5/4/2011 9:06:09 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Deception
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 10:18-28
Message of the verses: “18
Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, "Ahab served
Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. 19
"Now, summon all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all
his priests; let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal;
whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu did it in cunning, so that he
might destroy the worshipers of Baal. 20
And Jehu said, "Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal." And they
proclaimed it. 21 Then Jehu sent
throughout Israel and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a
man left who did not come. And when they went into the house of Baal, the house
of Baal was filled from one end to the other. 22 He said to the one who was in charge of the
wardrobe, "Bring out garments for all the worshipers of Baal." So he
brought out garments for them. 23 Jehu
went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab; and he said to
the worshipers of Baal, "Search and see that there is here with you none of
the servants of the LORD, but only the worshipers of Baal." 24 Then they went in to offer sacrifices and
burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he
had said, "The one who permits any of the men whom I bring into your hands
to escape shall give up his life in exchange." 25 Then it came about, as soon as he had
finished offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the
royal officers, "Go in, kill them; let none come out." And they
killed them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the royal officers
threw them out, and went to the inner room of the house of Baal. 26 They brought out the sacred pillars of the
house of Baal and burned them. 27 They
also broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and broke down the house of Baal, and
made it a latrine to this day. 28 Thus
Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel. “
In ending his commentary on this
section Dr. Wiersbe asks an important question, a question that I will begin
this section with: “Would anybody trust
him after that?” This is a good question
to ask for it surely was deception that Jehu used to get all of the worshipers
of Baal to come into one place in order to rid the land of the worshippers of
Baal.
One
thing that you don’t read when reading the Scriptures about Jehu and that is
that he sought the mind of the Lord in what he did. He obeyed the words that the young prophet
gave to him and even went far beyond what he was told to do using the
predictions that Elijah had made concerning the house of Ahab, but where was
his heart in all of this? This is
another good question to ask at this point, and one will probably not get an
answer to the important question, but what has to be done is look at the things
that he did and the things that he said to get a clue as to what was going on
in his heart. Jehu was a military man
and therefore he like to outfox his opponents and this seems to be what he was
doing in this section. However there are
a couple of verses in the NT that perhaps disagree with the tactics that he
used. Romans 3:8, “And why not say (as
we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), "Let us do
evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.” 1Thes. 2:3, “For our exhortation does not
come from error or impurity or
by way of deceit;”
In
conclusion to this section I want to say that I do not believe that Jehu did
all of these things just to obey the Lord, but it seems to me that he enjoyed
doing them. I believed that God used
Jehu to do these things because God is Just.
God can use anything and any means within His Character and attributes
to accomplish His will and to accomplish His plan for this world.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I was reading the verse from 1Thes. I
skipped down to the next verse and what it said seemed to be something that I
want to use in this section. “3 For our exhortation does not come from error
or impurity or by way of deceit; 4 but
just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we
speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. 5 For
we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for
greed-God is witness- 6 nor did we seek
glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of
Christ we might have asserted our authority.”
I think that unlike Jehu I have a desire to seek the Lord in all that I
do and when He gives me a precious opportunity to tell others about Jesus
Christ and what He has done for them to provide salvation I cannot use
flattering speech, but must trust that the Lord will put the right words into
my mouth that the Holy Spirit can use to prick their hearts and bring them to
the new birth.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Be ready to give an account of what the Lord has
done in my life to others so that He can do the same in their lives.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
3.
Remember the battle that I am in and the need for
the spiritual armor.
5/4/2011 9:49:35 AM
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