Observation: Josiah tears down the barriers and practices of worship life and community life for the people of God. He starts in the southern kingdom and moves north before heading to Jerusalem. The people of God and their leadership had become so corrupt in their idol worship that Josiah had to bring reform.
Application: Sometimes you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. Change is hard but necessary. Throughout the life of God's people certain reforms were necessary in renewing the covenant between God and us. Martin Luther had such a reform for the church. That was 500 years ago....almost. But the celebration of that reform is being revisited, literally. Trips are being booked to go to Germany for the 500th anniversary of Luther nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenberg door.
Reforming is an ethos that we are constantly changing in order to meet the needs of our context and the promise of the gospel. Revisiting old reforms is not reforming at all. It is the exact thing that gets us stuck.
Prayer: Lord, you made Josiah king for a reason and a season of reform. Help our hearts to burn toward our reforming nature so that you might be glorified instead of the past accomplishments of human history.