Don’t you just hate to be told, “I told you so”? Like after someone warn us that doing something will lead to problems, but we do it anyway since we know they don’t know what they’re talking about. Especially if it’s our parents. We tell ourselves, “They’re old! They don’t understand! They’ve never felt what I feel.” Then when it unfolds just as they said it would we avoid them hoping to escape hearing “I told you so.” Most parents are too kind to say it, though it's what we happily say when our friends ignore our always excellent advice.

Knowing Elisha had been around during the days of Jehu makes me wonder if he ever said, “I told you so”? His constant message to Israel was a plea for them to serve God with a whole heart and a warning of the terrible consequences for disobedience. When they disregarded his message judgement came, and was often swift and terrible. But it’s unlikely Elisha would have thrown it in their face because of his pain over their suffering. On one occasion Elisha told a Syrian captain that he would become king of Syria and began to weep because he foresaw the suffering the man would inflict on Israel (2 Kings 8:11-12).

Even though Jehu immediately moved to eliminate Baal worship from Israel (2 Kings 10:18-28) his heart was not fully turned to God so he continued the idol worship established by Jeroboam (2 Kings 10:29-31). Verse 31 sums it up like this, “But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.”

Because of Jehu’s failure to serve God “with all his heart” Elisha’s vision of Israel’s suffering under Hazael began to come true as he began capturing city after city (2 Kings 10:32-33). Did Jehu think, “Elisha’s old. He doesn’t understand.”, as he followed his own path? When he began losing battle after battle and large numbers of Israelites died and were enslaved did he hide from God trying to avoid hearing, “I told you so”? But if he had done God’s will, the blessings would have made “I told you so” sound wonderful.

So again I ask, do you hate to be told “I told you so”? The consequences and subsequent “I told you so’s” are bad enough if you’re living in rebellion against your parents or human authorities. So imagine how bad it will be if you’re living in rebellion against God. Even if we skate through life without any bad consequences, standing before God after living in rebellion will lead to “Depart, from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). And that my friends is the worst possible “I told you so!”