Lessons from Jezabel

I remember memorizing a scripture in seminary that was a warning to not follow after women who worship another god because they will influence you to do so. At thetime I took it not to date outside of my faith if I valued it. This warning came from God, and was a thing to hold on to if my goal was the love of God. That, and well when I was 16 my stake president spontaneously asked me to bear my testimony at stake youth conference about why I would only date members of the church. At that point I had not firmly decided to date within my faith. This is because deciding to do so meant not being a hypocrit and thus only dating my brothers. But, as I had to quickly decide to do this, and explain why. I recited the common reasons and thus they were solidified in my being and perfect timing, we moved to an entirely new location where there were what I considered many datable individuals. Then, through colloge there were absolutely no boys my age I held firm to my commitment and explained it to any I felt I was becoming closer to, some baptisms followed, butI finally found many on the internet once I became marrying age.

But, then today, as we watched a cartoon about the story of King Ahab, Elijah, and Jezabel I more fully understood that scripture. Israel had been a chosen nation and they split apart and were almost completely lost as a people because the kings valued women who were following other religions. As a woman,  I could not see how any husband or lover could make me believe in an other God, but women were not kings!

What became most obvious to me was how the First commandment is to have no other gods before me. So, It really matters to man in successfully navigating this life. And surely there were other women around like Ruth or Ester who were worshiping the God of Israel. So, why did the kings chase after and end up worshiping other Gods? It occurred to me that the natural man is an enemy to God and by nature men value attributes in women that are found other places. And that was the lesson I learned from Jezabel today.