4/26/2011 6:50:30 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
The
God who fulfills His Promises
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference:
2Kings
7:1-20
Message of the verses: Today’s SD will take up the entire seventh
chapter of 2Kings, but in the commentary of Dr. Wiersbe he breaks it up into
three different sub-titles and so I will attempt to look at each of these three
sub-titles in this SD. (Since I am not
working at this time I want to take a bigger portion of Scripture, for I have
more time to do this).
In
yesterday’s SD the king of Israel along with his servant were left outside the
door of Elisha’s house wanting to come in and to kill Elisha because the king
believed that it was Elisha who was causing the trouble that was going on
inside the city. In fact it was learned
that the reason for the trouble was because the people of Israel had broken the
covenant with the Lord and were now paying the bill for breaking it. Did Elisha let the king into his house? Well Dr. Wiersbe writes that he probably did,
but by the time he entered he was more subdued and would begin to listen to
reason.
Good news from the Lord (verses 1-2): “1 ¶
Then Elisha said, "Listen to the word of the LORD; thus says the
LORD, ’Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a
shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’"
2 The royal officer on whose hand the
king was leaning answered the man of God and said, "Behold, if the LORD
should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" Then he said,
"Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.’”
Elisha
now tells the king and his office a Word from the Lord, and that Word was that
the next day about that same time the price of food would drop
considerably. Elisha was a great prophet
of God, and the Lord spoke through His prophets, unlike the priests of Baal
that Joram listened to. Hebrews 4:12 is
a wonderful verse that speaks of the power of the Word of God: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.” The
king’s officer did not believe the Word of God spoken by Elisha His prophet,
and so Elisha told him that he would not see this miracle from the Lord, for he
would be dead. Dr. Wiersbe writes the
following: “To the humble heart that’s
open to God, the Word generates faith; but to the proud, self-centered heart,
the Word makes the heart even harder.
The same sun that melts ice will harden the clay.”
Good news from the enemy camp (verses 3-16): “3 ¶
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they
said to one another, "Why do we sit here until we die? 4 "If we say, ’We will enter the city,’
then the famine is in the city and we will die there; and if we sit here, we
die also. Now therefore come, and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans.
If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, we will but die."
5 They arose at twilight to go to the
camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the
Arameans, behold, there was no one there. 6
For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of
chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they
said to one another, "Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the
kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us."
7 Therefore they arose and fled in the
twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the
camp just as it was, and fled for their life. 8
When these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one
tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and
went and hid them; and they returned and entered another tent and carried from
there also, and went and hid them. 9 Then
they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of
good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning light,
punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king’s
household." 10 So they came and
called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, "We
came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the
voice of man, only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as
they were." 11 The gatekeepers
called and told doing it within the
king’s household.
“12 ¶ Then the king arose in the
night and said to his servants, "I will now tell you what the Arameans
have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone from
the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ’When they come out of the
city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’" 13 One of his servants said, "Please, let
some men take five of the horses which remain, which are left in the city. Behold,
they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it;
behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who have
already perished, so let us send and see." 14 They took therefore two chariots with horses,
and the king sent after the army of the Arameans, saying, "Go and
see." 15 They went after them to
the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the
Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told
the king. 16 So the people went out and
plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a
shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.”
Last
Wednesday I was thinking about this story of these four lepers and had gotten
in mixed up with the story of 2Kings 35 and also chapter 37 of Isaiah when the
angel of the Lord came and killed 185,000 Assyrians in their camp.
The
story of these four lepers parallels the story of the church today and what the
church should be doing with the Good News of the Gospel. These four lepers who lived outside of the
city gate of Samaria decided to go to the camp of the Syrians to get some food,
or to be killed by the Syrians, for they thought that they were going to die anyhow
so it would be better to die fast with the sword, than to die slowly of
starvation. When they got there they
found the camp empty for the Lord has caused them to hear a sound that they
thought was a great army and so they ran away leaving everything there in the
camp.
Now
these four lepers ate until they were full and then began to plunder the camp,
but later on in the night they decided that it was wrong to keep this good news
away from those who were starving in the city so they decided to tell the
guards at the gate this good news. The
guard told the king and even though he had heard the Word of the Lord spoken
through the prophet Elisha he did not believe it. This is now unlike many people today who hear
the good news of the Gospel and reject it.
An officer with good sense suggested to the king that they send some me
to investigate, which they did and found out the story was true. Verse sixteen says that all of this fulfilled
what happened was “according to the word of the Lord.” Dr. Wiersbe writes the following, “—the main
lesson isn’t that God rescued His people when they didn’t deserve it, but that
God fulfilled te promise He gave through His prophet Elisha.”
Bad news for the king’s officer (verses
17-20): “17 Now the king appointed the royal officer on
whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him
at the gate, and he died just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the
king came down to him. 18 It happened
just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, "Two measures of
barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold
tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria." 19 Then the royal officer answered the man of
God and said, "Now behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven,
could such a thing be?" And he said, "Behold, you will see it with
your own eyes, but you will not eat of it." 20 And so it happened to him, for the people
trampled on him at the gate and he died.”
Elisha
not only told about the prices of the food dropping, but he also told about the
king’s officer, who did not believe the Word of the Lord through his prophet
Elisha, would die and not see it all happen.
The verses above tell of his plight which fulfilled the Word of the
Lord. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following,
“The Word of the Lord lived on but the man who denied that Word was
killed. ‘Heaven and earth will pass
away,’ said Jesus, ‘but My words will by no means pass away’ (Matt. 24:35, NKJV).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Just as the four lepers did not hide the good
news, but shared it so others would live, I too am to share the good news of
the Gospel to those who will die without it.
I cannot make anyone believe this good news, like the king who did not
believe the good news in the story there will be those who do not believe the
good news of the gospel, but it is still up to me to tell those whom God brings
into my path.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Be ready to give an account of what the Lord has
done in my life so others can hear the good news of the Gospel.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
3.
Remember that I am in a battle and in need of the
Spiritual armor.
4.
Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service
today.
4/26/2011 8:04:52 AM
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