Sometimes the stories of scripture are reminiscent of a Hollywood “bustin’ heads, kickin’ tails” guy flick.
Such is the case with the exploits of Jehu, an Old Testament character who was fed up with the scheming, compromising kings of the northern and southern kingdoms for Israel.
You can read about it in today’s One-Year Bible segment but here’s the gist: Jehu was essentially the white hat sheriff coming to bring street justice to the kings Joram and Ahaziah.
Borrowing from a line John Belushi’s Blues Brothers, I saw that Jehu really was on a mission from God.
It was an ugly time in Israel’s history and God had seen enough.
Jehu, an army general, wasn’t perfect, the Bible makes clear, but he was a whole lot closer to what God wanted than were the two evil kings.
It’s a story filled with action and drama and faith-inspired boldness.
The lesson I want to share today from this story — I do hope you’ll read it by clicking the above link — is that ungodly human efforts to establish control over one’s life will never succeed in producing inner peace.
Why? Because God’s sovereignty and justice demand an accountability for believing lies that Satan’s promises are more powerful and valuable than God’s.
When Joram learned that Jehu was coming to town, the king boarded his chariot and went out to meet the iconoclastic general.
“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?” (2 Kings 9:21-22)
Joram and Ahaziah correctly realized that Jehu was not in the mood for a “Kum Ba Yah” moment of reconciliation and so they headed for the hills.
They should have had faster chariots and better hiding places because both were quickly killed by Jehu and his sympathizers.
As much as this story teaches about the problems of rascal, ungodly leaders, I believe it is more relevant to the everyday lives of everyday believers.
How? The fact is that all kinds of Christians struggle with all kinds of problems — some of them HUGE problems — because of languishing unsanctified zones in their lives.
Essentially, the remnants of things worship or pleasure worship (idolatry) are given space in the heart because of lusts of the flesh, be it sexual or financial or craving for social status or even the satisfaction of seeing somebody suffer because of a perceived offense against you.
Sometimes Christians will turn to godless people for advice — or even direct intercession — rather than turning the pages of scripture and to prayer.
This should not be.
As Jehu said, how can a Christian expect to have peace in his or her heart and soul as long as he or she is relying upon any form of idolatry or godless advice?
Listen, providing inner peace to believers is not a commodity that God franchises to ungodly agents of darkness.
It only comes from God because it is designed to fit into the hole God built into our hearts and souls.
Let’s strive to rid ourselves of worshiping of anything other than God or trusting the guidance of anyone other than God.
Then we’ll have the peace that passes all understanding.
As always, I love you
Martin
