Don’t Forget the Daily
Daily Old Testament Reading: 2 Kings 8-10
Daily Focus Passage: 2 Kings 8
We live with the threat of justifying ourselves before the Lord because of our grandiose actions in His name. We rest in the action and then use the act to justify disobedience in our daily lives. In 2 Kings 10, King Jehu performs a grandiose action for the Lord by killing all the followers of Baal and destroying the idol and its place of worship. Yet, the Bible states that Jehu continued to follow the steps of Jeroboam by following the golden calves set up in Dan and Bethel. Jehu rested in his significant actions but neglected obedience in his daily life.
OBEDIENCE AS A BIG GESTURE
Jehu took the initiative to eliminate the worship of Baal because he understood the disobedience of idolatry. This gesture occurred as an attempt to purify the people of Israel and to cleanse the people of their idolatry. Jehu completed his task. The Bible shares that the Lord told Jehu that he had “done well.” Jehu’s act centered on a significant gesture of obedience before the Lord. Yet, the fulfillment of this task opened the avenue for Jehu to rest in this singular grand act and ignore the need to remain faithful in his personal, daily life. We must understand the threat of resting in a singular act of obedience without a real-life change.
OBEDIENCE NEGLECTED BECAUSE OF BIG GESTURE
Jehu neglected obedience in daily life because he rested in hearing well done in his big gesture. He held that the one act of obedience that impacted many would be enough to find favor with God. Thus, he lived in disobedience because he continued to practice personal idolatry. Let’s not believe that Jehu alone falls prey to this syndrome. Often, people today rest in the grand moment of receiving Christ yet continue to live a life of disobedience. They believe that response to Christ is an isolated event, not a life of transformation and daily obedience.
GOD’S RESPONSE TO THE BIG GESTURE AND DISOBEDIENCE
The Lord rewarded Jehu for eliminating Baal worship by promising that his family would hold the throne of Israel for four generations. Yet, the Lord also saw the disobedience of Jehu. As a result, Jehu faced the punishment of the Lord as the nation of Israel constantly reduced in size. The people faced moments of defeat to their neighbors and lived in pain and unsettledness. When we rest in a significant gesture and refuse to live daily for the Lord, we continue to live unsettled lives because we construct upon the wrong foundation.
We all battle the threat of resting in the superb action in the name of the Lord. When we rest in the grandiose act of faith, we base our lives on the wrong foundation and depend on our activity to find favor with the Lord instead of grace and mercy. We must recognize that we receive the call to follow the Lord in the grandiose and the daily. How are you forgetting the daily? How can you battle the threat of resting in the grandiose actions for the Lord?
