It’s time to turn the page
Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.” ~ 2 Kings 9:6
Have you ever had a moment when you knew something was changing, but you didn’t know exactly what was coming next? Maybe you’ve sensed God closing one door, shifting a relationship, changing your responsibilities, or stirring something new in your heart. Sometimes God’s next move doesn’t arrive with a five year plan and a nicely organized spreadsheet. Sometimes it arrives with a very clear instruction and a whole lot of questions.
That’s where we find Jehu in today’s scripture reading. He wasn’t sitting around wondering what his next assignment might be. God had already decided what He wanted Jehu to do, and He sent a prophet to anoint him and give him his assignment. Jehu’s calling was connected to a larger purpose God had been working out for some time.
There’s something important for us to remember here. God often works in ways that are bigger than the moment we’re standing in. We may only see one conversation, one decision, one opportunity, or one difficult situation, while God sees the entire picture. What looks like a sudden change to us may actually be something He’s been preparing for a long time.
Here are three important truths that can help us recognize what God is doing and respond faithfully when He asks us to step into something new.
1. God can call you before you feel ready
Jehu wasn’t given a small assignment. He was anointed to become king and was given a serious responsibility to carry out God’s judgment. There was no indication that Jehu had spent years preparing a royal resume or attending “How to Become King” seminars. God simply called him and gave him an assignment.
That’s encouraging because we often think we need to feel completely qualified and ready before we can say yes to God. We may think, “I don’t know enough. I’m not experienced enough. Someone else could do this better. I’m not sure I can handle what’s ahead.”
But God doesn’t always call the people who feel the most qualified. He calls people who are willing to trust Him. Think about Moses, Gideon, David, Esther, Peter, and so many others throughout Scripture. Their qualifications weren’t the point. Their willingness to obey God was.
You may be standing in a season where God is asking you to step into something that feels bigger than you. Maybe it’s leading a small group, serving in a ministry, having a difficult conversation, starting something new, taking a step of faith, or simply being obedient in an area where you’ve been hesitant. Don’t disqualify yourself because you don’t feel ready. You can say, “God, I don’t know exactly how to do this, but if You’re asking me to do it, I trust You to help me.” Sometimes confidence doesn’t come before obedience. Sometimes confidence grows because you obey and discover that God really is with you.
2. When God gives you an assignment, don’t let distractions talk you out of it
After Jehu was anointed, he went back to the other commanders. They wanted to know what the prophet had said to him. When Jehu told them he had been anointed king, they immediately responded by supporting him. Then everything began moving quickly. Jehu had an assignment, and he needed to act on it.
There’s a lesson here for us. Once God has made something clear, we have to be careful not to let every voice around us become a committee meeting about whether we should obey. Sometimes we ask so many people what they think that by the time we’re finished asking, we’re more confused than when we started.
Have you ever done that? You know what you believe God is asking you to do, but then you tell five people, read ten opinions, overthink it for three weeks, and suddenly you’re wondering if God actually said anything at all. Wise counsel is valuable, but there’s a difference between seeking godly wisdom and continually looking for someone to give us permission not to obey.
Maybe God has been nudging you to forgive someone. Maybe He’s asking you to step away from something unhealthy. Maybe He’s asking you to start something you’ve been putting off. Maybe He’s telling you to stay faithful in a place where you’re tempted to quit. Take time to listen to godly counsel, pray, search Scripture, and make sure you’re hearing God clearly. But once God has made His direction clear, don’t let fear, opinions, convenience, or endless overthinking keep you stuck. Sometimes the biggest obstacle between us and obedience isn’t that we don’t know what God wants. It’s that we keep hoping He’ll change His mind.
3. God sees what we can’t see, so trust Him with the outcome
One of the most sobering parts of this chapter is the fulfillment of God’s word concerning Ahab’s household. God had already spoken about what would happen because of the wickedness and injustice that had taken place. Jehu became part of the fulfillment of something God had declared much earlier.
That reminds us that God sees the whole story. We often want God to explain everything before we obey. We want to know how it’s going to work out, who will be involved, what the outcome will be, and how long it will take. Basically, we’d like God to send us the complete itinerary before we leave the house.
But faith doesn’t work that way. Sometimes God gives you the next step without giving you the entire map. You may be praying about a family situation and not know how it will turn out. You may be waiting for an answer about your future. You may be stepping into a new ministry responsibility without knowing exactly where it will lead. You may be watching something change that you didn’t expect to change.
You don’t have to know the entire story to trust the Author. Your responsibility is obedience. God’s responsibility is the outcome. That doesn’t mean every circumstance will unfold exactly the way we want. It means we can trust that God sees what we can’t see and that His purposes are bigger than what we understand in the moment.
There may be times when God asks you to move forward before you have all the answers. There may be times when He asks you to wait. There may be times when He changes your direction completely. Whatever the situation, you can trust Him enough to take the next step.
Today I want to encourage you not to disqualify yourself because you don’t feel ready, and not to become so overwhelmed by everything you can’t see that you forget to obey what God has already shown you.
Let this passage be a reminder that God can place an assignment in your hands that feels bigger than your ability, but He never asks you to accomplish His purpose without His help. He knows what He’s doing, even when you’re still trying to figure out what He’s doing.
If God has placed something on your heart, take the next step. If He’s asking you to wait, wait. If He’s asking you to let something go, let it go. If He’s asking you to step forward, step forward. You don’t have to have the whole plan. You just need enough faith to obey the next instruction. And remember, God isn’t surprised by the chapter you’re living in right now. He was already there before you arrived. So take a deep breath, trust Him, and keep moving forward. The God who called you knows exactly what He’s doing.
Today’s scripture reading: 2 Kings 9
1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “Get yourself ready, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.
2 Now when you arrive at that place, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his associates, and take 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 delay.”
4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead.
5 And when he arrived, there were the captains of the army sitting; and he said, “I have a message for you, Commander.” Jehu said, “For which one of us?” And he said, “For you, Commander.”
6 Then he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.
7 You shall strike down 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 all the males in Israel, both bond and free.
9 So 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 on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.’ ” And he opened the door and fled.
11 Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?”
And he said to them, “You know the man and his babble.”
12 And they said, “A lie! Tell us now.”
So he said, “Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I have anointed you king over Israel.” ’ ”
13 Then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps; and they blew trumpets, saying, “Jehu is king!”
Joram of Israel Killed
14 So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had been defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael king of Syria.
15 But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, “If you are so minded, let no one leave or escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”
16 So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was laid up there; and Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram.
17 Now a watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company of men.”
And Joram said, “Get a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ”
18 So the horseman went to meet him, and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’ ”
And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow me.”
So the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger went to them, but is not coming back.”
19 Then he sent out a second horseman who came to them, and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Is it peace?’ ”
And Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow me.”
20 So the watchman reported, saying, “He went up to them and is not coming back; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously!”
21 Then Joram said, “Make ready.” And his chariot was made ready. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot; and they went out to meet Jehu, and met him on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?”
So he answered, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?”
23 Then Joram turned around and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
24 Now Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.
25 Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him into the tract of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, when you and I were riding together behind Ahab his father, that the Lord laid this burden upon him:
26 ‘Surely I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will repay you in this plot,’ says the Lord. Now therefore, take and throw him on the plot of ground, according to the word of the Lord.”
Ahaziah of Judah Killed
27 But when Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the road to Beth Haggan. So Jehu pursued him, and said, “Shoot him also in the chariot.” And they shot him at the Ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. Then he fled to Megiddo, and died there.
28 And his servants carried him in the chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the City of David.
29 In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.
30 Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window.
31 Then, as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?”
32 And he looked up at the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” So two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
33 Then he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot.
34 And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.”
35 So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
36 Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;
37 and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “Here lies Jezebel.” ’ ”
Journal:
- Is there something God has been asking me to do that I’ve been putting off because I don’t feel ready?
- Am I allowing fear, other people’s opinions, or overthinking to keep me from obeying God?
- What is one thing I know God has already asked me to do, even though I don’t know the final outcome?
- Where am I trying to figure out the whole plan instead of simply taking the next step?
- What would it look like for me to trust God with the outcome of something I’m currently facing?
- Write a simple prayer beginning with, “God, I may not know everything You’re doing, but I trust You with my next step…”
