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Lost the Bible
by A.J. Wilson

“Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read . . . Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king. Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.” 2 Kings 22:8,10-11

“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path . . .  The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” Psalms 119:105, 160

“Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you?” Proverbs 22:20-21

In 2 Kings 22 you find a story from the reign of Josiah.  Josiah came to reign when he was 8, and had reigned for 18 years at this point.  Business was carrying on as usual, and the king sent his scribe, Shaphan, to instruct the distribution of the tithes to those who were working on the house of the Lord.  When Shaphan got to the temple, he expected to see the normal activity of sacrifices and prayers; however Hilkiah came out and said, “We have found the Bible!”  Both the kingdom of Judah and the temple were functioning well, however they had lost the Word of God.  We do not read either that they were looking for the Word, or missed it in any way.  We do not know how long the Word had been missing, however Josiah’s grandfather, Manasseh, had been an idolatrous ruler, reigning for 55 years, and his father Amon reigned for 2 years before his own people killed him.  Josiah had not been exposed to the Bible and carried on the traditions passed along to him.  Yet when he heard the Word of the Lord, things changed.  He ridded the country of idols, and the workers with familiar spirits.  He took to the Word of God so strongly he receives one of the biggest compliments found in the scriptures (23:25.)

It is easy for us to look at Judah & Josiah and say, “How did they carry on without the Bible?”  However it is not so easy to ask ourselves how we often do the same.  Individually, how often do you go from one church meeting to the next, and not even pick up your Bible once in between?  There are many people in our communities right now that have “lost their Bible” and are not looking for it.  Even some churches have lost their “Bibles” continuing based solely on tradition.  This is why God calls us to be missionaries to the world around us, and to stay close to his Word so that we can always be ready to give answers of hope (1 Pet. 3:15) to those around us who desperately need it.

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