The Potential of Youth
We must always remember that
God desires to use us to carry out
His purposes in this world regardless of our age.
Here's Gene:
Next king that comes along is
Manasseh's son.
His name is Amon.
The fact of the matter is, in spite of all
that Amon saw in his father.
He saw all of his evil ways.
He saw God's judgment on him.
I mean he had to see his father carried away
into captivity with hooks and shackles.
He saw all of that.
And he saw his father's repentance.
And he saw his restoration.
Yet in spite of all that, he decides to follow
the evil aspects of his father's behavior.
So we read about that in 2nd Chronicles chapter 33,
beginning with verse 21:
Amon was 22 years old...
Think about that. College age.
Maybe heading into his senior
year by our standards today.
...Amon was 22 years old when he
became king and he reigned
two years in Jerusalem. ...
He didn't last very long.
And we're not told exactly what happened.
But we do know this.
We read about it.
...He did what was evil in the Lord's sight
just as his father Manasseh had done. ...
Now notice what he did:
...Amon sacrificed to all the carved images
that his father Manasseh had made
and he served them. ...
Now obviously all of those carved images,
all of that evil was not destroyed
even though God restored Manasseh.
It doesn't say that he went about the
process of getting rid of all this stuff.
It was still there.
And so his son just steps right in and
picks up with his father's evil behavior.
And we read about it here in this text.
...But he did not humble himself before the Lord
like his father Manasseh humbled himself;
instead, Amon increased his guilt.
He went beyond what his father had done.
And by the way, the key here as we've
seen with all of these kings,
where God stepped in and forgave them,
relates to humility.
God honors humility.
In this case, he did not.
Amon did not humble himself.
Now what we have very quickly
is a contrast with the son of Amon.
And here's one of those things
that's just really puzzling.
How could this happen?
Well notice what we read here
in 2nd Chronicles 34.
Now we're talking about
King Amon's son Josiah.
And notice how he responded.
Even though he was younger,
much younger than his father
when he became king.
Amon was 22.
Josiah was only 8 years old
when he became king.
And here's what we read.
Josiah--1st Chronicles 34, verse 1:
...Josiah was 8 years old when he became
king and [he] reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. ...
That's a summary of his life.
But notice the summary of his life says this.
...He did what was right in the LORD's sight
and [he] walked in the ways of
his ancestor David;
he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
In other words, when you look at this man
and you look at his overall kingship,
he was a man who followed the Lord
in an amazing, amazing way.
Now again, underscoring he was very young--
he was only 8 years old.
But notice what happened in the
8th year of his reign.
Obviously as a young boy, 8, he couldn't be leading.
But he's moving into this under the
tutelage of priests and others.
And we read in chapter 34, verse 3:
In the 8th year of his reign...
That is, he was aged 16--just 16.
...while he was still a youth...
In other words, imagine a young boy in high school.
You know, maybe a sophomore.
Here he is, age 16.
...while he was still a youth, Josiah began
to seek the God of his ancestor David...
And we're not told there specifically
what caused him to seek the Lord
in spite of all the evil of his father
and of his grandfather.
...and in the twelfth year [at age 20]...
Second year of college, as it were,
just to give you a frame of reference.
...he began to cleanse Judah and
Jerusalem of the high places,
the Asherah poles, the carved images,
and the cast images.
He began the process of restoration.
Now think about this.
Here he is age 20.
And as I was thinking about that,
if you want another frame of reference.
You think about the young men on the
college campuses today entering into
the era of temptation--exposure to sin.
And what we read about the behavior of
young men--and young women
but particularly young men--
on the college campuses today.
It's an amazing thing to see a young man
here in the midst of all this evil in Judah
moving towards God rather than away from God.
Destroying all of this stuff.
And today we would say: You know,
turning away from the pornography.
Turning away from everything that
they have access to today.
Turning away from the false teaching
of professors that are leading them astray.
He moves towards God rather than
away from God.
So it's an amazing story.
And it leads to an interesting question.
And that is: Why? And I addressed that a little earlier.
Why did Josiah depart
from his father's example?
Why did he follow the Lord?
Well I think we have a clue in the
parallel account in 2nd Kings.
And that's one of the neat things about
the parallel accounts. Because you get
details in one account you don't get in the other.
Maybe this is a clue.
In 2nd Kings 22:1:
Josiah was eight years old
when he became king
[and] reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. ...
Okay that's what we read in Chronicles.
it's recorded earlier in 2nd Kings.
But here is the clue, I think.
...His mother's name was
Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah;
she was from Bozkath.
Think about that.
Was it his mother?
Possibly.
I think in some cases, it was the mother
who helped to instill in those young boys
growing up what God really says in His Word.
And that could be true as far as
this particular situation is concerned.
And you know in the New Testament
we have illustrations that Paul, in writing to Timothy,
young Timothy who had a
wonderful godly mother.
Although she was Jewish, she became a believer.
But she and the grandmother,
and I think sometimes it's a mother
and a grandmother that were influential
in some of those kings. That they turned away
from the father and the evil of their father.
And that happened with Timothy
in the sense that he was reared
in the Old Testament.
The truth he was taught from childhood
on the part of his mom.
And he then responded to the gospel
and became a great missionary
along with the apostle Paul.
But Jesus Christ really is, probably the
most significant illustration for us
in terms of youth.
And that is, we read in
Luke chapter 2, verse 46-47.
This is when he was just a young boy
12 years of age--12 years old:
After three days, they found Him in the
temple complex sitting among the teachers...
Remember they went to Jerusalem
to worship and they were on their way back
to Nazareth. And they had gone along
a couple of days and realized
Jesus wasn't there.
Which shows it was a large crowd.
And they just assumed that He
was off with the boys.
And how they didn't see Him at night, I don't know.
But anyway, He was not there.
So they went back and they found Him.
And He was sitting there
among the teachers in the temple.
...listening to them and asking them questions.
And all those who heard Him were
astounded at His understanding
and His answers.
Now let's keep in mind that Jesus
was the God-child.
Which means He was truly God
and yet he was truly a child.
He was a God-boy.
He was a God-adolescent.
He was truly God and yet He was
truly an adolescent.
He faced all the temptations that
every young boy 12 years of age
would face and older.
He was the God-man.
He was truly God, truly man.
But let's not forget that that began
with His birth as a human child.
And so consequently, here we have
Jesus as a wonderful illustration.
In His humanness of serving His Father,
being about His Father's business.
Luke culminates 2:52, we read:
And Jesus increased in wisdom...
Just like every boy that's intellectual development.
...Jesus increased in stature...
That is physically.
All of the biological development
that every normal boy goes through.
...He increased in favor with God...
He grew spiritually.
And He grew in His relationship with people.
And that's sociologically.
So Jesus increased in all of these areas of His life.
And He made right choices even though
He was tempted in every way
that we are tempted in our lives.
He's a wonderful illustration of being able
to identify with every child, every young man,
every young woman, every man,
every woman, in terms of being
our great high priest.
He was tempted in every way that
we are and yet without sin.
And that's the marvelous thing.
Here's the Reflection and Response question:
How can we encourage young people
to live up to their full potential and yet
comprehend their chronological,
mental, spiritual, and social limitations?
Well I think we have to instruct.
First of all though, we need to model.
As I think about this, it's so important
for us as adults to model for our children
and for our grandchildren as they grow.
Because they learn so much from
who we are, even more so than what we say.
But they learn from what we say.
But what we say takes on true meaning
because of what we are.
And so there's a great lesson here.
I remember with my own son.
I was challenged, when he just was in
junior high school going on a mission trip,
to begin a series of letters based on
1st Timothy 4:12 where Paul said to Timothy:
Don't let anyone look down on you
because you're young.
But be an example to the believers.
And then he says how he was to be
an example as a young man: in speech,
in conduct, and love, and faith, and in purity.
And I remember beginning a series of letters
to my son when he was just in
junior high school.
He was overseas on a mission trip.
Based on those qualities.
Son, don't let anyone look down on you
because you're young.
But be an example.
That was letter two.
Be an example in your speech.
That was letter number three.
And so forth.
And when he got into college,
I continued those letters and writing to
him and encouraging him.
And that took time. That took effort
to be able to do that.
And I'm not saying everyone needs to do that.
But basically, our young men, our young women today,
need models and examples.
First of all. And then they need instruction.
And both are true.
So let's remember this Principle that
grows out of the life of this young boy Josiah.
Who later became a king who
really followed the Lord.
We must always remember that God
desires to use us to carry out
His purposes in this world regardless of our age.