Jehu is appointed to be the next king of Israel, and he was commanded to kill Jezebel once and for all and leave her to be eaten up by the dogs. Initially, this might cause us to wonder why God would allow such intense violence to occur. Perhaps, this might lead us to contemplate on all the lives that were ended during the war, or people who were killed during traumatic events. How could He? Why would He?
But then, we have to remember that God is sovereign and just and that His plan will always be for our good. In Jezebel's case, she had a number of opportunities to turn from her evil ways and repent. Jezebel did things based on her will and did not surrender to the will of the law or better yet the will of God. Paul, once Saul, claimed to be doing the same thing. Saul murder to please God but was really going against God the whole time. A more modern day example might be the life of Adolf Hitler. A man who sought to be the dictator of what was right claiming that all who were not of this particular race were to be wiped off the face of the earth. But all 3 of these characters had time to repent and change. Thus, through continued rejection over the years 2 of the 3 faced the wrath and judgment of the Lord.
God does not execute judgment according to man's will but His. God hates sin, and it is evident in this passage that God is very serious about it. Remember what Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death,..." Man sinned and therefore the punishment for sin must be carried out, but the grace of God. God is just and wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) and thus Romans 6:23 continues, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." God is just and loves us deeply and wants us to turn to Him in all things.
The Lord allows us to go through suffering to grow us, shape us, and mold us to be more like Him. Now, don't get the two confused. God does not bring sin into our life He allows suffering or temptation to test our faith and to see if we will trust in the power He gives over various issues. Through these various trials, we are given a choice whether to do the right thing or the wrong, to sin or not to sin, obey or disobey just as the 3 characters mentioned above had. Through this choice, God is working on us to remove sin from our lives and make us more like Christ.
The question is, am I going to allow Him to shape and mold me into the image of Christ? Or will I continue to choose sin and allow that to control my life?
-Bernadette Cabrera
Picture by:Gina Dalfonzo