a Disturbing Discovery
The finding of the roll of the Law was a very significant incident. That it should have become so rare-apparently this was the only copy extant-was doubtless due to the destructive and desecrating efforts of Manasseh and other kings. Some pious hand had concealed it from the search of the inquisitors, and the secret had never been divulged. It is small wonder that the king's heart misgave him when he compared the divine ideal with the actual condition of things in Judah and Jerusalem. Here is an illustration of the way in which conscience may awake to the demands of God, which have long been buried amid the drift and rubbish of our lives, ignored and disobeyed. One day this neglect is brought suddenly and sadly home to us, and we cry out in an agony of conviction.
Let us read God's Word carefully and reverently, until we come on something which accuses us, and then stop to listen. We must submit ourselves to its scrutiny. We must allow it to divide between soul and spirit. We must enthrottle it, at whatever cost, as the critic of our lives. We must follow its leadings wherever it points the way.