Many of us seem to be losing hope in our leaders. It seems like every couple of weeks we are hearing of a leader who is doing, or has done ‘something’ immoral. I’m not talking about the big bad world here. What’s worse is that when we look both within the church and outside the church there doesn’t seem to be a discernible difference.

Leaders seem to be losing.

Are all the stories true?

Of course not.

I know media has a lot to answer for in this, and I understand that what we read isn’t always fully accurate. But some of the stories are. I want to make it clear that I don’t think that it’s worse today, I believe things were happening in the past, it’s just that we didn’t hear about it…..but regardless ….it feels so sad to see this happening today.

Reflecting on the current state of play with leadership, a friend said something like this to me recently; “Is there any leader who can continue to lead, pioneer, see the kingdom come………and remain holy?”

I hear the pain in their question. As I’ve already alluded to, this isn’t just a modern day problem. The Scriptures are full of many leaders who either;

• Did great things for God and fell away
• Started off opposing God but then repented and served Him, or
• Started off opposing God and continued to oppose Him

Let’s be honest, those categories aren’t great.

I’m not talking about people having to be perfect. We know as people we are broken, we aren’t ever going to go throughout our lives getting it all right. Sadly we will hurt others, make mistakes, step over the line, and/or say things we shouldn’t. However. is it possible with all of that said to truly try and seek God throughout our leadership so that our mistakes would be unintentional, our hearts would be as pure as possible, and our apologies would come quickly and sincerely? Is it possible to serve the Lord wholeheartedly throughout our lifetime and behave in a way that is appropriate to that heart posture?

I have to believe it to be true and today when I was reading the Scriptures I noticed a few things about a guy called King Josiah which gave me hope.

Josiah is a king who reigns in Judah a few generations before their exile to Babylon. His great-grandfather was Hezekiah who had done overall a good job as king, regardless of some mistakes at the end of his reign. However, Josiah’s grandfather and dad had pretty much undone all the good work Hezekiah had done to resolve the sin of the kings before him. When Josiah comes to the throne at the age of 8 (yes, 8), he doesn’t enter into a very promising or hopeful time when it comes to Judah’s relationship with the Lord.

The good news is as a teenager he can see that he is not like his dad or grandfather.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols. 2 Chronicles 34:3

I love that the verse here states that he began to seek the Lord of his ancestor David. This is a key to being people of integrity. We must learn to seek the Lord. The key here is ‘learn’. We won’t have it all together straight away, we won’t be perfect, but we must start and from there we can learn. We need much grace as we begin the journey but start it we must.

If we take the verse literally we find out that Josiah learns and seeks the Lord for around 4 years before he begins to do something with what he has learned. But boy does he start to act. Josiah’s first act is to repent in action for the sin of his land. Here is a quick list of his journey of returning the land to the Lord after the 12th year of his reign.

• He tears down the altars of the Baal gods where the people sacrificed.
• He smashes down the Asherah poles – these were ‘sacred’ poles that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the goddess Asherah.
• He also smashes the Asherah idols and scatters the ashes of both over the graves of those who sacrificed to Asherah.
• He burns the bones of the Baal priests on their own altars
• He does this throughout all of Israel before returning to Jerusalem

He’s off to a good start right? In fact for most of us we would feel that the job was done, that we have achieved great things for God, and we could retire happy that God was pleased with us. Josiah doesn’t stop there, we read about what happens 6 years later.

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the LORD his God. 2 Chronicles 34:8

This is where the next steps of the journey move from repentance in action to the rediscovery of God’s promises. While they are repairing the temple with money Josiah and the people had provided, they find the Book of the Law of Moses. The Book is taken to Josiah and it is read to him. When he hears the word of the law, he tears his robes in despair and asks the priests to go and inquire of the Lord. He realizes that as a people, they have not obeyed the word of the Lord and need to repent even more. Where he repented in action, he now wants to repent in heart.

We are told that his repentance is heard in heaven. Josiah hears about how whilst the Lord has in on his mind to quench Judah because of their disobedience it will not come in his lifetime.

Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse and be laid waste —and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’” 2 Kings 22:19-20

Once again we might read this and think we’d be happy with that. Like his great grandfather he has guaranteed that he will not feel the effects of the sin of his people and their ancestors. Surely he could rest now?

Not Josiah, he knows there is more to do in his service to the King of Kings. He does more than repent, and rediscover, he now seeks to renew the covenant that his nation had with the Lord. So he gathers all the people together, from the greatest to the least, and reads to them the Book of the law. The people respond and renew their pledge to the Lord. Josiah then launches another course of purifying the land;

• All the articles of Baal, Asherah, and the starry host are removed from the temple of the Lord and burned, including an Asherah pole. It was burned, ground to powder, and spread over the graves of the common people.
• The priests who burned incense on the high places are done away with
• He tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes and the woman’s weaving quarters where they made garments/articles for Asherah.
• Hr brought he priests from over the land back to Jerusalem
• He destroyed Topheth which was a place used to sacrifice sons and daughters to the detestable god Molek
• He removed the horses that had been dedicated to the sun, and burned their chariots.
• He pulled down the altars that had been erected on the roof and through and threw the rubble away
• He destroyed more altars, high places, and sacred stones, from other gods dating back to the time of Solomon
• He even removed the bones from the tombs of people who had been unfaithful except for the bones of the tomb of the man of God.
• He removed the shrines and high places from Samaria and slaughtered the priests of the high places. After all that he returned to Jerusalem

Was Josiah done now? You’ve guessed it…..NO!

It wasn’t enough for him to undo the work again, he needed to reestablish the worship of God in the land again. He proclaims a Passover celebration which they had meant to celebrate every year. We read in the account that there wasn’t a Passover in history observed like this one!

Incredible, and just in case we thought that was it, we read this little addition as well.

Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD. 2 Kings 23:24

Josiah was a leader who lived with integrity and commitment to the Lord throughout his lifetime and this is the final conclusion of his life.

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. 2 Kings 23:25

Is there even one? YES

I believe there are so many keys to this for us who are leading for the Lord today. Let’s reflect of what Josiah did and put it into practise today, regardless of whether we have started well or not.