Come, Follow Me — July 13–19, 2026: When the Word Was Found Again
From The Chapel
July 13–19, 2026 · 2 Kings 16–25
This Week’s Themes
- Trusting the Lord When We’re Outnumbered — Hezekiah faced the mighty Assyrian army and chose faith over fear.
- Standing Firm Amid the Taunts — the voices telling us to doubt are loud, but they are not the last word.
- Rediscovering the Scriptures — Josiah’s people found the book of the law and it changed everything. ★
- Making and Keeping Covenants With All Our Heart — Josiah stood to the covenant and walked after the Lord.
- It’s Never Too Late to Turn Back — even after long years of wandering, a people can come home.
A Spiritual Insight
On this week’s theme: Rediscovering the Scriptures
There is a part of this scripture section that catches my attention. Josiah’s workers were repairing the temple, and while they went about their labor, one of the priests found something that had been lost — the book of the law of Moses (2 Kings 22:8). Think of that. The people of Judah had drifted so far that the very word of God had been misplaced in His own house. And when it was read aloud to young King Josiah, he tore his clothes. He wept. He knew at once how far his people had wandered.
What moves me is that the scriptures didn’t just inform Josiah — they worked on him. They changed a king. And from that one rediscovered scroll came a great turning: idols cast out, covenants renewed, a whole nation pointed back toward the Lord. The scriptures are important. It is why Lehi sent his sons back to get the brass plates. They are so important that is was worth a life (Laban) to get them. Moroni wandered for years carrying gold plates, so we would have them. They should tell us they are important.
We do not lose the scriptures the way Josiah’s people did. Our loss is quieter. The Bible sits on the shelf. The app is on the phone. But weeks go by, and we haven’t really opened it — not with our hearts. We let it get buried under the rubble of busy days. And little by little, without meaning to, we drift.
The scriptures still work mightily in people who let them. When I sit down with them honestly — not to check a box, but to listen — something in me softens. A verse I’ve read a hundred times will suddenly speak straight to whatever I’m carrying that morning. I learn something new from a passage I have read a 100 times. They are the Lord’s voice speaking to us.
So here is my simple invitation this week. Pick up your scriptures and read like you’re finding them for the first time. Read one chapter slowly, out loud if you can, and ask the Lord what He wants you to see. You may be surprised, as Josiah was, at what a rediscovered word can do in a heart willing to receive it.
Highlighted Scripture
And Hilkiah the high priest said unto 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 it. (2 Kings 22:8)
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. (2 Kings 22:11)
2 Kings 22:8, 11
Reflection
Tonight I am asking myself an honest question: how long has it been since the scriptures really worked on me? Not just crossed my eyes, but reached my heart. I know how easy it is to let good things get buried. The book stays on the shelf, and I tell myself tomorrow. But Josiah heard the word read just once and it broke him open and set him turning. I want that kind of readiness. I don’t want to be a man who owns the scriptures but has quietly lost them under the clutter of his own days. Lord, help me find them again — this week, at this kitchen table, with this tired old heart. And so I carry this question with me: what has gotten buried in me that hearing the word again might bring back to life?