4/28/2011 7:47:42 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The wickedness of the human heart
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 8:7-15
Message of the verses: “7 ¶
Then Elisha came to Damascus. Now Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and
it was told him, saying, "The man of God has come here." 8 The king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in
your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him,
saying, ’Will I recover from this sickness?’" 9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in
his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and
he came and stood before him and said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram
has sent me to you, saying, ’Will I recover from this sickness?’" 10 Then Elisha said to him, "Go, say to
him, ’You will surely recover,’ but the LORD has shown me that he will
certainly die." 11 He fixed his
gaze steadily on him until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. 12 Hazael said, "Why does my lord
weep?" Then he answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to
the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men
you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces,
and their women with child you will rip up." 13 Then Hazael said, "But what is your
servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" And Elisha
answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram."
14 So he departed from Elisha and
returned to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to
you?" And he answered, "He told me that you would surely
recover." 15 On the following day,
he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face, so that he
died. And Hazael became king in his place.”
This
passage seems to be a bit confusing and has some things in it that show that
the human hear heart is wicked and as Jeremiah wrote “who can understand it.”
While
Elijah was still on this earth the Lord had given him three things to do and it
seems like he had only done one of them.
This assignment was given to him while he was on Mount Horeb and can be
found in 1Kings 9:8-18. The one thing
that he did do was anoint Elisha as a prophet and Elijah probably instructed
Elisha to do the other two things that of anointing Hazael as king of Syria,
and Jehu as king of Israel. This section
is about Hazel and although it does not say that Elisha anointed him king this
may have happened.
While
Ben-hadad lie sick he had heard that Elisha was coming to Syria so he sent
Hazel to see him with gifts, which were probably more like bribes to find out
if he would recover from his illness.
The answer that Elisha gives to Hazel is a bit confusing but it did come
about. Elisha said that he would recover
from his illness, but he would die anyway and that is exactly what happened.
Elisha
also told Hazel that he would become king and he did and ruled for forty-one
years, but how he became king and what he did would make Elisha cry, for Hazel
would kill Ben-hadad then take over the kingdom and do some awful things to
Israel after being king. Hazel would
call these awful things “great things.”
I would suppose that as a military leader in that time period doing
these things to one’s enemies would be considered great things as that was what
happened in this period of history and they do show the evilness of the human
heart. Verse sixteen shows that Hazel
kills Ben-hadad and then takes over as king of Syria. How this act enters into his mind is not told
in this story, but he was the one who did the deed.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have written on the inside cover of one of
my Bibles this statement: Total
depravity: Man is not as bad as he can
be but is as bad off as he can be. The
statement helps me to understand the total depravity of man, for given the
opportunity man will do some awful things and this section of Scripture shows
this to be true.
I
am a born-again believer, washed in the blood of the Lamb, given a new nature
that wants to only follow the Lord and do His will. The problem is that I still have that old
nature that once to do evil and not follow the Lord, so there is a constant
battle going on in my mind. Paul not
only talks about this in Romans seven, but shows me how to be victorious in
this ongoing battle.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Remember that I am in a spiritual battle and am in
need of having on the spiritual armor.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
4/28/2011 8:25:22 AM
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