February 22, 2025

Passage Read: 2 Kings 8-11
Meditation Verses: 10:30-32

Thought

Jehu obeyed the commission of the Lord. Unlike David, he was anointed king and commanded to kill all the house of Ahab. He wasn't supposed to wait for the current king to die, but to take his life and the life of all his descendants, anyone who belonged to Ahab. Jehu was zealous in his obedience to the command, even going beyond it to destroy all the prophets and priests of Baal. But he never understood that the golden calves that Jeroboam set up as idols of God, that they were wrong. Yet God honored his obedience and diligence by giving him sons to the fourth generation to reign. If he had gone further in understanding the Lord, he might have gotten even more generations to reign, like David, but his zeal didn't lead to learning more about the Lord and discovering his error and the sin of Jeroboam.

Application

It is good to carry out whatever commands the Lord has given, but it is better to seek to know the Lord while also obeying Him. It is too easy to attain to a certain level of understanding and stay there, acting faithfully to that knowledge. But what God desires is not just faithful obedience to His commands, but a desire to know Him better. Like Moses who heard directly from God, yet desired to know Him better so as to continue to find favor with Him. I can't reach a certain level of obedience and stop there, but I need to keep reading and growing in my understanding of God through His Word, so as to keep growing in my understanding of Him and adding to my obedience.