5/3/2011
8:11:05 AM
SPIRITUAL
DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Selfish
Ambition
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2Kings
10:11-17
Message
of the verses: Today’s SD has two
sub-titles in it. A quote from Novelist
Joseph Conrad: “All ambitions are lawful
except those which climb upward on the miseries and credulities of
mankind.” Quote from Warren
Wiersbe: “Lawful ambition uses truth and
builds on the past, while unlawful ambition uses lies and destroys the
past.” Jehu was moving in this
direction.
He
goes too far (2Kings 10:11-14): “11 So Jehu killed all who remained of the house
of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his acquaintances and his
priests, until he left him without a survivor. 12 Then he arose and departed and went to
Samaria. On the way while he was at Beth-eked of the shepherds, 13 Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of
Judah and said, "Who are you?" And they answered, "We are the
relatives of Ahaziah; and we have come down to greet the sons of the king and
the sons of the queen mother." 14
He said, "Take them alive." So they took them alive and killed
them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two men; and he left none of them.”
The Lord had spoken through the
prophet Elijah that the house of Ahab would be destroyed, and this was
announced to Jehu by one of the young prophets who was told to do this by
Elisha, and so Jehu became king. However
he shows that he has gone too far in killing other people that the Lord did not
tell him to kill and in this section of four verses it can be seen as he kills
those who were friends and who reigned with the king of Israel, and then he
kills some of those who came down to see the former king not knowing that Jehu
had killed him. Innocent people who were
just coming for a visit were now dead at the hands of Jehu. This shows that he was destroying the past in
order to rule over the people and it was wrong.
He
enlists a friend: (verses 2Kings
10:15-17): “15 ¶ Now when he had departed from there, he met
Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to
him, "Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" And
Jehonadab answered, "It is." Jehu said, "If it is, give me your
hand." And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the
chariot. 16 He said, "Come with me
and see my zeal for the LORD." So he made him ride in his chariot. 17 When he came to Samaria, he killed all who
remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word
of the LORD which He spoke to Elijah.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes this about the
Rechabites: “The Rechabites were a
people that belonged to the Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ brother-in-law
Hobab (Judges 4:11), ‘Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the
Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his
tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.’ The identified with the tribe of Judah (Judges
1:16) ‘The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the
city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in
the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.’ They stayed to themselves and followed the
traditions laid down by their ancestors (Jeremiah 35). They were respected highly by the Jewish
people, but, being nomads and tent-dwellers, the Rechabites were separated from
the everyday city life and politics of the Jews.”
This was the kind of man that Jehu
needed to bring creditability to what he was doing and it can be assumed that
Jehonadab did not know what he was getting himself into. Jehu proceeded to kill the rest of Ahab’s
relatives in front of this man. He was
explaining to him that he had a great zeal for the Lord, but it seems like he
was enjoying the killing and enjoying the power that he was getting.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have a
great desire to have zeal for the Lord, but unlike Jehu I must make sure that
the zeal that I have for the Lord is truly from the Lord and for the Lord and
not from the old nature that I have.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Continue to learn contentment, as
it is getting more difficult with each day that I am not at work to trust that
the Lord has us in the place where He wants us to be.
2. Remember that the battle is
growing more fierce and I am in need of the spiritual armor to be put on and to
be used.
5/3/2011
8:58:30 AM
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