The Buried Law

[Ebn Barbara]

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

"In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God… Now when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord… Then Hilkiah answered and 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… Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying: Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes… Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers".
(2Chronicles 34:8-33).

The Buried Law..
About fifty five years passed before Josiah sat on the throne, and the Law (i.e. the word of God) was buried under the utensils and the silver inside the temple of God. It was buried as a book and as a practical application, and the result was that the wrath of God was poured out on this people. But when they found the Law, brought it to the king and read it before him, he repented and knew the reason of all the calamities that were brought on them. So he gathered the people, read in their hearing all the words of the Book, and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow Him, to keep His commandments and to put them into practice. As a result, all king Josiah’s days the people didn’t depart from following the Lord

It is so difficult to have the word of God buried and hidden from our life.. The Lord said:
"And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few" (Luke 12:47-48).

Thus, there is no way out from paying the price of ignoring the word of the Lord and not obeying it and acting upon it. He who knows it and doesn’t put it into practice will be beaten a lot, and he who doesn’t know it and disobeys it – even by ignorance – will be also beaten even if a little.

Beloved: The aim of this meditation is to bring everyone’s attention without exception to the importance of giving the word of God the absolute authority in our life. I also want to warn everyone about the seriousness of burying the Law in our life, neglecting the word of God, not observing it from all our hearts and not putting it into practice. I especially want to point out today that the majority of us observes part of the word of God and puts it into practice while burying the other part, for many pages in our bibles are worn-out because we read them so much, yet other pages are still new because we didn’t read them at all, or we read them once and then buried them..

Most likely, the buried pages are the ones that talk about the Lord’s discipline, holiness, not loving the world and its longings, that talk about self-denial, carrying the cross, walking behind the Lord every day, and sacrificing ourselves for Him, that talk about loving our enemies, and forgiving those who offend us, about submission and obedience, refraining from gossiping, preferring our brothers to ourselves, not judging them, carrying their burden, honoring the Lord with our money, and so on..

As to the promises that are related to financial prosperity, joy, peace, enjoyment, and success, healing from sicknesses, and triumphing over weaknesses.. Fear, anxiety, worry, and sadness.. Satan’s attacks, those are the ones we read constantly, without tiredness or weariness, and we always ask the Lord to grant them to us, since all these are centered on our own profit and rest..
But, what I want to bring to your attention, today, is that those promises will not be fulfilled in our life if we neglect those buried pages.

Paul said to Timothy:
"And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables". (2Timothy 3:15-4:1-4).

How deep and valuable are these words, Holy Scriptures are the ones that save you. Notice with me the accuracy of the inspiration: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
All Scripture and not a certain part of it.. Is profitable to us so we may be complete and equipped for every good work..
All the Bible protects us, not just a certain part of it..
Reproof, rebuke, exhortation and teaching are for your good, whereas, the doctrine that is pleasing to your ears and focuses on making you hear what you desire, is not profitable for you..

Beloved: We ought to fear and tremble at the Word of God when we allow ourselves to overlook it or not to give it due authority in our life, the Lord said:
" … But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2).
On him who trembles at His word, respects it and obeys it, will the Lord look to give him all the requests of his heart.

Through the ages, and in every era the Word of God tells us that burying the Law and neglecting the Word of God, or burying part of the Law, may result in a certain flaw which will lead to very hard consequences for us..
The Word of God was written so we may experience it, not to stay ink on paper. And the Father has sent the Holy Spirit to this earth so we may practically experience what God promised in His word. Here, I have a very important request to make, that you do not allow yourself to live one single day without experiencing what God promised you without knowing the reason why. This is not God’s purpose for His children..

Many believers live far from God’s promises for their lives. Our life is most of the time similar to that of the people in the world.. we do not enjoy peace or rest, we worry and we fear, we feel depressed, we are in need, we have difficult diseases, we stay trapped in much bondage, our ministry is unfruitful… and other similar matters..
The main reason for all this is what I’m sharing with you today:
Either the Law is entirely buried in your life, or part of it is..

Do not ever expect to experience the joy, the peace, and the prosperity, and do not expect to see your faith, which is a free gift from God, taken to a higher level, while you are neglecting God’s commandments and disobeying them, especially these related to holiness, truthful conduct, and the careful examination of your life to the extreme, or if you were not responding to the Lord’s discipline and the rebuke of the Holy Spirit regarding specific issues the Lord wants you to surrender..
The reason simply is that part of God’s word is buried under the utensils and the silver, and dust covered it with the passing of time.

In the days of Ezra the scribe:
"Now all the people gathered together as one man… and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding … Then he read from it… from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law… And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people: This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law… And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them… Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God." (Nehemiah 8:1-11; 9:1-3).

The utensils and the dust that covered the Law were removed, it was read in front of all the people, and their ears were attentive to it. All mourned, wept and fasted, then they separated themselves from foreigners, confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers, then they rejoiced greatly and were confessing and worshipping the Lord.
We all want to weep today in front of our God, and to tend our hearts and ears to all the Bible and not part of it. We repent for neglecting the word of the Lord or part of it, we confess our sins, we humble ourselves in front of the Lord, and we make a vow to our God to tremble at His word and to give it the absolute authority in our life. This will allow us to experience the joy of the Lord in a new way and to be able to delight in all His generous promises to us..

Beloved: Just as the expression “in Christ” exists in the Word of God, which promises us to obtain our inheritance in the Lord, of joy, peace, prosperity, healing, enjoyment and victory… and this is what we certainly want to experience..
There exists also in the Word of God the expression “for Christ”, which makes us accept the suffering and the discipline, carry the cross and get purified, and love our enemies and seek after the wellbeing of others before ours…
Moreover, not living both of them together is like burying part of the Law. This will make it difficult for the Lord to use us and will hinder us from enjoying all that he prepared for us.
If you are presently going through difficult times, before rebuking the devil, ask first the Lord with a humble heart about the reason why, and then search to see if you were burying part of the Law or maybe all of it..
Satan and his entire kingdom cannot deprive you from living what the Lord promised you; for the virgin – symbol of weakness, can despise the devil if she were walking in the fear of the Lord, respecting His word, trembling at it and giving it the absolute authority in her life.. (Isaiah 37:22).

The devil’s head is crushed and he has no authority over you, only if you do not give him place or foothold in your life.
The Scripture tells us:
"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
We all rebuke Satan but most of the time he doesn’t flee from us.. because we are not submitting to God and the fullness of His Word..
All His Word and not part of it.
We give Satan foothold in our life when we have relationships that are not according to God’s word, when we do not love others, do not give our tithe, watch dirty movies, gossip and judge our brothers, do not serve the Lord with all our hearts, but we want to resist him when we are sick, in need or looking for a job, or when we fear or worry… but he doesn’t flee.. for when Satan has a foothold in you he can move in all directions. Therefore, you cannot choose from the word of God what suites you, all the bible has to be obeyed.. otherwise Satan will not flee even if you spend your day rebuking him..
Don’t forget.. submit to God.. to all His Word.. to every letter in it.. then resist Satan and he will flee from you!!!

Let us shake the dust and remove the sand and silver that cover the buried Word of God, let us start by reading all the scripture given by inspiration of God, and let us live the abundant life that God prepared for each of His children who fear Him and walk before Him with integrity.