June 12: Are you tired? Press on!

2 Kings 10:18-12:2, 2 Chron 22:10-12, chap. 23

2 Kings 10:18-28

Amplified Bible (AMP)

18 Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much.

19 So call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers, and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to make to Baal; whoever is missing shall not live. But Jehu did it with trickery, intending to destroy the Baal worshipers.

20 Jehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.

21 Jehu sent through all Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came; not a man failed to come. They went to the house or temple of Baal, filling it from one end to the other.

22 And he said to the man over the vestry, Bring vestments for all the worshipers of Baal. And he brought them vestments.

23 Then Jehu with Jehonadab son of Rechab went into the house of Baal and said to the worshipers of Baal, Search and see that there are here with you none of the servants of the Lord—but Baal worshipers only.

24 And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed eighty men outside and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he who lets him go shall forfeit his own life for his life.

25 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and to the officers, Go in and slay them; let none escape. And they smote them with the sword; and the guards orrunners [before the king] and the officers threw their bodies out and went into the inner dwelling of the house of Baal.

26 They brought out the pillars or obelisks of the house of Baal and burned them.

27 They broke down the pillars of Baal and the house of Baal, and made it [forever unclean] a privy to this day.

28 Thus Jehu rooted Baal out of Israel.

2 Kings 10:29

Amplified Bible (AMP)

29 But Jehu did not give up the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, by which he made Israel to sin, that is, the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.

2 Kings 10:31

Amplified Bible (AMP)

31 But Jehu paid no attention to walking in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not quit the sins with which Jeroboam made Israel to sin.

2 Kings 11:17-12:3

Amplified Bible (AMP)

17 And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people that they would be the Lord’s people—and also between the king and the people.

18 Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and destroyed it. His altar and his images they broke completely in pieces, and Mattan the priest of Baal they slew before the altars. And [Jehoiada] the priest appointed watchmen to guard the house of the Lord.

19 Then he took the rulers over hundreds, the captains, the guard, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord and came by way of the guards’ gate to the king’s house. And [little] Joash was seated on the throne of the kings.

20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been slain with the sword beside the king’s house.

21 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign.

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 Joash did right in the sight of the Lord all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

3 Yet the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

I don't understand. Why would Jehu kill all the prophets of Baal, all the priests of Baal, and all the worshipers of Baal, and at the same time allow golden calf worship? And it says he paid no attention to walking in the law of the Lord with all his heart. This is a mystery to me.

And Joash did right in the sight of the Lord, yet the high places were not taken away. 

Why???

"God I must not allow any sin no matter how small in my heart. I must continue to purge sin out of the music ministry. We are all human and must constantly cleanse and purge our hearts. Please give me the courage and strength to do this not only in my own heart but in the ministries I lead. Reveal to me my hidden sin. I must be sinless and blameless before You, Most Holy God. This sounds nearly impossible. But I must press toward the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Give me wisdom to lead, Oh Lord. I give You all the glory and honor, Oh Lord. You are worthy! In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN."

Philippians 3:14

Amplified Bible (AMP)

14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.