Seed for the Harvest
Recovering the Covenant

Centuries ago the priests of the Old Testament were doing some repair work in the temple. In the midst of the project, they found an important book. They hurried with their discovery to the young king of the day, Josiah. One of the scribes read from the book, and the king responded with sorrow, and tore his clothes (2 Kings 22:8ff.).

Why did Josiah respond in such a way? Because the discovery made that day was the book of the law, God’s written guidelines for how His covenant people were to live. Upon hearing from the book, Josiah realized how far the nation had strayed from God, and he knew he was responsible to do something about it.

The good news is that this discovery prompted Josiah to institute reforms that restored the people to covenant faithfulness.

Recovering the covenant and living in it faithfully is exactly what we need in our own day.

Our society is in huge decline, and everyone knows it. What few realize, though, is how to reverse the slide toward the abyss. Every four years we elect a new president with the hope that maybe something will change, but it never does. Conditions only get worse.

Why? Because we’ve forgotten the covenant.

God calls us to live in covenant with Him. This covenant is a solemn, personal bond whereby He promises to be our God, and we are obliged to live as His people. When we are faithful to Him, we are blessed. When we forsake the covenant and His ways, we suffer.

The covenant itself has a number of important concepts.

First, God is in charge of everything. Second, God has instituted certain authorities within the family, church, and state that serve as representatives between Him and the people under their care. Third, God’s Word gives us the rules to live by. Fourth, there are consequences to obeying or disobeying His rules. Fifth, the future belongs to those who are faithful over time.

To live in keeping with these covenant concepts is not oppressive. In fact, it is the way of blessing and life. To live in covenant with God brings happiness and prosperity.

Also, life in the covenant is not a foreign concept. Before getting off the boat, the founders of the Plymouth Colony penned the Mayflower Compact. It is the covenant thinking represented in this document that forged our nation in its early days and brought us the outpouring of blessings we have experienced for so long.

Finally, relating to the covenant in some way is inescapable. We cannot simply ignore the covenant and say, “This doesn’t apply to me.” We are either covenant keepers or covenant breakers.

Oh, how we need to recover the covenant. It’s in keeping the words of His covenant that we are able to prosper in all that we do (Dt.29:9). Nothing else will do.

Questions or comments? Email davidjbostromATgmail.com or visit his blog at dbostrom.wordpress.com.

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