A Messed Up Family- Josiah

"Is it possible to live for the Lord, even though my family is doing wrong?" I believe this question rests in the minds of young people all over the world.

In some situations, Mom and Dad take the kids to church, and even know how to act properly at church; but at home they live a completely different life- and this brings great discouragement and confusion to the children. In some situations, Mom and Dad are unsaved, and as a result live in a way that brings great heartache to a teenager who is trying to live for God.

In the following posts, I want to highlight the lives of several young people in the Bible who did not come from godly homes, and yet they served the Lord with their lives.

2 Chronicles 34 paints a very clear portrait of the life of Josiah. He became the king of Judah at the age of 8 (sweet!) and was used by God to bring Judah out of idolatry. Verses 2-3 give a summary of Josiah's life:

"And he (Josiah) did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father..."

That is awesome! In these two verses, we see Josiah's life in a nutshell. Praise God, his life honored the Lord!

So, you might say, "Well, he probably had a godly dad that helped him become a godly man, right? Or maybe he had a godly grandfather who took him under his wing and taught him the things of God."

Well, let's look at a description of Josiah's dad, Amon, and his grandfather, Manasseh.

2 Chronicles 33:21- "Amon was two and twenty (22) years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father (Josiah's grandfather)..."

Josiah's dad and grandfather did not leave a godly example for Josiah to follow. In fact, they left the opposite of a good example. Josiah could have had the excuse, "Well, my dad was a wicked man, and so was my grandfather. Why should I be any different?" But Josiah didn't do that. He broke the cycle of ungodliness in his family.

I believe the key is found in 2 Chronicles 34:3- "For in the eighth year of his (Josiah's) reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father..." (Note: in this case, when David is called his father, the word "father" has a similar meaning as "ancestor.") This means that at the age of 16, Josiah had a decision to make. Was he going to allow the ungodly heritage in his family to determine the kind of man he was going to be? Or would he realize that just because his dad and grandfather were wicked men, it didn't mean that he had to follow their footsteps?

Praise God, he didn't allow his father's and grandfather's bad testimonies determine the outcome of his life. And if you come from a bad home situation, you don't have to either.