Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

Survivor, the game played with cunning and manipulation to rise as leader by avoiding being voted off by the other players, has been popular for years!  Many seasons, the audience watches to see how alliances are formed purely through manipulation and deceit. Human behaviors are studied by millions who root for their favorite while booing for their least favorite in this game to survive.  Tests are included to see who can stand the stress and stay in the group.

But what if, at the end of the show, no survivors were declared and all were defeated and sent home empty handed!  That seems to be the case in our passage today as we watch and learn how Jehu is zealous in his work for the Lord, but uses deceit and manipulation in the accomplishment of the work.  Jehu’s zealousness in the work of God portrays his heart for God after the work is done his way.  Does that still happen today?  Read, watch what happens, and learn…

2 Kings 10

Ahab’s Family Killed

Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab’s children. He said, ² “You have your master’s sons with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons. Now as soon as this letter reaches you, ³ choose the best and most worthy of your master’s sons and set him on his father’s throne. Then fight for your master’s house.”

⁴ But they were terrified and said, “If two kings could not resist him, how can we?”

⁵ So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: “We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best.”

⁶ Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow.”

Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. ⁷ When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. ⁸ When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the princes.”

Then Jehu ordered, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

⁹ The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? ¹⁰ Know, then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he announced through his servant Elijah.” ¹¹ So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.

¹² Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, ¹³ he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?”

They said, “We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother.”

¹⁴ “Take them alive!” he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked—forty-two of them. He left no survivor.

¹⁵ After he left there, he came upon Jehonadab son of Rekab, who was on his way to meet him. Jehu greeted him and said, “Are you in accord with me, as I am with you?”

“I am,” Jehonadab answered.

“If so,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he did, and Jehu helped him up into the chariot. ¹⁶ Jehu said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” Then he had him ride along in his chariot.

¹⁷ When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab’s family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah.

Servants of Baal Killed

¹⁸ Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹ Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests. See that no one is missing, because I am going to hold a great sacrifice for Baal. Anyone who fails to come will no longer live.” But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

²⁰ Jehu said, “Call an assembly in honor of Baal.” So they proclaimed it. ²¹ Then he sent word throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one stayed away. They crowded into the temple of Baal until it was full from one end to the other. ²² And Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring robes for all the servants of Baal.” So he brought out robes for them.

²³ Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went into the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look around and see that no one who serves the Lord is here with you—only servants of Baal.” ²⁴ So they went in to make sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had posted eighty men outside with this warning: “If one of you lets any of the men I am placing in your hands escape, it will be your life for his life.”

²⁵ As soon as Jehu had finished making the burnt offering, he ordered the guards and officers: “Go in and kill them; let no one escape.” So they cut them down with the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and then entered the inner shrine of the temple of Baal. ²⁶ They brought the sacred stone out of the temple of Baal and burned it. ²⁷ They demolished the sacred stone of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal, and people have used it for a latrine to this day.

²⁸ So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. ²⁹ However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.

³⁰ The Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” ³¹ Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.

³² In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory ³³ east of the Jordan in all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh), from Aroer by the Arnon Gorge through Gilead to Bashan.

³⁴ As for the other events of Jehu’s reign, all he did, and all his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

³⁵ Jehu rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son succeeded him as king. ³⁶ The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

In a desperate effort to “go and make disciples” without consulting God first; some church leaders will use the world’s methods of marketing and commercialism to bring people to their buildings.  They zealously count “bodies in the seats” more than the numbers of lives changed as disciples of Jesus as their measure of success.  In fact, we  hear numbers more than God’s Word from the platform along with the consistent plea to come to the next big thing so that the numbers of people will increase for success!

Years ago, I attended and served a church like that for a while and was even invited to sit on the staff. What I saw and heard behind the platform in meetings broke my heart.  My love and zeal for the Lord was used more for a way to build attendance with less talk and funds going to “making disciples.” There’s more but you get the picture.  What I thought were leaders who loved Jesus first and wanted others to love Jesus, too was merely a show to proclaim their own “goodness” to build their popularity. People were used, spiritually abused, and cast aside when they did not produce the outcome wished for in the count. I stayed to tell people the truth of who God is, why Jesus came, while working under a “yoke” of stress. I thought of all the stressed but zealous disciples who did exactly as Jesus told them to be and do—“go and make disciples, baptizing them in My Name, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded…” and I praised God for the time on task I had to show people the love of God through Jesus. I have no regrets.

When we keep it simple and do exactly what God says, we will always have opposition. Count on it! Our enemy does not want us to succeed in going and making disciples! But we must not fall for his tricks! Sometimes we think we must be like the marketing, manipulative world, telling people what they want to hear so they will come to our church; but that’s just falling for the Deceiver himself, who leads us into thinking that way.  Follow The Way to God who is Jesus His Son who reconciles us to God!

Enthusiastically love others like He loves us, faithfully and without conditions for worth but see all people as His created.  It is God at work bringing people to find Him where He is! Jesus, Word made flesh, drew multitudes of people because He was their hope of salvation in an oppressive world without hope!  Yes, Jesus is our Hope! Hope of eternal life, hope that tomorrow might be troublesome but knowing God is with us always with a plan and purpose!  Hope is the One who saved us and set us free from all our sins.  Jesus is Hope. Jesus is the Way, Truth, and the Life we so desperately seek.

“Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. This deceit got the job done to rid the world of the worship of Baal and detestable sins committed as a result. Jehu cleaned up the mess others left behind.  However, Jehu’s heart for God was not pure. Jehu did God’s work his way and followed his own heart when it came to living his life as king. God said it Himself; “Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.”

It seems it was Jehu who served God only “a little,” just enough to leave no survivors of Baal but with a divided, deceiving heart who still worshiped golden calves!  God sees our hearts and knows our intentions.  Nothing is hidden from God. Why do we think we can hide our real intentions for service in His church? “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 But, remember, we have a Savior and Lord to lead us out of sin and to a new way to live God’s way!  Go to Jesus now!

Join me as we pray the prayer of David;

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,  when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.       

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139

To God, In Jesus Name, Amen

Though evil kings reign; what God says will happen through his prophets—happens!  Not matter what is occurring in our world today, what God still says about keeping our hearts fixed on Him still stands as truth.  Are we for God and all He says to be Truth or not? There are only two choices.  God or the Enemy.  God is most assuredly for, not against, those whose hearts are fully committed and surrendered to Him and His will.  Committed hearts seek God, consult Him to know His will then trust and obey what He says no matter what is happening around them. Jehu has become that person who knows what God said through the prophet of Elijah and now Elisha. Jehu is standing up for the cause of God and obeying what has been commanded for him to do—rid God’s people of evil kings.

The Hit and Run—

It is a bit amusing for a prophet to declare God’s message with oil in hand to anoint the next king of Israel and then run from the room as fast as he can!  But that’s what God told him to do as He declared Jehu as the next chosen king.  What God says—happens! 

Dressed to Kill—

It is downright odd to us, but in character for Jezebel to get “dressed to kill” as she applied her makeup and did her hair just before being tossed off the balcony by her own servants!  But, this is what mattered to her—to look good at all costs which showed the shallowness of her heart!  Years earlier, God had proclaimed the demise of Jezebel who was so full of evil that her behavior was notorious down through the ages! Her name is still used today to call a person out for being evil!  “You, Jezebel!”  Everyone knows what they mean.  Her name is synonymous with disgusting evil practices just as Judas is synonymous with betrayal.  These are two names to avoid when naming your children!

What God says, happens.  It would wise to trust and obey Him alone!

2 Kings 9

Jehu Anointed King of Israel

The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. ² When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. ³ Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!”

⁴ So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead. ⁵ When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said.

“For which of us?” asked Jehu.

“For you, commander,” he replied.

⁶ Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. ⁷ You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel. ⁸ The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’” Then he opened the door and ran.

¹¹ When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you?”

“You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied.

¹² “That’s not true!” they said. “Tell us.”

Jehu said, “Here is what he told me: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’”

¹³ They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”

Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

¹⁴ So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth Gilead against Hazael king of Aram, ¹⁵ but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle with Hazael king of Aram.) Jehu said, “If you desire to make me king, don’t let anyone slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.” ¹⁶ Then he got into his chariot and rode to Jezreel, because Joram was resting there and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

¹⁷ When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, he called out, “I see some troops coming.”

“Get a horseman,” Joram ordered. “Send him to meet them and ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

¹⁸ The horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”

“What do you have to do with peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”

The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he isn’t coming back.”

¹⁹ So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them he said, “This is what the king says: ‘Do you come in peace?’”

Jehu replied, “What do you have to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”

²⁰ The lookout reported, “He has reached them, but he isn’t coming back either. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac.”

²¹ “Hitch up my chariot,” Joram ordered. And when it was hitched up, Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah rode out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him at the plot of ground that had belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. ²² When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?”

“How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

²³ Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

²⁴ Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart and he slumped down in his chariot. ²⁵ Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the Lord spoke this prophecy against him: ²⁶ ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the Lord, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the Lord.’ Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the Lord.”

²⁷ When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, “Kill him too!” They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸ His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in the City of David. ²⁹ (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)

Jezebel—Dressed to be Killed! 

³⁰ Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she put on eye makeup, arranged her hair, and looked out of a window. ³¹ As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?”

³² He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ³³ “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.

³⁴ Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of that cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” ³⁵ But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. ³⁶ They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the Lord that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.   ³⁷ Jezebel’s body will be like dung on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Where we might think of sin as slipups or missteps, God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless actions. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  As each king of the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah “followed their hearts” instead of the heart of God; chaos ensues because of satisfying their own selfish desires.  God’s people are caught in the crossfire of evil kings and their queens.  God chooses Jehu to do what He says for what God says, happens. Jehu had remembered the words of the Lord through the prophet Elijah!

Max Lucado writes this perspective from this passage which gives us hope and encouragement to consistently seek the heart of God, turn our hearts toward God and trust God no matter what—

“The sinful mind dismisses God. His counsel goes unconsulted. His opinion, unsolicited. His plan, unconsidered. The sin infected grant God the same respect middle schoolers give a substitute teacher—acknowledged, but not taken seriously.

The lack of God-centeredness leads to self-centeredness. Sin celebrates its middle letter—sin. It proclaims, “It’s your life, right? Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your nights with pleasure.” The godless lead a me-dominated, childish life, a life of “doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it” (Ephesians 2:3 MSG).

God says to love. I choose to hate.

God instructs, “Forgive.” I opt to get even.

God calls for self-control. I promote self-indulgence.

Sin, for a season, quenches thirst. But so does salt water. Given time, the thirst returns, more demanding and demanding more than ever. “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed” (Ephesians 4:19).

We pay a high price for such self-obsession. “God isn’t pleased at being ignored” (Romans 8:8 MSG).

Are you troubled by the evil that surrounds you? Leaders or managers who don’t honor God? The suffering of the innocent? The influence of sin? All of these can weigh you down and make you doubt God’s ability to intervene. Remember: God has perfect timing. He has a plan to judge and punish evil. Bring your discouragement to him and rely on his victory.” –Lucado, The Encouraging Word Bible

No matter what is happening in our world today; God has not given up His authority over the world and its inhabitants. God will intervene as He sees fits in His timing. I read the end of the book—God wins. Jesus already gave us the victory over death. 

Believe, repent, trust, and obey! 

There’s just no other way to be at peace with the King of kings and Lord of lords forever!

Lord,

Thank you for your message that restores our joy and peace this morning. Thank you for being with us always and knowing all that we need and providing it. Thank you for cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, refreshing our souls, and restoring the joy of you in us and us in you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:13-15

Good versus Evil

Who doesn’t love seeing our money make more money as we save or invest our assets wisely. It takes time, forethought, and wisdom to do; but if we wait long enough the interest or the investment will grow and mature. Most often, there is a payoff at the end.  We know that funds invested in a disciplined and wise manner will give us income later when we need it most to sustain our lives.  Waiting is key.

There is another way to invest our lives that aggressively leads to the implosion of our lives.  We want it and we want it now is living life that feeds our daily desires. The Enemy of God knows our nature to sin well.  He tempts us daily with shiny objects of affection that lead us away from the wisdom and desires of God.  God wants His best for us. Evil wants merely to distract, deceive, and ultimate destroy us.  God gives life. Evil leads to death.  Both are eternal and forever.  Who do we choose then?

Sin gives birth to death—it always has and always will. Hiding it does not get rid of it.  Glossing over it with comparing our sin with other sinners thinking “our sin is not as bad as their sin” does not remove it or stop its growth.  Sin compounds with our interest in it.  Sin leads to more sin as we give in to the desires of our hearts. Speaking of our hearts, stop believing the notorious lie of the enemy who says, “just follow your heart” and all will be well. It won’t!  We cannot trust our hearts!  God relayed this message of Truth to Jeremiah, His prophet who warned God’s people what their sins would lead to—certain death.

“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 MSG

Sin compounds with interest with kings who “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” With Jehoshaphat as a father, Jehoram had a good example to follow. When he became king, however, he foolishly chose to marry the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (probably as a political alliance). This daughter, Athaliah, brought evil practices and the need for God’s judgment to the southern kingdom.

If we purposely ignore God’s desire for us, we will find ourselves candidates for his discipline.  God disciplines those He loves.  Hold that thought forever along with God’s blessed assurance; “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

God is our hope and future. Sin leads only to death.

2 Kings 8

The Shunammite’s Land Restored

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” ² The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

³ At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and land. ⁴ The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵ Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad

⁷ Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, “The man of God has come all the way up here,” ⁸ he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him; ask him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

⁹ Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

¹⁰ Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” ¹¹ He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep.

¹² “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.

“Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³ Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?”

“The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” answered Elisha.

¹⁴ Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, “What did Elisha say to you?” Hazael replied, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” ¹⁵ But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king.

Jehoram King of Judah

¹⁶ In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. ¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. ¹⁸ He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.

²⁰ In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. ²¹ So Jehoram went to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night; his army, however, fled back home. ²² To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah revolted at the same time.

²³ As for the other events of Jehoram’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁴ Jehoram rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king.

Ahaziah King of Judah

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. ²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷ He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was related by marriage to Ahab’s family.

²⁸ Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; ²⁹ so King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.

Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab, because he had been wounded.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God knows the desires of our hearts; but gives us exactly what we need as His best for us.  We may not agree with God at the time; because the desires of our sinful nature and the temptations of evil are great.  But remember, evil’s power is limited.  God is great and His power available to us is greater still. The same power from God who resurrected Jesus from death to life three days later is available to all who believe in Jesus. 

This is the “secret” sauce of living a life with power that overcomes evil! (Colossians 1;27) Christ lives in all who believe and call on His Name for help to overcome all temptations to sin!  We will always be tempted by sin until Jesus comes back to take us to our forever home.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 We will fall at times because we are not perfect.  However, we are perfectly forgiven!  Not only that, God forgives all repented sins in the Name of Jesus immediately and completely—to be remembered no more!  There is no one like our God!  It is Jesus who cleanses us, clothes us in righteousness, making us presentable to God, the Father! 

John, beloved disciple of Jesus, writes;

“My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception. 1 John 4:4-6 MSG

Replace sin with God’s perfect will!  Surrender is our greatest investment!

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2

When we fully surrender our lives daily to our all-knowing, all powerful, sovereign God as an offering to Him; we will know God more and His desires for us. Follow, trust, believe God—not our hearts!  Our goal is the know and follow the heart of God!

Lord,

Some kings did what you asked for the good of your people and for your glory while other kings did not.  We see the difference in walking with You versus walking with evil. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your new mercies for today, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.  We need your power to overcome. Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I’m yours and I’m listening.

In Jesus Name, Amen