2 Kings 4 -- God's Provision

Elisha, like his predecessor, Elijah, was empowered by God to perform miracles, and this chapter certainly proves it. 

 

One of the “sons of the prophets” had died, leaving a widow and two sons destitute with a large debt and no assets except a small container of olive oil.  My commentary noted, “Little is much when God is in it.”  Elisha directed her to borrow every container she could from her neighbors, then begin filling them from her small container.  Miraculously, the oil didn’t run out until the supply of containers did, giving her enough oil to sell to not only pay off the debt, but enough to live on as well!  “If we give everything to Him, He can make a little go a long way,” my commentary added.

 

Another woman benefited from knowing Elisha.  She’d offered hospitality by building a room onto her own home where Elisha and his servant could stay as they traveled back and forth from his hometown to Mount Carmel.  Elisha wanted to intercede for her because of this great ministry, but she stated that she was content.  She simply wanted to serve God.  He finally determined that she’d been unable to have children.  God informed him that she would have a son within a year, and it happened!  However, a few years later the boy became sick and died.  The woman rode to Elisha, who sent his servant ahead to lay his walking stick on the boy’s body, yet no healing occurred.  When Elisha arrived, he did what Elijah had done and laid over the boy, then stopped and prayed, and the laid on him again until God restored him to life!

 

Elijah also cleansed a pot of stew in which poisonous fruit had accidentally been added, and he fed 100 people with a small provision of bread and grain.

 

All of these miracles prove that God knows our needs and meets them as we trust Him, my commentary said, and it mentioned something David wrote in Psalm 37:25 – “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.”  We serve a faithful God who loves us so much that He even gave His only Son to die for our sins!

 

Father, Your provision for me is great, and I’m so glad to have You as my Portion.  Remind me to treasure everything You provide me, and to take nothing for granted.  Thank You most of all for Your grace in forgiving me of my sins and for removing them with the death of Your Son.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Kings 3 -- Why Not Consult God FIRST?

When Moab decided not to fork over its annual tribute to Israel, Ahab’s son Joram knew he had to man up and go to war or he’d lose all respect.  He even asked Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to join him, and they also were joined by Edom as they set to attack Moab from the desert.  But after a 7-day march, they seemed surprised to discover that they’d run out of water for their animals and themselves!  Joram cried out that God was handing them over to their enemy.  Yet they hadn’t bothered to consult the Lord!  Judah’s king asked for a prophet of the Lord, and Elisha “just happened” to be with the army!

 

He directed them to dig pits all over a valley, and the next morning rain from the distant mountains came flooding down the valley, filling the pits and giving them the water they needed.  The scouts for Moab, however, saw the rising sun in the east reflecting off of the water, looking the color of blood.  They decided that the three armies had fought among themselves and destroyed each other, and they hurried out to collect the spoils.  The freshly hydrated army, though, took on the attackers and defeated them, then followed God’s commands to completely ruin the land of Moab, stopping up springs, tearing down cities, cutting down all of the trees, and casting rocks in every good field to insure that Moab could no longer be economically viable.

 

Seeing his impending defeat, the king of Moab, in desperation, took the drastic step of publicly sacrificing his oldest son and heir-apparent to their god to try and stave off defeat!

 

The whole chapter left me with questions:

 

Why did Jehoshaphat agree to work with Israel to begin with?

 

Why did he not consult God before beginning the 7-day march through the desert, rather than waiting until they were out of resources?

 

Why was Elisha with the army, seven days from home?  Probably because God put him there for a reason.  Elisha did say that he disrespected the king of Israel, but was acting because of Jehoshaphat’s presence.  That’s grace in action.

 

God didn’t have to make it rain right where they were, either.  Instead, He caused rain in the nearby mountains so that water would flow to their location without the enemy knowing it!

 

Father, thanks for the reminder that I too can be a person who points others to You even in the midst of non-Christians.  Thank You also for reminding me of the importance of consulting with You before beginning any major undertaking.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Kings 2 -- An Ending And A New Beginning

I love this story of Elisha accompanying his mentor Elijah until God separated them and took Elijah alive to heaven.  My commentary had several important thoughts:

 

n  The work of the Lord is always one generation short of extinction and we must be faithful to obey 2 Timothy 2:2, which tells us to “commit [the things you have heard from me] to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

n  The three miracles Elisha invoked have spiritual messages:  1)  By taking Elisha west of the Jordan, Elijah forced him to trust God to get him across the river and back into the land.  2) In healing the bad waters of Jericho, through Elisha God was reminding the people that His blessings were for a nation that was loyal to His covenant.  To disobey His law meant to forfeit His blessings, and Jericho had been under a curse as disobedient people.  3)  In judging the mocking young men, Elisha was doing what we frequently see God doing at the beginning of a new period in Bible history – issuing a warning to His people that the new beginning doesn’t mean that the old rules have been changed.

 

Father, I thank You for new beginnings that remind us of Your grace to cleanse us and bring us back to You.  As changes come in this life, remind me that You make such changes not to harm us, but to strengthen us in our faith.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Kings 1 -- It's All Downhill From Here

Ahab died, and with his rule ended, Israel began to fall apart.  They’d kept Moab under their thumb and now, seizing the opportunity, Moab broke free.

 

Ahab’s son Ahaziah followed him as king and he had never learned from the contest on Mount Carmel that God was God.  He too worshiped idols and not the living God.  One day he fell through the latticework from an upstairs room and was badly injured.  He sent messengers to inquire of the Baal priests if he would live (he didn’t ask for healing!).  God directed Elijah to intercept the messengers and deliver His message that Ahaziah would definitely die.

 

Ahaziah knew the message had been given to Elijah, and he foolishly sent a contingent of soldiers to have him brought in, possibly hoping to get him to change his prophecy, since Ahaziah didn’t like the implied outcome.  Elijah called down fire from heaven twice, and God completely burned up both the first and second teams of soldiers.  The third captain knew better than to be prideful, falling on his knees and begging Elijah to respect the 51 lives before him.  God told Elijah to go with them.

 

Face to face with the king, Elijah fearlessly delivered God’s message again, and with the words ringing in his ears, Ahaziah died!  He’d been stubborn, disobedient, and prideful to the end!

 

The introduction to 2^nd Kings in my Bible said, “Twenty-five chapters of people reaping the harvest of sin.  Story after story of people learning firsthand the eternal truth:  The consequence of persistent sin is pain.  Pain, not just in your life but in the lives of those you love.”

 

I don’t look forward to the other twenty-four chapters.

 

Father God, please help me to remember, and my sons to fully understand as well, the timeless truth You reveal here – that persistent sin produces pain, not just in our own lives, but in the lives of those we love.  Help us to love each other enough not to hurt each other by our own choosing to sin.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 21-22 Just Makes You Shake Your Head

My commentary took a moment to see how well Ahab was not keeping the 10 Commandments, and I picked up some interesting thoughts:

 

“The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” (A.W. Tozer)

 

Regarding covetousness, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone … This commandment is perhaps the most difficult one to obey … This commandment deals primarily with the hidden desires of the heart.”

 

King Jehoshaphat of Judah was a godly leader, but he made three costly compromises, it said.  He let his son marry Ahab’s daughter; he got entangled in Ahab’s battle affairs with Syria; and he foolishly joined forces with Ahab’s son later, trying to get rich by importing foreign goods, but God wrecked his fleet.

 

Ahab, dressed for battle not as a king but as a commoner, finally met his match:  “By chance, a soldier shot an arrow, but he hit Ahab between the pieces of his armor … that evening he died …”  There is no chance where God is concerned.  God directed the arrow toward the most vulnerable part of Ahab’s armor, and did what He’d said He would do.

 

Father, please work in my mind and heart to keep unworthy thoughts about You from ever entering them.  Help me to value the number of things I can afford to leave alone.  Take control of the hidden desires of my heart and hold them captive to You and Your will!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 20 -- Some People NEVER Learn

Syria surrounded Samaria to attack it.  They needed the trade route through the country because Assyria had captured the northern trade route.  The Syrian (Aramean) king demanded all of Ahab’s silver and gold, as well as the best of his wives and kids (I’ll bet he wouldn’t take Jezebel!).  And Ahab agreed!  But then the Syrian king pushed too far, demanding that his soldiers could take anything they wanted from the palace.  Ahab’s refusal caused the Syrians to prepare to attack.

 

God still wanted Ahab to return to Him and acknowledge that He is God, so He sent word to Ahab, telling him how to defeat this king.  Ahab believed and led his army, wiping out the foe.  God also sent word for him to strengthen his army for a spring attack.  Before long, the attack came, but Ahab, with God’s help, wiped out that army as well!  But rather than killing the Syrian king as God had commanded, Ahab agreed to a land swap and a trade agreement!  So a young prophet dressed as a wounded soldier put himself before the king, tricking him into naming his own punishment just as Nathan had done with David.  God told him:  “You freed the man I said should die, so your life will be taken instead of his.”  All Ahab could do was return home and pout.

 

My commentary said that “what the enemy couldn’t accomplish with their weapons, they accomplished with their deception.”  Satan works the same way.  “If he can’t succeed as the lion who devours, he will come as a serpent who deceives.”

 

Father, help me to be acutely aware of Satan’s deceits.  Let me not fall for them.  Help me to see that in You alone is the truth.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 19 -- Just When I Needed It

What a change for Elijah!  Having just watched a huge display of power by God and after ridding the land of 450 prophets of Baal, Elijah let’s an enraged Jezebel’s threats drive him away from his ministry.  God had protected him through drought and those same threats for three years, but now Elijah is exhibiting burnout.  God didn’t tell him to go to Mt. Sinai, but apparently Elijah went there to be alone with God.  God knew he was headed that way, knew what he was feeling, and even sent an angel to twice prepare him for the long trip.

 

I needed God’s timing in all of this, for I’ve been about to the edge of burnout this week.  And I also needed what God showed me in my commentary:

 

1)       Prepare for what may happen after the victories God gives us.  How quickly we can move from the mountaintop of triumph to the valley of testing.

2)      God looks beyond our changing moods and impetuous prayers, and He pities us the way parents pity their discouraged children … how tenderly and patiently God deals with us when we’re in the depths of despair and feel like giving up.

3)      When God’s servants get out of God’s will, they’re liable to do all sorts of foolish things and fail in their strongest points.

4)      God never asks us to be better than anybody else, but only to hear His Word and obey.

5)      The “I’m the only one left” refrain makes it look as though Elijah was indispensable to God’s work when actually no servant of God is indispensable.

6)      “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities … For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:10,14

7)      No matter how much or how often His servants fail Him, God is never at a loss to know what to do.  Our job is to obey His Word and get up and do it.

8)      God was calling Elijah to stop weeping over the past and running away from the present.  It was time for him to start preparing others for the future.  When God is in command, there is always hope.

9)      To glamorize or criticize the past accomplishes little; what’s important is that we do our job in the present and equip others to continue it after we’re gone.

 

Father, thank you for arranging it so that I woke up and didn’t sleep in on this holiday – that I heard You calling me to Your Word when I really needed it.  Forgive me for my entitlement attitude and for the despondency I’ve felt for several days.  Please pick me up, dust me off, and use me again.  I am so thankful that You know my frame and that You remember that I am dust, yet You love me anyway!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford