[King Josiah] asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”

The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”

“Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
2 Kings 23:17-18 (NIV)

A few years ago, I took a course of study to become certified as an Enneagram Coach. One of the interesting things that my study of the Enneagram helped me understand is that everyone has a bent towards how we view time.

Past — What has happened before that helps me understand this?
Present — What’s happening right now that needs my attention?
Future — Where is this going, and what can I do about it?

As an Enneagram Type Four, I have an orientation towards the past. I love history. I’m our family’s genealogist and historian. Wendy gets frustrated at my ability to name all my classmates from my 1st grade class photo, but my forgetting to pick up the cream cheese at Walmart that she requested as I walked out the door. I look to the past to put the present into context.

As an Enneagram Type Six, my friend Eric has an orientation towards the present. He even wrote a book entitled Win the Now! An Enneagram Six tends to feel anxiety about all the possible things that could go wrong in the future. Focusing on the present moment is good for their brains and hearts. You can’t change the past or predict the future, but you have a certain amount of control in the present moment.

Wendy, as an Enneagram Type Eight, has a future orientation. An Eight is motivated to make everything work right. Wendy is constantly thinking ahead, planning, and making lists so that things work best for everyone. If you want your event to flow well, you definitely want Wendy directing traffic.

As I’ve meditated on past, present, and future orientation, it’s helped me to see a whole new layer of meaning in the events of the Great Story. For most of my spiritual journey, I read the chapter. My focus is within the chapter itself, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But the events of today’s chapter would never have happened without past events that brought us to this moment. And they are going to impact the events unpacked in subsequent chapters.

Today’s chapter is amazing. For centuries, the kings of both Israel and Judah mixed all of the idols, deities, and pagan gods of their region into a religious cocktail party inside Solomon’s temple. Then the Law of Moses and the story of God’s covenant with the Hebrew people in Deuteronomy is found, and read to King Josiah. Josiah decides that it’s time to clean God’s house and the entire nation. He destroys every form of worship. As King of Judah, he even crosses boundaries and goes to the capital cities of Israel (Bethel and Samaria), where he destroys the idols and pagan worship centers there.

When he was done, Josiah had the people celebrate the Passover as commanded in the book of the Covenant. The Passover had not been celebrated for centuries. It was a massive reset button for the Hebrew people and their faith. So everything is going to be hunky dory from now on. Right?

Not so much.

Josiah’s reforms lasted about a decade. By the end of today’s chapter Josiah dies at the age of 39. His son becomes King and “did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his predecessors had done.”

As I meditated on this in the quiet this morning, I began to consider the events with regard to time orientation. There’s a little detail in the chapter that’s easy to miss. Josiah is in Bethel destroying the golden calves that Israel’s first King, Jeroboam, created as rivals to Yahweh. He sees a tombstone and asks what it is.

The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”

Josiah leaves the tomb alone. I went back to 1 Kings 13:2 to check out the man of God they were talking about. Here’s what he said:

By the word of the Lord [the man of God] cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’”

Three centuries before the events of today’s chapter, they had been precisely and prophetically predicted. They are the culmination of events that came before in the Great Story that is being authored.

And why all this sweeping reform and renewal of the Covenant if Josiah’s son is going to revert to idolatrous ways in a decade or so?

Then I began to think about what I know about the future of this Story. In just 20 years, the Babylonians will begin taking the people of Judah into exile. In their exile, the Hebrews will need to remember their God, cling to their faith, and discover who they truly are.

A boy who heard Josiah read the Covenant and witnessed Josiah’s sweeping reforms would have grown up hearing the Law read and taught. He would have worshipped God according to the Covenant. He may have even clung to the Covenant, even when Josiah’s son didn’t. That boy would be in his mid-thirties as he and his family are forced to move to Babylon. Suddenly, Josiah’s reforms become crucial for a people whose faith and identity will be severely tested in a foreign land.

And guess what? God told the people back in the time of Moses that this was going to happen. It’s all part of a larger Story. That Story is still being written. You and I are part of it.

And that brings me back to my present. This day, the 22,102nd day of my life journey. It’s a culmination of the past that’s led me here. God has me on a trajectory. Today moves me towards however many days are left on this earthly sojourn and the plans God has for me.

I have a bent toward the past. Learning this has been an opportunity. I’ve learned from my present-oriented friend that it’s not good for me to get so stuck looking back that I forget to Win the Now! I’ve learned from Wendy’s example that it’s a good thing for me to spend a little more time thinking about what’s ahead, planning for it, and even making a list of what needs to be done.

Clearly seeing the past that’s brought me here.
Looking ahead and planning for what I see approaching.
Being fully aware that I’m really only sure that I have today.

I’m finding that when I am mindful of all three, my day makes more sense – and is more meaningful.

I’m sure my friend Eric would tell me that’s called “winning the now.”

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