November 17

Get Up

2 Kings 7:3-5 Now there were four men who were lepers  at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die." 5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.

YOU may have heard the saying, "If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got." This attributed to any number of people, but regardless of its origin, what matters is the point it makes. If you want to change something in your life, you need to change either the things you do or the way you do things. 

    The four lepers in this Scripture are a good illustration of this truism. Considering the conditions of Samaria in the midst of great starvation, we can wonder how the lepers who survive on handouts have survived to this point. Apparently they are resourceful men. Now they look at their circumstances - starving Samaria behind them and the deadly enemy Syrians before them. What do they do to survive - or perhaps have less chance of dying?

    At this point because there is no food in Samaria, their only hope is a dim hope to go to the Syrians to possibly receive food. Possibly, just maybe, the Syrians will feed them instead of kill them. Hope's light is dim, but at least it is visible.

    So then, the lepers decide to do something different. So they get up and go to Syria's army encampment instead of Samaria's starving city. Then see what they find. The enemy is gone from this camp. We will see God has opened a door to provisions to feed thousands people.

    Do you feel the despair and tension in the lepers' heart turn to relief, then to anticipation, then to excitement? Acting into the smallest light of hope, the overwhelming light of physical salvation begins to pour over them. They are about to get something different. Because they got up togo into the siggle small ray of hope before them, they are beginning to discover God's salvation from their hunger.  

    Certainly the Holy Spirit urged them to go to the Syrians. Their obedient going, the change in what they did every day produced a grand and glorious difference in their lives. Even more, their discovery will bring salvation to the city Samaria.  

    This story is a picture of God's grace to point us to the hope of Jesus Christ. So often we become starved of Jesus' salvation because we do what we always do. Our daily habits can easily keep us from Jesus as we ignore such means of grace as prayer, the Bible, and fellowship with other Christians. We must intentionally get up each day to see what form of abundance God has prepared for us. We miss too often the feast of his love, joy, faith, and hope as we often keep our eyes on how we always have done things.

    What different thing do you need to do each day to experience the bounty of Jesus' salvation?

Prayer: Help me, Lord, to get up and go into your blessings each day. In Jesus' name, amen.

2 Kings 7:1 But Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, 'Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.'" 2 Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, "If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" But Elisha said, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it." 

IN our previous two readings, we learned that God had brought the Syrian army to besiege Samaria, causing deadly starvation. This passage shows us that Israel's King Joram wanted to kill Elisha. Why? Apparently Elisha had promised the Lord would deliver the city. There was no need for the king to take any action but to wait on the Lord. But in the deadly siege, nearly everyone had lost hope in God's deliverance. Joram blames Elisha. His faith is weak, and his anger motivates him to seek Elisha's life.

          But then Elisha declared that God is about to end the siege and the starvation. Overnight scarce food will become plentiful and a bargain to purchase. To a starving city, such a promise sounded impossible. To the king's captain it sounded as if Elisha was just buying time.

          Unbelief often forms a great chasm of impatience and anger between God and his people, doesn't it? The wrier of Hebrews reminds us that unbelief kept the Jews whom God delivered from Egypt out of the Promised Land. Hebrews 3:19 So we see that they were unable to enter (the Promised Land) because of unbelief. Paul writes of how unbelief kept him from God before his conversion. 1 Timothy 1:13 "though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief."

           What do you believe? Do you hold God's words above all things? Do you truly believe in his promises - even in Hell and in Heaven? One time I had a regular church-going person ask me, "Do you think there is really a Heaven?" In spite of all the promises from God's Word regarding eternal life, there seemed to be no true belief in the person's heart.

          I wonder what other questions we have regarding God? What do you do with your questions? What do you do with your "unbeliefs"? In his unbelief, the captain would not see God's salvation promise for Samaria. As it did for the Jews and the captain, will your unbelief keep a chasm between you and God? Or will you pray to the Lord for humility and understanding to grow deeper into your relationship with him?

Prayer: Lord God, you know my belief struggles. May my prayer be as the father in Mark 9:24"I believe; help my unbelief!" In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

2 Kings 6:26-31 Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!" 27 And he said, "If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?" 28 And the king asked her, "What is your trouble?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.' 29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, 'Give your son, that we may eat him.' But she has hidden her son." 30 When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body— 31 and he said, "May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today." 

YOU see here how grim and deadly sin is. I know it's difficult to imagine that such horrible as recorded here do happen. But we have only to consider the abortion mills in America that destroy over 3,000 lives each day. Sin is surely grim and deadly.

          King Joram represents that "death heart" of evil. He blames God and God's Prophet Elisha for the terrible events in Samaria. Nowhere do we see this man repent and call on the name of the Lord. He and all of Samaria need to proclaim David's words of Psalms 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Israel must repent hear and act into God's merciful promise as represented in Jeremiah 7:23 But this command I gave them: "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you." 

          King Joram, instead, blames God for the troubles in Samaria. He refuses to accept that God's ways are the only path to a blessed life that he has beautifully presented to Israel in his love and grace. Why was Joram so eager to blame God's Prophet?

Prayer: Father, forgive us our sins. Create in us clean hearts that our spirit would be renewed to seek and obey your commands. In Jesus' name, amen.

2 Kings 6:24-25 Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five shekels of silver.

WHAT would you do if God had delivered you from your enemy? As recorded in our last lesson, God blinded the Syrian raiding party, and Elisha led them into the hands of Israel's king. At Elisha's urging, the king of Israel, Joram, set a feast before them, and "the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel." God had given to Israel a great victory. He had also demonstrated his remarkable mercy to Israel's enemies. Certainly in response to God's salvation King Joram would have led Israel to repent and worship God, wouldn't he?
    But he didn't. His heart remained a stone against the Lord. In response, God raised a new leader in Syria to again attack Israel. This time, though, God does not save Samaria, the capital city. Instead there are horrible consequences as a siege on Samaria brings terrible famine to its citizens. The slightest food cost a great deal.
    What is your response to God's salvation? Do you recall that in his great mercy, the Father sent the Son to die on a cross that we might be saved from our enemy Satan? Do you gratefully recall how the God of Heaven's armies has defeated Satan's death siege on our lives? Do you consider that God sets a table before all who hunger and thirst for his righteous truth? If so, your only true response is to worship your Lord and be saved.
    Israel rejected God and starved. Receive his salvation and be filled with the Bread of Life.

Prayer: O God, you are so merciful and loving. Turn my heart to ever worship you, rejoicing that you have delivered me from evil. Amen.

November 11

Mercy

2 Kings 6:18-23 And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, "Please strike this people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." And he led them to Samaria (Israel's capital). 20 As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. 21 As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, "My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?" 22 He answered, "You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master." 23 So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.

ONE of the images of God's salvation throughout the Bible is a feast. In the beloved Psalm 23, for example, we read the great assurance "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows." (Psalm 23:5) As God formed his people under his authority, he commanded the Jews to remember their salvation out of Egypt with the Feast of the Passover. They were also to remember how he sheltered them and came to dwell with them in the desert journey through the Feast of the Tabernacles. And God commanded the celebration of the Law come to earth through the Feast of Pentecost.

          Looking ahead to our future, God also offers an image of plenty in our eternal home in Revelation 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

          Today's Scripture tells us God also provides feasts even for his enemies. He loves them in the midst of their opposition. God's mercy is all-encompassing for his creation.

          The feast is God's gift to mankind to teach us of his mercy. As God used Elisha to proclaim his message of mercy to the Syrians, he has used countless voices throughout the ages to offer his mercy to those who war against him. He's even used his Son and his Spirit.

          Remember, you were born an enemy to God. As you confess Christ, you do so as a response to God's eternal mercy on your soul. He has brought you into the feast of forgiveness as demonstrated as Jesus declared in Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 

          When you consider your former relationship with God and your relationship now, I urge you to look at those around you and consider, "To whom can I show God's mercy?" You will be surprised and empowered when you begin to say to others, "Come, let us feast together in God's mercy." Who knows? God may be using you to open eyes blind to his salvation.

Prayer: We celebrate your mercy, O God. Thank you for life. For freedom from slavery. For your protection from evil. As I have received mercy, teach me to be merciful. In Jesus' name, amen.

2 Kings 6:14-17 So Syria's king sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" 16 He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see." So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

THE Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  The English Standard Version labels this section of Romans as "God's Everlasting Love."

    About 800 years before Paul wrote those words, the Prophet Elisha received the evidence of this grand view of God's love. Though Elisha's life is threatened, the heavenly army surrounds him. The Everlasting God had come to care for his faithful servant. God's army overcomes. God wins the battle, and he wins the war against evil.

    There is much publicity in the Christian church today about the ways the culture is opposing the church. We talk about diminishing attendance in our churches. We know the generation of the 20-30 year olds are fewer in church than we have experienced in this country's history. We feel as if the King of Evil has sent his army to surround and capture Christ's church. As Elisha's servant, we don't know what to do. Our personal walk is much the same. We think too much of the challenges.

    In our church and in our personal lives, let us open our eyes to see God's chariots of fire, the Holy Spirit's power to deliver us from evil. Call on the Lord to faithfully believe Scripture's message, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." & "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Remember, too, Jesus said to his disciples (that includes you today.) Matthew 28:20(b) "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

    "Behold" means to see. Elisha saw God's army around him. Do you?

Prayer: Holy Spirit, open our eyes that we may behold the Almighty God t o save us, to protect us, and to draw us home to you. In Jesus' name, amen.

2 Kings 6:1 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there." And he answered, "Go." 3 Then one of them said, "Be pleased to go with your servants." And he answered, "I will go." 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas, my master! It was borrowed." 6 Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 7 And he said, "Take it up." So he reached out his hand and took it.

DO you find God's Miracle Number 11 through Elisha to be a bit odd? Doesn't God reserve his miracles for healing, feeding, resurrection and soul saving? Apparently there is more. He even used Elisha to find a lost axe head. What's the point?

    The point, as I see it, is that God pays attention to each aspect of his faithful people's lives. The axe was a means of livelihood and supply. Without the axe, the man couldn't earn a day's wage. Without the axe, the wood could not have been unavailable for the dwelling they were building. The axe head was necessary for completing the building task. God cares for each aspect of our lives, even our "daily bread". (Matthew 6:11)

    This story also points to servant leadership. Jesus taught how important it is for leaders to be servants to those they lead. (See John 13.) Elisha serves the "sons of the prophets" - those who were schooled and trained in teaching God's Word. Elisha has been their teacher. Their numbers had grown. Now he agreed to be alongside them as  they built new dwellings.

    Through righteous living, following our Lord's words and deeds, the Kingdom of God is a gracious place, filled with fellowship, leadership and servant hearts. Enjoy the work as you work together. Perhaps you will see a miracle.

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for demonstrating servant leadership. Thank you, Father, for giving to us our daily needs. Amen.

November 6

Jesus' View

FOR our final look at the mighty warrior Naaman healed of leprosy, we look to Jesus' teaching in Luke 4:25-27 "But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."  

    The Jews' response to Jesus' words was dramatic: Luke 4:28-30 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.  

    Why did the Jews nearly kill Jesus for his teachings here? It was because Jesus used the ministries of Elijah and Elisha to the widow at Zarephath and of Naaman respectively as a teaching against Israel's lack of faith. Jesus convicts the Jews, "Foreigners had more faith than you!" And thus, God would not work his miracles through these prophets among God's people because he found no faith in Israel.

    Jesus is telling God's chosen people how they have rejected God. Of course, they didn't want to hear such truth. Violently they opposed the truth and God's judgment. Their only response to the truth was to try and kill him.

    Do you know this is a common response to God's truth today? We know how Christians who stand for Jesus are killed. There are also many people who receive death threats because they are famous for preaching the gospel throughout the world. For example, the apologist Ravi Zacharias, in ministry for 40 years to defend the gospel worldwide, talks of a growing number of threatening phone calls and emails to him and his ministry. Recently, he also needed a body guard to protect him at an Ivy League school. Imagine! You go to teach about Jesus, and you are threatened! Will it come to this in our churches? In some ways it already has.

    Sin can't stand to hear the truth. God's people would eventually kill God's Son, the Living Truth. But we know the Truth is alive. We know no one can kill the Truth of the Good News! Be faithful and stand in the gaps that lies create. Stand for your faith. Stand for your family, your church and your community.

    Stand in Christ and be saved to eternal life. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.  

Prayer: Fill our hearts with faith Lord. Grand us faith to be firm for you and with you forever. Amen.

2 Kings 5:19-27 He said to him, "Go in peace." But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, "See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him." 21 So Gehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, "Is all well?" 22 And he said, "All is well. My master has sent me to say, 'There have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two festal garments.'" 23 And Naaman said, "Be pleased to accept two talents." And he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two festal garments, and laid them on two of his servants. And they carried them before Gehazi. 24 And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed. 25 He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant went nowhere." 26 But he said to him, "Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants? 27 Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever." So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.

THE 11th Miracle God works through Elisha is a sad judgment on a servant's sin. What can you do but weep over Gehazi's greed? Perhaps, too, you are saddened that Elisha has lost a trusted servant. Possibly you feel Elisha's torment as a loved one has betrayed him.

          One lesson to consider here is the truth of the Apostle Peter's words in 1 Peter 5:8-9(a) "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9  Resist him, firm in your faith." 

          The adversary Satan is always after you in some way. Be restrained from seeking after worldly wealth at the cost of your eternal relationship to your Lord God. Be mindful of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Be diligent to repent of temptations. Be urgent to call on the Holy Spirit to protect you in all matters.

          May the Lord find joy in your steadfast faith as you celebrate and savor his eternal kingdom riches.

Prayer: Lord God, you are worth far more than silver or gold. I rejoice that you have given me the treasures of the Kingdom of God. May the Holy Spirit empower me to use those treasures to your glory. In Christ I pray, amen.

2 Kings 5:15 Then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before Elisha. And he said, "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant." 16 But he said, "As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none." And Naaman urged Elisha to take it, but Elisha refused.

WHEN we look back on our lessons from Naaman, we see that in Naaman's first encounter with Elisha, Naaman became upset. 2 Kings 5:11 "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me." Naaman was pridefully accustomed to being one whom people approached in honor. Naaman was insulted that Elisha would not come to him.

          But now what does Naaman do in response to his healing? He goes to Elisha to honor him. Naaman now understands that God has acted through Elisha, and Elisha is one who has access to true power. Naaman has just experienced God's power that is far above his own as a military leader. Gratefully and humbly, Naaman brings rich gifts to reward Elisha.

          Elisha's response also demonstrates his own humility before the Lord. Elisha, of course, is fully aware he was a voice God used for Naaman's healing. Pridefully he could have taken the gifts. Self-focused he could have pointed to himself as the healer. But humbly he refused. He turned Naaman's mind to the living God. Only the Lord Almighty deserved praise and honor for Naaman's healing.

          How is your humility level? Are you aware that all you have is from God? Do you receive these things in humble gratitude, giving thanks? Are you humble to approach God to worship him? Do you give credit to the Living God for the good things he does through you?

Prayer: Father, I receive all from you with gratitude and humility. Thank you, Lord God, for your love showered down on me. Thank you for Jesus come to heal my sin. Thank you for the Holy Spirit's power to form and shape my life in the ways you command. In Jesus' name, amen.