2 Kings 22:8-14
"8 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “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. 9 And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, 13 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her."
These verses are amongst the most dramatic in all the Old Testament. They record the discovery and the recovery of the book of the law by the king and people, and the immediate and instantaneous effect this had upon the life of the nation. It was as if the king had taken hold of a living thing - as indeed he had - which galvanised his whole experience and brought a spirit of anxious enquiry upon him that had no relief until he received the assurance of the Lord through His servant concerning himself and his people. We shall hear more of this in the next reading, but, in the meantime, we should recognize in these tremendous happenings the pattern of God's working in spiritual revival. What was the Reformation but a recovery of the Word of God for individual and national life? And just as it caused a moral and spiritual upheaval in Josiah's life, so we should realise that whenever the Word comes with power to men and communities its first effect is one of profound disturbance and unsettlement. How could it be otherwise when it challenges the whole fabric of our lives and calls in question all the thoughts and intents of our hearts? It is not sufficiently realised that a real ministry of the Word is not possible without this probing and hurting at depth. The fact that people react - often violently and in a variety of ways - is a sign that it is effective, that it has 'taken'. We might as well try to stop the incoming tide on the seashore as expect to hear the Word of the Lord without being revolutionised, and those who prefer a nice, quiet life had better have no more dealings with it!