Lessons from a Teenage King

What were you up to at 8 years old? In the United States, you would have been in third grade. Maybe you enjoyed playing with Legos. It could have been you were learning to make cookies with your mom. You were likely reading Ramona Quimby books or Mr. Popper’s Penguins.

For Josiah in the Bible, it was a completely different story. It states in II Kings 22: “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem” (vs. 1). He was made king of the kingdom of Judah. His father, Amon, had only ruled for two years before being assassinated.

Imagine being thrust into a position of rulership at such a young age!

Were he alive now, it could be said that King Josiah grew up “in the Church.” However, “the Church” in this comparison—the whole nation of Judah—had gotten off track.

Josiah’s father set a terrible example. Though his reign lasted merely two years, “he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh [Josiah’s grandfather] did…and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them…” (II Kgs. 21:20-21).

Yet Josiah broke away from that terrible pattern of leadership. The young king, who was likely guided by advisors for the first years of his rule, began to come into his own at age 16. II Kings 22:2 states that “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.”

Throughout those early years as king, instead of allowing himself to grow spoiled and following the pattern of wicked kings before him, Josiah drew closer to God. This allowed him to be used in a special way by the time he turned 20. That is when he began a renewal of the nation’s spiritual condition—sending out crews to tear down places connected to idols and restoring proper activities to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Idolatry comes in different forms. In essence, anything that gets between you and God is an idol. A great way to help you never fall for it, is to study the life of this young king who became known for eradicating idolatry more than anyone else.

Josiah’s work to eradicate idolatry in the land peaked when he obtained an original copy of the Law—the first five books of the Old Testament—which was found in the Temple. These scrolls of sheepskin were untouched likely for decades. Although copies were made more than 200 years earlier, most had been destroyed by idol-worshippers by the time Josiah began his reign.

When the young king first heard God’s Word, he was shaken to the core: “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes” (II Kgs. 22:11).

In ancient times, rending clothes was an act of great distress. Josiah had never read God’s Word up to this point. He had likely only heard basic elements of how to obey God through what was passed down by the high priest and certain prophets. The hard reality of passages, such as the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28, left him deeply struck by how far off course he and his people had become—and on course for severe punishment from God.

Josiah’s repentant attitude moved him to seek forgiveness. He told Hilkiah the priest this: “Go you, enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us” (II Kgs. 22:13).

It was because of this sincere humility and repentance that God promised Josiah would be kept from national punishment and would carry out the most thorough restoration of God’s Way to Judah.

You may or may not have grown up in the Church as a very young child, but that makes no difference. Josiah’s example shows you can still go on to be a great servant of God.

All it takes is to seek to understand what God expects and determine to act on it. Once Josiah understood what he needed to do, he did not hesitate to make the necessary changes. In doing so, he did not allow the past to dictate his future. The Bible summarized his rule: “There had never been a king like him before, who served the Lord with all his heart, mind, and strength, obeying all the Law of Moses; nor has there been a king like him since” (23:25, Good News Translation).

King Josiah’s example bears out seven extraordinary lessons you can learn from today.

Lesson 1: God Has a Plan for You

God mentions some people in the Bible by name before they were born. Some examples include the Persian King Cyrus (Isa. 44:28), King Solomon (I Chron. 22:9), and Christ Himself (Matt. 1:21). Romans 4:17 states that God “calls those things which be not as though they were.”

Josiah was also mentioned before his birth.

I Kings 13 tells of a man of God who indicted the priests and rulers in Israel who had rejected God’s Way and fallen into idol worship. This man prophesied of a time false worship would cease in the land and that a specific person would accomplish this.

Notice in verse 2: “Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name.” The rest of the passage shows that Josiah would restore proper religion in the land.

Imagine how Josiah felt hundreds of years later when he felt convicted to get his kingdom back on track—and then he reads his own name in Scripture.

II Kings 23:17 shows that King Josiah learned of this when he came across the tomb of the man who spoke this prophecy: “Then [the king] said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulcher of the man of God, which…proclaimed these things that you have done.”

This was all history in the making—ironclad proof that the God of the Bible is alive and real!

God’s pattern did not somehow stop at Josiah and John the Baptist, or a few others mentioned in the Bible. He does not randomly select those with whom He is working now. The Bible even states that we were all chosen since before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

Realize what this means. God decided long ago that you would have access to the knowledge of His Way.

As with Josiah, God has a purpose for you and intends for you to be in His Plan. There will be a specific role for you in His Kingdom if you are willing to accept this and yield to Him now.

Never lose sight of this, especially when you run into hardships in your life.

Lesson 2: Seek Righteous Counsel

King Josiah’s good choices shows that he listened to righteous people around him. Some of these may have been the High Priest Hilkiah and his son Jeremiah, the royal scribe Shaphan and his son Ahikam, as well Shallum the chamberlain and his wife the prophetess Huldah.

The legacy of Josiah’s great-grandfather King Hezekiah—who himself is described as one who “trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him” (II Kgs. 18:5)—probably served as a great inspiration as well.

Josiah chose to actively follow good counsel and examples, rather than the bad examples that were around him. Similarly, you have your parents (especially if they are in the Church), other brethren, and the ministry as role models to follow.

Do not be afraid to ask your parents for advice. Likewise, do not ever be shy about counseling with your minister about questions you have. Young ladies, do not hesitate to talk with his wife. Ministers are there to help you and to set an example of good conduct for you.

Be sure to regularly study the Bible and the Church’s materials, which are a written form of counsel. This not only applies to teen-tailored items, such as the Ambassador Youth and The Story of the Bible series, but any of the Church’s literature!

If you can read and understand schoolbooks and educational videos with the help of your teachers and parents, you can very well read and understand the Church’s materials with the help of your minister and your parents. These are all study material for God’s “school,” and you are just one of His younger students.

Lesson 3: Don’t Follow the Wrong Crowd

Being a true Christian involves doing what very few dare. Chances are, not many of your family members or friends follow God’s way of life. You may feel at times like a fish swimming against the current.

Surely Josiah understood this feeling as a young king attempting to turn an entire nation toward God.

Yet the king went further in his zeal than any other monarch of Judah. Not even King Hezekiah, who removed some of the high places in Judah, was able to take out as many idolatrous locations as Josiah did.

You live a way of life that those outside the Church do not understand. Often, people will see your good conduct and view you as odd or different. That makes you just like Josiah.

For the king, there was no room for half-hearted effort. Either complete loyalty to the true God and His way of life—all idols had to go—or leave things as they were and face the consequences.

Josiah had a Proverbs 4:27 mindset: “Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove your foot from evil.”

The monarch could have not done this if he wanted to follow the majority and be popular. Popularity—being liked by the majority—can become a form of idolatry since it promotes self-interest. In other words, it is easy to put what others think of you before God’s Way.

Yet Josiah dared to do what God says, even though it was not easy. That is what God wants you to do as well.

Lesson 4: God Protects Those Who Repent

The Bible says that King Josiah turned to God with all his heart. The result: prophesied national punishment due to the sins of King Manasseh did not happen in Josiah’s lifetime.

What a remarkable thing to consider: Your good actions can influence God’s decisions and timing!

Likewise, God offers to protect you today if you seek to obey Him. Look at these verses:

• “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him…” (II Chron. 16:9).
• “The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them” (Psa. 34:7).
• “The fear of the Lord tends to life: and he that has it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil” (Prov. 19:23).
• “Because you have made the Lord, which is my refuge, even The most High, your habitation; there shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways” (Psa. 91:9-11).

Many more verses could be cited. When you obey God, you can consider yourself protected by His invisible, angelic “secret service.”

This is a wonderful benefit that comes from serving God. While He allows us to go through trials so we can learn lessons, you can fully count on His exclusive protection.

Those who do not obey the true God rely on physical things and their own abilities when they attempt to address their problems.

As one of God’s youth, however, you should be different. You are able to call on Him to deliver you whenever you need it.

Lesson 5: Setting a Good Example

I Corinthians 10:11 says that “all these things [in the Old Testament accounts] happened unto them [ancient Israel] for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition.” King Josiah’s determination to rid his country of idolatry was recorded in the pages of the Bible for all time, so we can learn from it.

Yet it was not just about him. It was about all who would read about him for millennia to come, who would learn that it is possible to do the right thing, even if it seems impossible.

In the same way, your obedience to God, as beneficial it is for you personally, is not just about you. It is about all the others who may one day be inspired by your example.

You too could be spoken of as someone who did the right thing at a time when most people did not.

In a secular sense, the term idol also means “a person or thing that is loved and admired very much” (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries). In this context, someone who sets a sinful example would literally be a bad “idol” just as an idolatrous image.

This world is chock full of bad examples. You should seek to be at the other extreme of that: being known for obedience.

Open a Bible and go to the end of the book of Acts in the New Testament. Acts means “doings.” This book records the doings of the Church’s apostles in the first century. It also records doings by other brethren and youth!

At the end of this book, you will notice that there is no “amen.” This concluding word closes most other books of the New Testament, but not Acts. Why?

The Church has believed for a long time that it is possible that this book has not been finalized and that one day it may include the inspiring actions of brethren in the Church for the past 2,000 years—including today.

Proverbs 20:11 states: “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.” Could it be that your story will be written about in the rest of the book of Acts?

Lesson 6: Be Proactive in Doing Good

Coming off the last lesson, there is no such thing as being too young to understand and obey God.

Remember, Josiah became king at age 8! While restoring his nation back to God took place later on (II Kgs. 22:3), God knew He could trust this young man of remarkable character.

The prophet Jeremiah, who lived during Josiah’s time, also started very young. In Jeremiah 1:6-7, he recorded: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for you shall go to all that I shall send you, and whatsoever I command you you shall speak.”

Like Josiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and others in the Bible, there is no need to wait until baptism or adulthood to do what God says. If you attend services, you are hearing privileged instruction every week on how God wants us to live. Never limit God’s ability to use you as early in life as He wants!

Sometimes God even calls parents and other adults through children. For example, there was once a man who came to the Feast of Tabernacles to accompany his wife. When the man, who was not a member at the time, entered the meeting hall at the site, he was stunned by how well-behaved the children were at services. That alone sparked the man’s interest to learn more, and eventually he became a member himself. One day, those children will learn that their example helped another person be in God’s Church.

Do not allow yourself to think, I am just too young to obey God.

Lesson 7: All or Nothing with God

Recall how the Bible summarized Josiah’s rule: “There had never been a king like him before, who served the Lord with all his heart, mind, and strength, obeying all the Law of Moses; nor has there been a king like him since” (23:25, Good News Translation).

In effect, Josiah knew that “it’s all or nothing” with God. Anything less than that—compromising even a little—crosses into idolatrous territory.

Idolatry tripped God’s people repeatedly throughout the Bible. The same is true today. The world around you is riddled with sin and often thinks nothing of it. This is because it has not been taught what idolatry looks like. Yet you—like Josiah—can understand it for what it is.

Unlike Josiah, however, you are not the ruler in charge to mandate that each of your town’s Christmas trees, crosses, steeples or any other idolatrous images be “burned…pounded its ashes to dust, and [scattered] it over the public burying ground” (II Kgs. 23:6, GNB); to get rid of all false preachers (vs. 5); or that every structure in which people do vile things with one another be torn down (vs. 7). Josiah did the equivalent of all that, and then some.

While you may not have Josiah’s authority today, you can learn to serve God like him—with all your heart, mind and strength, and by obeying all His Law—even in an environment in which most people around you do the exact opposite.

Learning from Examples

It has been said that there are two ways to learn: from the experience of others or from your own. Of these two, learning from the experiences of others is always best.

Human nature always wants to worship God its own way, mixing in some of the world’s ways. In Matthew 15:9, Christ referred to this kind of mixed worship as “in vain.”

Learning these lessons now will keep you from everything God considers idolatry.

Today, God still expects us to destroy all forms of idolatry in our lives. He is a jealous God—meaning He wants you to stay close to Him and not be distracted by anything else that can take us away from Him.

In essence, anything that gets between you and God is an idol. The life of Josiah, who became known for eradicating idolatry more than anyone else, is detailed in the pages of your Bible for your benefit. It is much more than cute bedtime stories.

It teaches you: (1) God has a plan for you, (2) to seek righteous counsel and good examples, (3) to not follow the wrong crowd, (4) God thought of you before you were born, (5) God protects those who repent, (6) you can set a good example for the future, and (7) how to be “all in” on God’s Way.

Be sure to read all of Josiah’s story in II Kings 22-23, II Chronicles 34-35, and in volume 7 of The Story of the Bible.

By keeping in mind and applying the lessons from Josiah’s leadership, you will be preparing to become a leader who will “serve the Lord with all your heart, mind, and strength.”