READ: 2 Kings 22:3-11
In an old house close to a Civil War battleground in Virginia, workers are painstakingly restoring graffiti. Unsightly scribbling similar to what we scrub from public view is considered a clue to knowledge of the past. Workers are ecstatic when a new letter or word emerges from obscurity to provide information that has remained hidden for over 145 years.
The story brings to mind a scene in ancient Israel when Hilkiah the priest found the long lost book of the law in the temple of the Lord. The very words of God, entrusted to the nation of Israel, had been ignored, forgotten, and eventually lost. But King Josiah was determined to follow the Lord, so he instructed the priest to restore worship in the temple. In the process, the Law of Moses was discovered.
But an even greater discovery was yet to be made. Many years later, after meeting Jesus, Philip reported to his friend Nathanael: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law” (John 1:45 NIV).
People today get excited about discovering the scribbles of Civil War soldiers. How much more exciting it is to discover the words of Almighty God expressed in the Word made flesh, Jesus the Messiah.
Are great beyond compare;
But if we do not search them out,
We cannot use what’s there. —Sper
Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 37–39; Proverbs 15:22-33
