AN ODE TO CHRISTIAN APATHY

{ANTI-ENVIRONMENTALISM}

2 Kings 22 – 2 Kings 23 v 30

Josiah was King of Judah and whilst King, Hilkiah the Priest of the temple discovered the Book of the Law, which Moses had written (the Torah). He read from the book of the Law and found that many of the practices and the decrees which God wanted them to do were not being carried out. Josiah set out to change that and declared that he and his people would follow the letter of the Law and reconcile themselves and consecrate themselves back to God.
The Lord God however was still angry and burning with fury for their previous practices and the way they had been living and ignoring him, and making him jealous, therefore, despite this turnaround, He still declared that Judah will be overtaken and destroyed.
2 Ki 22 v 15 – 20.

King Josiah however hears the word of the Lord, YET despite knowing what is going to befall Jerusalem and Judah, he still sets out to renew the covenant with God and the people and removed all of the articles made for Baal and Asherah from the temple of the Lord, from the high places around the country and destroyed them all. He also defiled them by burning dead bones on them and ground all of the statues to powder which he scattered over graves (2 Ki 23 v 6).
He slaughtered all of the priests who served Baal and Asherah.
He then declared the words of the Law and covenant over the people and celebrated passover with them, (which had not been celebrated for a long time, perhaps since King David’s time).
Despite all of this the Lord did not turn away the heat of his anger against the people of Judah (2 Ki 23 v 26)

King Josiah knew this, yet still went ahead to destroy the worship of the other gods and destroy the connection to these other gods and slaughtered everything and anything which were connected to these other gods.
He did not waver from this task. He did not say to himself, what is the point, if the Lord is going to destroy Judah anyway. No. He carried on to reconcile his people for the Lord.

Today, we know for a fact that the earth will be destroyed
Will we just sit back and wait for it to happen and not care about how our actions are destroying the environment? (“ it doesn’t matter because the earth will be destroyed anyway, so why should I do anything to help it? What can I do? It’s nature. God is in control of it, so I can’t do anything to help”)

Josiah didn’t think like that. He carried on regardless of what was to happen. He knew that Judah will be destroyed. He knew that the Lord was angry, yet he carried on.
We should carry on doing whatever we can to help save the environment around us, and lobby governments to alter their thinking on environmental issues.
We should carry on looking after the homeless, the sick, the poor and the elderly, because God sees our hearts and knows that what we do is right in his eyes, yet the process and plans to destroy the earth are already in motion. Like an express train, we cannot stop it, yet should do what we can whilst on board to prepare for the great crash, and keep it tidy and clean. Who knows we may even survive it and live on the new earth in full glory, worshipping God.