The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord, to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.” — 2 Kings 23:3 (NIV)
Josiah could have kept the reformation private. He had already been personally broken by the word, already humbled himself before God, already received a prophetic word of assurance that the coming judgment would not fall in his lifetime. He had enough personal peace to simply govern well and let the national situation run its course. Instead, he gathered all the people of Jerusalem, all the elders of Judah, all the priests and prophets, every person in the city, great and small, and he stood before them at the temple pillar and read the entire book of the covenant to them himself. Then he renewed the covenant publicly and invited every person present to do the same.
This is the moment that distinguishes great leadership from merely personal faithfulness. A good person manages their own walk with God well. A great leader creates conditions in which those they lead have the opportunity to encounter God alongside them. Josiah’s personal reformation was genuine and important. But his leadership reformation, the extension of what had happened in him into the public life of the nation, is what secured his legacy as the king about whom scripture says there was none like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength.
Think of the leaders in every domain who have understood this principle. The parent who does not simply practise private faith but creates a home culture in which faith is openly discussed, lived out, and renewed at regular intervals. The pastor who does not merely preach transformation but creates intentional structures in which the community can be formed together. The business leader who does not simply govern with personal integrity but builds a team culture in which integrity is a shared expectation rather than a private standard. In each case, the leader’s personal encounter with what is true becomes the environment in which others can encounter it too.
The public reading of the covenant and the communal renewal that followed it is also a reminder that some things need to be said out loud, in community, with witnesses. The private decision, however sincere, does not carry the same weight as the public commitment made in the presence of those who will hold you to it. Josiah could have renewed the covenant alone in his private chambers. He chose the most public setting available, with every person in the city standing before him as he made and invited the commitment. The accountability of community was not incidental to the reform. It was part of the mechanism.
The revival that changed Judah began with one man who could not read the word without being broken by it. But it reached its full expression only when that one man stood up and made what had happened privately into something that could happen publicly. Personal renewal is the seed. Leadership that creates space for communal renewal is the harvest.
Today, ask yourself: what has God been doing in me privately that needs to be brought into my sphere of leadership publicly? Not as a performance or a position statement, but as an invitation for those you govern to encounter the same thing. The throne is not just a platform for your decisions. It is a platform for your witness.
Prayer
Father, let what you do in me privately find its way into my sphere of leadership publicly. I do not want to hold reformation to myself while those I lead remain unchanged. Make me the kind of leader whose encounter with you creates space for others to encounter you too. In Jesus’ name, amen.
