Sometimes obedience is messy
“Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab.” ~ 2 Kings 10:10
Have you ever started doing what God asked you to do, only to discover that obedience can get a whole lot messier than you expected? We sometimes imagine obedience as a peaceful little walk with Jesus where everything falls neatly into place. Then real life happens, people have opinions, circumstances get complicated, and suddenly we’re thinking, “Lord, are You sure this was the plan?”
Today’s scripture reading is not exactly the chapter you’d choose for a relaxing devotional before bed. There is a lot of judgment, difficult decisions, and some very serious consequences. Jehu was carrying out something God had already spoken concerning the house of Ahab. What stands out, though, is that God’s word was not forgotten, delayed forever, or pushed aside because circumstances became complicated. What God had spoken was going to come to pass.
That gives us an important truth for today. We live in a world where people change their minds, promises get broken, plans get interrupted, and circumstances can make us wonder if God is really doing anything. But God isn’t limited by the chaos around us. His word remains true, and He is still working even when we can’t see the whole picture.
As we look at 2 Kings 10, there are three truths that can help us live faithfully in a world where obedience isn’t always easy and where we don’t always understand everything God is doing.
1. God’s word can be trusted even when circumstances look complicated
Jehu’s assignment was connected to something God had spoken long before. It didn’t happen overnight. There had been years of wickedness, rebellion, and consequences building toward this moment. Yet God had not forgotten what He said.
Sometimes we look at our circumstances and wonder, “God, did You forget about this?” Maybe you’ve prayed about a situation for a long time. Maybe you’ve been waiting for something to change. Maybe you’ve watched someone make wrong choices and wondered why nothing seems to happen. Maybe you’re standing in a situation where everything looks completely opposite of what you believe God has promised.
This chapter reminds us that God isn’t working according to our timetable. Think about how often we want God to work on our schedule. We’d like Him to answer the prayer by Tuesday afternoon, preferably before dinner. We’d like the problem resolved, the relationship fixed, the finances restored, and the email answered before we go to bed. Unfortunately, God doesn’t usually consult our calendars in His plan. Your circumstances may change, but God’s character doesn’t. His Word remains true.
In your daily life, this means you can continue to trust God even when you don’t see immediate evidence that anything is changing. Keep praying. Keep obeying Scripture. Keep doing what is right. Keep your heart soft toward God instead of allowing disappointment to convince you that He isn’t working. You may not know when the answer will come, but you can know Who holds the answer and that it is on its way.
2. Obedience means doing what God asks, even when it feels uncomfortable
Jehu had a difficult assignment, and he followed through with it. His obedience wasn’t convenient or easy. It required courage and decisive action. This challenges us because sometimes we think obedience should feel good. We think if something is God’s will, everything should be comfortable, easy, and perfectly organized. The truth is, most of the time following God’s direction stretches us and grows us to a new level of trust.
God may ask you to forgive when you’d rather hold onto the offense. He may ask you to have a difficult conversation when you’d rather avoid it. He may ask you to give when you’d rather keep. He may ask you to serve when you’re tired. He may ask you to stay faithful when walking away would be easier.
Obedience isn’t always about doing something dramatic. Sometimes it looks very ordinary. It can look like keeping your mouth shut when you have every reason to say something. It can look like refusing to participate in gossip at work. It can look like telling the truth when exaggerating would make you look better. It can look like getting up and praying when you’d rather scroll your phone for another thirty minutes. It really sounds unbelievable when said out loud, but Sometimes the greatest spiritual battle of the morning is between getting up to spend time with God or scrolling through FB on the phone.
Following God means allowing His Word to have the final say, even when your feelings have a very strong opinion. That doesn’t mean you have to ignore wisdom, emotions, or godly counsel. It means you don’t allow those things to take the place of God’s direction.
When you know what Scripture says, obey it. When the Holy Spirit nudges your heart, take it seriously. When God asks you to take the next step, don’t wait until you feel perfectly comfortable. Faith almost always looks like obedience before understanding. It’s trusting God while walking into the unknown open door in front of you.
3. Don’t let success become a substitute for wholehearted devotion
There is a sobering statement in this chapter. Jehu did much of what God had commanded concerning Ahab’s house, but later Scripture tells us that Jehu did not fully turn away from the sins of Jeroboam. That means someone can accomplish something God has asked them to do and still have areas of their heart that need surrendered.
That’s a powerful warning for us to consider. We can serve God and still need God to work in us. We can lead a ministry and still need prayer. We can help other people grow spiritually and still have areas where we need to grow. We can have a successful accomplishment, receive compliments, check every box on the list, and still need to ask, “Lord, what is happening in my heart?” This is especially important when we become busy doing things for God. Our activity for God should never replace our relationship with God.
Maybe your current circumstance is filled with responsibilities. You may have a demanding job, family responsibilities, ministry responsibilities, or people depending on you. It’s easy to become so busy doing good things that you unintentionally leave less and less room for God Himself.
Make time to pray, even when your schedule is full. Open your Bible even when you feel like you already know what it says. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what needs to change in your heart. Don’t measure your spiritual life only by what is happening on the outside. God isn’t just interested in what you do for Him. He cares about who you’re becoming while you’re doing it.
Today I want to encourage you to trust God’s Word, obey Him even when obedience is uncomfortable, and keep your heart surrendered to Him even when you’re busy doing good things. Let this chapter in 2 Kings be a reminder that God’s Word will stand even when circumstances are complicated and what He says can be trusted. His timing may not look like ours, and His methods may not always make sense to us, but He is always faithful and we can depend on that.
Don’t allow a difficult season to convince you that God has forgotten you or allow uncomfortable instruction to make you question whether obedience is worth it. Most of all, don’t allow success, busyness, or ministry activity to become a substitute for your relationship with Him. Keep your heart close to God. Keep listening for His voice. Keep obeying what He has shown you.
When you don’t understand what He’s doing, remember this truth from 2 Kings 10:10, “Nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord.” God’s Word doesn’t need your help to become true. Your part is to trust Him, follow Him, and remain faithful while He works.
Today’s scripture reading:2 Kings 10
1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote and sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to those who reared Ahab’s sons, saying:
2 Now as soon as this letter comes to you, since your master’s sons are with you, and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city also, and weapons,
3 choose the best qualified of your master’s sons, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.
4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, “Look, two kings could not stand up to him; how then can we stand?”
5 And he who was in charge of the house, and he who was in charge of the city, the elders also, and those who reared the sons, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, we will do all you tell us; but we will not make anyone king. Do what is good in your sight.”
6 Then he wrote a second letter to them, saying: If you are for me and will obey my voice, take the heads of the men, your master’s sons, and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.
Now the king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were rearing them.
7 So it was, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons and slaughtered seventy persons, put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
8 Then a messenger came and told him, saying, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.”
And he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”
9 So it was, in the morning, that he went out and stood, and said to all the people, “You are righteous. Indeed I conspired against my master and killed him; but who killed all these?
10 Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the Lord has done what He spoke by His servant Elijah.”
11 So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
12 And he arose and departed and went to Samaria. On the way, at Beth Eked of the Shepherds,
13 Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, “Who are you?”
So they answered, “We are the brothers of Ahaziah; we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.”
14 And he said, “Take them alive!” So they took them alive, and killed them at the well of Beth Eked, forty-two men; and he left none of them.
The Rest of Ahab’s Family Killed
15 Now when he 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 toward your heart?”
And Jehonadab answered, “It is.”
Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot.
16 Then he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” So they had him ride in his chariot.
17 And when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah.
Worshipers of Baal Killed
18 Then Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much.
19 Now therefore, call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, 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 acted deceptively, with the intent of destroying the worshipers of Baal.
20 And Jehu said, “Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it.
21 Then Jehu sent throughout all Israel; and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. So they came into the temple of Baal, and the temple of Baal was full from one end to the other.
22 And he said to the one in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out vestments for them.
23 Then Jehu and Jehonadab the son of Rechab went into the temple of Baal, and said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search and see that no servants of the Lord are here with you, but only the worshipers of Baal.”
24 So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men on the outside, and had said, “If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escapes, whoever lets him escape, it shall be his life for the life of the other.”
25 Now it happened, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Go in and kill them; let no one come out!” And they killed them with the edge of the sword; then the guards and the officers threw them out, and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.
26 And they brought the sacred pillars out of the temple of Baal and burned them.
27 Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down the temple of Baal and made it a refuse dump to this day.
28 Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel.
29 However Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin, that is, from the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.
30 And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin.
32 In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel; and Hazael conquered them in all the territory of Israel
33 from the Jordan eastward: all the land of Gilead—Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh—from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, including Gilead and Bashan.
34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
35 So Jehu rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place.
36 And the period that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.
Journal:
- Is there an area of my life where I’m struggling to trust God because I don’t see anything changing?
- What has God already shown me that I need to obey, even if I don’t fully understand why?
- Is there something uncomfortable God may be asking me to do right now?
- Have I become so busy doing things for God that I’ve neglected spending time with God?
- What area of my heart do I need to surrender more fully to the Lord?
- Where do I need to remind myself today that God’s Word is trustworthy even when my circumstances don’t look like it?
- Write your own prayer beginning with, “Lord, help me to trust Your Word when I can’t see what You’re doing, and help me to remain faithful while You work…”
