A paralyzing question

So I've been thinking about obedience off and on this week. Sunday I was back at my parents' church and the pastor spoke about God giving 2nd chances. He was talking specifically about Saul. At some point Saul screwed up so badly that God said that none of his descendants would rule the throne after him. BUT he didn't say that Saul couldn't finish his reign. In other words, there were consequences for his actions (he wouldn't have a kingly line) but he could still be used. It reminded me of Moses - how his disobedience kept him out of the Promised Land but he was still able to lead the people and be God's spokesman. Anyway, God gives Saul a 2nd chance and says, "Hey, go kill the Amalekites. Don't leave any trace of them, kill everyone, even all the cows, sheep, etc." So Saul goes and they win, but they save the king Agag and they save all the best sheep and cows. Saul tries to tell Samuel that he saved the livestock for sacrifice but you kind of get the impression that he's full of it...as in Samuel's response might have been..."Riiiiight....suuuure it's for sacrifices..." The most interesting thing to me about this sermon is that he said that Hamon, the bad guy in the book of Esther who tried to wipe out all of the Jews was an Agagite! He was a descendant from the king Agag, the king that Saul had disobediently spared!!!

That evening I went to a small group and they talked about Josiah and how he "cleaned house" and got rid of the idols and the priests and brought back the word of God. As we read the passage, it struck me that Josiah started rocking the boat around the age of 20. It's always hard to go against contemporary wisdom, but even fewer people will listen to you when you're just a punk whippersnapper that thinks you know better than your parents' generation! Then 6 years later the Book of the Law was found. SIX YEARS!!! I don't know if I could hold to my convictions and be obedient without having any kind of validation for 6 years. I would start to wonder if those convictions I'd had were real, or it was all just in my head. I would have some serious doubts and I think I would struggle with having low approval ratings. Unfortunately 2 Chronicles doesn't mention anything about an internal struggle, so we don't know how difficult obedience was for Josiah, but I like to think that people in the Bible had the same struggles that I do. Though God didn't change his mind about the punishment the Israelites had already earned for themselves (an all expense paid trip to Babylon!) Josiah died before they were taken and was spared. Again, tt doesn't say this, but I can't help but think that one of the main results from his obedience was the rejuvenation of the Remnant. Because of what he had done, the people of Judah were prepared to go to exile because the Word of God had been renewed in their hearts. Had Josiah not been obedient, I don't know that that generation of Israelites (including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego) would have had a good understanding of the one true God and history could have been much different.

So as far reaching as Saul's disobedience was, so was Josiah's obedience in the other direction. The funny thing is that neither of them had any idea of the ramifications of their actions. So, the question is, what ripples will my actions today have?