Thirty-one years. Not enough time.

Over three decades of legislated obedience and holiness. And, except for one king and perhaps a small remnant, it didn’t really make much of a difference. While there was over a quarter of a century of reform in Israel, there was really very little revival.

You see, morality is sourced in the heart, not fostered by religious ritual and rites. Holiness is the fruit of the Spirit, not the output of lawmakers. Godliness is a matter of faith, not a matter of following the rules — even when those rules come from the the LORD Himself.

My proof text? 2Chronicles 34 and 35.

Josiah was a kid king. He was eight years old when he became king and reigned for just over three decades (2Ch. 34:1). When he was sixteen years old he “began to seek the God of his ancestor David” (34:3). And it wasn’t long after that, that he began cleaning house. Literally! He began cleaning up the house of the LORD, getting rid of the idols that had been set up within the temple walls. After cleaning came repairing. And in the course of repairing and de-cluttering, a copy of “the law of the LORD written by the hand of Moses” was found. And read. And received. And then reform really kicked into high gear.

Reading the word led to prayer. Prayer led to confession. Confession to repentance. And the king whose heart was already set in the right direction sought to wrestle a 180 degree turn out of the rest of Judah. The word was read to the people and then the people’s response was mandated.

Then the king stood at his post and made a covenant in the LORD’s presence to follow the LORD and to keep His commands, His decrees, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul in order to carry out the words of the covenant written in this book.

He had all those present in Jerusalem and Benjamin agree to it. So all the inhabitants of Jerusalem carried out the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

(2Chronicles 34:31-32 CSB)

And carry out the covenant the inhabitants of Jerusalem did. Slicing and dicing and sacrificing became a daily activity so that the blood of atonement flowed plentifully. And that led to remembering their deliverance from bondage in a manner which had not been done for hundreds of years. In fact, “no Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel” (35:18).

This was now an obedient people. This was a people who had removed the idols and followed the letter of the law to the t. But this was also a people whose hearts were as dead in sin as when Josiah’s rule began. For after Josiah, they returned to their wicked ways.

Righteousness can’t be legislated. Holiness can’t be imposed. Going through the actions does nothing for heart change. Reform doesn’t equal revival. Who’s on the throne, or in the White House, or in Parliament, doesn’t make a bit of difference without hearts ready for revival.

“Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I myself have heard” ​— ​this is the LORD’s declaration.

(2Chronicles 34:27 CSB)

Josiah HEARD the word of God with a tender HEART and HUMBLED himself. This it seems to me, at least in part, is the secret sauce of revival. Renewal can be legislated. Revival however is an act of God through the word of God within a heart prepared by God to humble itself before God.

O’ God. Make our hearts tender and open to Your word. Let us hear Your word. And let us humble ourselves according to Your word.

That there might be reform. That there might be revival.

For our good and for the good of the land.

By your grace. For Your glory.