Wednesday – History

Reading – 2 Kings 9-11

Highlight Verses:

“Meanwhile, Elisha the prophet had summoned a member of the group of prophets. “Get ready to travel,” he told him, “and take this flask of olive oil with you. Go to Ramoth-gilead, and find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Call him into a private room away from his friends, and pour the oil over his head. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run for your life!””
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Does Jehu sound familiar?

You read about him some weeks back in 1 Kings 19:16-18.

Elijah had already anointed him to be king of Israel.

Jehu was the only king of Israel after the ten tribes of Israel split from Judah to be anointed as king.

And he was anointed twice.

It had been a long time since the first anointing and Ahab continued to reign over unprecedented evil with his queen Jezebel and son Joram.

This second anointing spurred Jehu into action. You can read the details yourself. Suffice it to say, he cleansed the Northern Kingdom of the evil dynasty of Omri, Ahab, and Joram.

Why did it take so long for Jehu to step up?

The text doesn’t tell us.

It could have been that Jehu wasn’t bold enough before.

Or the Lord could have not given him the opportunity to rise up until then.

I tend to think it was the latter.

But God gave Jehu a great head start to prepare himself and his situation so he could successfully complete his calling.

Sometimes we can find ourselves in a position where we heard God’s call.

We prepare and do what we think it will take to move forward with that calling.

And then we feel like we’re in limbo forever.

We cannot always tell when God is going to move us into our ultimate calling. But if we know we have that calling,

we can be faithful to prepare for it.

It might take more preparation than we think. But if God is in it, He’ll make it happen in His timing.

Do you feel like you’re in a spiritual holding pattern?
What can you be doing to prepare now while you wait for the Lord’s next move?