2 Kings 9:11-17: a reflection

11When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.” 12They said, “That is a lie. Tell us now.” He said, “He said to me, ‘The LORD says, I have anointed you king over Israel.’” 13Then they hurried, and each man took his cloak, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king.” 14So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria; 15but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) Jehu said, “If this is your thinking, then let no one escape and go out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.” 16So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. 17Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’”

As Jehu rides toward Jezreel to carry out judgment on the house of Ahab, a question is asked again and again by the watchmen and messengers: Is it peace? Joram sends messengers to meet the approaching company, each asking, Is it peace? They wanted reassurance that all was well, that no threat was coming; but the truth was that judgment was approaching for the unrepented evil of that house, and no assurance of peace could make it otherwise. The repeated cry of Is it peace? was a seeking of reassurance where there was, in truth, no peace to be had while the evil remained unaddressed. This exposes a human tendency: to seek assurances that all is well, to cry peace, rather than to face what must be faced. But crying peace does not make peace where evil is unaddressed; the reckoning still comes. To seek false assurances of peace, rather than facing the reality that must be faced, is to deceive ourselves. There is no true peace while evil remains unaddressed, however we cry for it.

Notice the repeated question, and its emptiness: Is it peace? The messengers and watchmen wanted to hear that all was well, that no threat approached. But the truth was that a reckoning was coming for the long-unaddressed evil of Ahab's house, and no reassurance could change that. The repeated cry of Is it peace? was a seeking of false comfort, a wish to be told all was well when it was not. This exposes a real tendency of the human heart: to seek reassurances, to cry peace, rather than to face the reality that must be faced. We can prefer comforting assurances that all is well to the harder work of facing what is wrong and dealing with it. But there is no true peace while evil or trouble remains unaddressed; crying peace does not make it so. The reckoning that is coming is not averted by our wish to be told all is well. To seek false assurances of peace, avoiding the reality we must face, is to deceive ourselves and delay the reckoning, not to escape it. There is no peace where the real trouble is unaddressed. False assurances do not make true peace.

That is worth taking to heart, for we do well to face reality rather than seek false assurances of peace where there is none. We can seek reassurances that all is well, crying peace, rather than facing what must be faced, as the messengers repeatedly asked, Is it peace, when a reckoning was in fact approaching. But crying peace does not make peace where the real trouble is unaddressed; the reckoning still comes. There is no true peace while what is wrong remains unfaced. Do not seek false assurances that all is well while avoiding the reality you must face; face it honestly, for crying peace where there is none does not make it so. Face honestly the reality that must be faced rather than seeking false assurances of peace where there is none, as Joram's messengers repeatedly asked, Is it peace, while a reckoning approached for the unaddressed evil of Ahab's house; for there is no true peace while what is wrong remains unfaced, and to cry peace, seeking reassurance that all is well, does not make it so but only deceives us and delays the reckoning rather than averting it, so that it is wiser to face reality honestly than to seek the false comfort of being told all is well when it is not.

Lord, as Jehu rides toward Jezreel to carry out judgment on the house of Ahab, a question is asked again and again by the watchmen and messengers: Is it peace? Joram sends messengers to meet the approaching company, each asking, Is it peace? They wanted reassurance that all was well, that no threat was coming; but the truth was that judgment was approaching for the unrepented evil of that house, and no assurance of peace could make it otherwise. The repeated cry of Is it peace? was a seeking of reassurance where there was, in truth, no peace to be had while the evil remained unaddressed. Show me the repeated question, and its emptiness: Is it peace? The messengers wanted to hear that all was well. But the truth was that a reckoning was coming for the long-unaddressed evil of Ahab's house. The repeated cry was a seeking of false comfort, a wish to be told all was well when it was not. This exposes a real tendency of my heart: to seek reassurances, to cry peace, rather than to face the reality that must be faced. I can prefer comforting assurances that all is well to the harder work of facing what is wrong and dealing with it. But there is no true peace while evil or trouble remains unaddressed. To seek false assurances of peace is to deceive myself and delay the reckoning, not to escape it. Take that to my heart, for I do well to face reality rather than seek false assurances of peace where there is none. I can seek reassurances that all is well, crying peace, rather than facing what must be faced, as the messengers repeatedly asked, Is it peace. But crying peace does not make it so. Keep me from seeking false assurances that all is well while avoiding the reality I must face; help me face it honestly, Lord, for crying peace where there is none does not make it so but only deceives me and delays the reckoning.