November 13 "Not Me!"

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.