Mixed Reviews - King Jehu

Jehu did not obey the Law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.

2 Kings 10:31

A father walked into his two sons’ bedroom one morning and observed dirty clothes and toys strewn from wall to wall.

“When I get home from work,” the father sternly told his sons, “I want to be able to see the floor!” Believing that he had communicated his desire to see the boys’ room cleaned up, he went to work. When he got home, he found that his sons had picked up everything from the floor, only to transfer the dirty clothes and toys to their beds and shelves.

Fathers want wholehearted obedience from their children. They want their kids to observe the spirit of what they say, not just the letter. The same is true of our heavenly Father.

Jehu, a king of the northern kingdom of Israel, did some great things for the Lord, but he didn’t follow and obey God with his whole heart. That left him with a tarnished legacy. If Jehu’s life were a play, his performance would have garnered mixed reviews.

Jehu succeeded brilliantly as he followed God’s specific instructions to rid Israel of the house of Ahab and end the worship of Baal. His thorough work earned Jehu commendations from God and won his descendants positions of royalty for generations to come.

Jehu’s tolerance of other forms of idolatry, especially the worship of golden calves at Dan and Bethel, cut short his reign and brought about his personal destruction. Jehu learned that halfhearted obedience amounts to disobedience. As the apostle Paul would later write, “Sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough” (1 Corinthians 5:6).

What does wholehearted obedience to God mean to you? If you want to receive all the blessings God has for you, don’t settle for mixed reviews regarding your willingness to go the distance with God.