4/30/2011 9:49:45 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time
Focus: The suddenness
of opportunity
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 9:1-13
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said
to him, "Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand and
go to Ramoth-gilead. 2 "When you
arrive there, search out Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go
in and bid him arise from among his brothers, and bring him to an inner room.
3 "Then take the flask of oil and
pour it on his head and say, ’Thus says the LORD, "I have anointed you
king over Israel."’ Then open the door and flee and do not wait." 4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet,
went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 When he came,
behold, the captains of the army were sitting, and he said, "I have a word
for you, O captain." And Jehu said, "For which one of us?" And
he said, "For you, O captain." 6
He arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and
said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ’I have anointed you
king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. 7 ’You shall strike the house of Ahab your
master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood
of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. 8 ’For the whole house of Ahab shall perish,
and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. 9 ’I will make the house of Ahab like the house
of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.
10 ’The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the
territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.’" Then he opened the door
and fled.
“11 ¶ Now Jehu came out to the
servants of his master, and one said to him, "Is all well? Why did this
mad fellow come to you?" And he said to them, "You know very well the
man and his talk." 12 They said,
"It is a lie, tell us now." And he said, "Thus and thus he said
to me, ’Thus says the LORD, "I have anointed you king over Israel."’"
13 Then they hurried and each man took
his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet,
saying, "Jehu is king!’”
I
like the Chinese proverb that Warren Wiersbe quotes in his commentary on this
section of Scripture: “Opportunity has a
forelock, but not a pigtail. Once it is
past, you cannot grasp it.” This is what
happened to Jehu and he did grasp this opportunity to the fullest.”
Jehu
was not the son of the former king of Judah, but his father had the same name,
Jehoshaphat. Before Elijah had gone to
heaven the Lord had given him three assignments and he must have passed two of
them onto Elisha, and the third one was to anoint Jehu king of Israel, and so
Elisha wisely sends of the young prophets to do this task. It should be noted that this was the tenth
king of Israel and Jehu was the first king to be anointed by someone that the
Lord had sent to do it. None of the
others had this kind of anointment from the Lord by one of His servants.
The
people of Israel were a rebellious people, but they were still the people of
the Lord the people of the covenant that God had given to Abraham and were his
descendants’. They were still under the
covenant that the Lord gave to David also, so it is for certain that they were
special to the Lord.
When
the young prophet came and spoke to Jehu there are two things worth noting,
actually three, for the young prophet stayed long enough in order to give Jehu
some more information as to what he was to accomplish for the Lord, the
eliminating of the family of Ahab, especially his wife Jezebel. The second thing worth noting is the
humbleness of Jehu as he did not want to tell his peers what the young man had
said as they had to drag it out of him so to speak. The last thing is how his peers identified
the young man as being crazy and this is not uncommon for the people of the
Lord. I think of Noah and what those
neighbors of his must have said about him building an ark on dry land waiting for
something that never happened before to happen, that is rain. People thought the Lord Jesus was crazy, and
they also though Paul was crazy, but actually the ones who are not sane are the
ones who do not know the Lord and I am thankful that I am one who does know the
Lord and I have been told that I am not too sane before.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is one statement in Dr. Wiersbe’s
notes that struck me this day and the statement is as follows: “The people had turned away from the Lord,
but He had not forsaken them.” I know
that I too have forsaken the Lord far too many times, but He has never forsaken
me as I am a beloved child of His, and for this I am humbled and thankful.
The
other thing that stuck out to me in this morning’s readings was not to forsake
and opportunity, but to grasp it and take advantage of it for it may not come
around again.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Remember that the Lord loves me and has provided
spiritual armor for the battle that is ongoing, and I am to use it to the glory
of the Lord.
2.
Grasp opportunities that the Lord sends my way.
3.
Continue to learn contentment.
4/30/2011 10:25:13 AM
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