Fear No Fear

“Therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I am about to bring upon this place” (2 Kings 22:20, MEV). People love to try and find contradiction in the bible. But the Word has no contradictions. There are only things we haven’t seen yet (1 Corinthians 2:14). Here Josiah is promised by God a death IN PEACE. But in 2 Chronicles 35:20-27, Josiah dies in battle. That is NOT dying in peace. That’s dying in war, whether the actual death was peaceful or not. Why the discrepancy? Because Josiah didn’t obey God. Yes, he was one of the best kings. Certainly one of the ones who sought God wholly. But near the end of his life he went to battle a king who didn’t want to battle him. Pharaoh Necho (probably Necho II) was being used by God to judge someone and Josiah got in the way. Had he sought God over it after he heard that claim or stayed away in the first place, he never would have died in that battle. When we are given promises by God, they are almost always subject to our continued obedience. There are a few that are simply God bringing something about whether we go along or not, but the vast majority have a condition: obedience. Just because we’re told something doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want. We must remain obedient – even if we have questions. Obedience comes first. And obedience is how the promise comes to pass. It’s the grease on the wheels of our lives upon which the promise rests. Question as you go (1 Thessalonians 5:21), stick the Word to it to see if it’s right, but obey. If we love Him, we’ll be obedient.