Serving God Wholeheartedly

I have been reading through 2 Kings. I'm always astonished when I read about king after king who was just evil. My favorite king was always Josiah. His great-grandfather, Hezekiah, was the greatest king Judah had ever had (until Josiah's reign) and his father, Manasseh, was the most evil. Josiah took the throne at the age of 8. He served God wholeheartedly. When he was in his mid-twenties, God's law was found in the temple. So until that point, the people of Judah hadn't been following the law. When Josiah read what was expected of them, he immediately realized how far short they had fallen. He had spent his life so far trying to reform Judah and realized that even with all that he'd done, he wasn't even close. He was anguished. He repented. God told him that he was still going to destroy the nation of Judah, but because Josiah had repented, it wouldn't happen until after his death.

Instead of give up, Josiah still spent the remainder of his life reforming Judah. He reinstituted all of the celebrations and all of the laws of God. Even knowing what was going to happen, he still sought God's direction. And still forced a godless nation to turn back to God.

I'm not a ruler of a nation. But I'm pretty sure if I were to hear something as depressing as "you're country will soon be demolished" and it came from a source that's incredibly reliable (who's more reliable than God Himself?), I don't know that I could just continue on. The one thing that I've been coming back to lately is what is going to bring God the most glory? It could be destroying a nation and many years later restoring it, Or it could be saving a people from certain destruction (like King Hezekiah faced many years earlier). My prayer for my life is that I want to bring God glory in everything I do, in whatever circumstance I am placed, no matter the outcome.

Consequentials

I have been blogging about the inconsequentials of my life for quite some time. I will occasionally add a post about something that really matters. But I find that when I'm reading or praying, I find things that I want to share with others, but never seem to do so. So I've created a blog to share my thoughts about the consequential things in life. The things that really matter. I am speaking of the only thing that matters. Or rather, the only One that matters.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what I am going to do with my life. Where am I going? How will I get there? I've been reading my Bible a lot and I've been praying a lot. I am so amazed at how every day and every breath brings me closer to God. Every prayer makes me more aware of His presence. Every verse makes me more aware of His character. And every day brings me to a place where I want to spend my life serving Christ. I am anxious to share with others what Christ has done for me. Right now I can do that here in Ankeny. Someday, I want to be able to do that overseas on the mission field. While I'm anxious for that "someday", I find comfort in thinking of Christ's life. I think of where He was when he was my age. At 27, He was a carpenter. He worked all day and during that time, God was preparing Him for His true mission. I like to think of this time as preparation for my true mission. I don't know where I'll be in 5 years. I don't know what I'll be doing in 10. But the one constant will be this: God is a mighty God, a righteous God. He is on His throne and I can rest knowing that He will be true to His word. He will strengthen me. He will help me. He will uphold me with His righteous right hand. And through it all, He will bring glory to Himself. (Read Isaiah 41:10)