Full obedience, no less.

Scripture:
2 Kings 10:31-32 "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.’ 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."

Many years before, God prophesied the death of Ahab and all of his family for all of the evil he perpetrated upon Israel. To carry out the last of the executions, God anointed Jehu to be king over Israel. Jehu was thorough in his annihilation of the house of Ahab. Because of his faithfulness in eliminating Ahab’s descendants and family, Jehu had a descendant on the throne of Samaria for four generations. However, Jehu was not faithful to God despite his destruction of Baal worship in Samaria. He did not rid Israel of the gold calves at Beersheba and Dan. He continued in the worship and sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.

Application:
Once again God speaks to us from his Word about the concept of complete obedience. God considers partial obedience as total disobedience. We either do what God says, or we don’t. There is no middle ground with God, who is all truth, all justice, all compassion, all love, all mercy, all glory, all in all, etc. He is! (I AM that I AM!)

Jehu was completely obedient in destroying the house of Ahab unlike King Saul, who did not utterly destroy the Amalekites. The odd thing is that Jehu only had 4 generations of descendants sitting on the throne of Samaria. Had he gone and destroyed the golden calves (idols) in Beersheba and Dan and then pursued hard after God in worship, he most likely could have had his descendants sit upon the throne of Samaria forever, as David did upon the throne of Judah.

However, God knew that Jehu would not follow through on ridding upper Israel from idol worship. He may have rid the land of Baal, but he continued in the ways of Jeroboam. There was still much idol worship in the land of Samaria. Thus, in time, God would exile Samaria into Assyrian captivity. (Judah would follow suit in exile into Babylonian captivity but hundreds of years later.)

When God calls us to do something, we need to determine in our hearts to do it. Anything less than what God stipulates is disobedience. A half-truth is still a lie. Partial obedience is still disobedience. Even if we sacrifice something in our attempt to do what God says but don’t carry out the mission, we have disobeyed. Saul learned the hard way about obedience is better than sacrifice. He also learned that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. Disobedience is the same as rebellion. Do you practice a form of witchcraft and not know it?

We all do at times. No one is righteous, no, not one. We like sheep have all gone astray at times. Thank God he gives us mercy, forgiveness, and grace. We strive to live the purest, holiest, and obedient lives possible through the power of God’s grace and out of our love for him. When we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, being obedient to God comes naturally. We don’t and won’t desire to be sinful. We have become new creatures in Christ, putting off the old sinful nature, and receive the Spirit of God with the mind of Christ while we live and move and have our being in Christ.

To do so, we must learn how to yield to God’s Spirit and follow after Jesus, who requires our denial of selfish wants and desires, picking up our cross (loving sacrificially those around us), and following Jesus. It is an amazing thing to learn that love is a giving action not a receiving action. Yes, we can receive love from others, but the beauty of love is the enjoyment that comes from giving of ourselves first to God and then to our family, friends, and neighbors. Listen to the voice of God, and do all that he commands. It starts with loving him first with all that is in you.

Prayer:
Father, I need more of your love today than I have ever needed or wanted. To be known as your disciple is demonstrated in the love we have for one another. You said that if we love you, we would keep your commandments. Your greatest commandments are to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. With loving you and others come obedience to your Word and the blessing of reward for doing so. Help me to have a heart of love and compassion for all humanity starting in my home and spreading out to my neighborhood, my town, my county, my state, my nation, and my world. I want to be obedient to all you have commanded and asked of me. Help me achieve that for the glory of your kingdom and the praise of your name, be it above all names. In Jesus’ name, Amen.