renew their marriage vows.
Now, as we look at Josiah’s story today, we see that he helped the people recommit to God. Kind of like a renewal of their “wedding vows” to God!
And I hope this week that we can do the same thing.
Throughout the Bible, the metaphor of a marriage is used as a picture of God’s covenant with his people. He loves his people dearly. He made a covenant with them, to love them and honour them and protect them and save them.
When We Drift From God
And some of God’s people stay true to the covenant. They stay strong in their faith, filled with God’s Spirit, and even through the ups and downs, they stay faithful. Maybe that’s you today, and so this is gonna be a proper renewal of the vows you’ve already made and kept.
But some of God’s people drift, and backslide in their faith. They drift away and start living separate to God. Maybe you once were close to God, but all sorts of stuff got in the way, and if you’re honest, you’re not really living the Christian life you know you should. I hope this week we can re-initiate the covenant He has made with you.
Or perhaps you’ve never even made that commitment to God at all. Maybe this will be your time.
Through the week I will lead you through some steps to do this, but let’s realise today that God has made a covenant with us! Know today that the God of the universe wants to be in a covenant relationship with you. He s deeply committed to his people and he longs for his people to be deeply committed to him - like Josiah was.
