Posted in A Father's Love, Devotions, Marraige, spiritual warfare, wisdom, worship

2 Kings 7–You Will See It but You Won’t Experience It!

We are often put in a position where we need to take God at His word. When I was a father of toddlers, I would deliver the most stern punishment when my children would not obey me, immediately.  I would not put up with having to ask several times for them to comply.  The reasonong was very simple–I needed them to trust and obey my word the first time for their safety.  If they were headed for the street, I simply did not have the luxury of counting, reasoning or bribing them–they could be hit by a car and die.  God operates under the same reasoning.  He led the people of Israel with the same loving fatherly committment. 
 
On this day, Elisha delivered a message to his would be assassin that God would not only end the seige and famine, but He would provide a surplus of everything to the point that the cost would be negligible. The assassin (A king’s guard that would later guard the palace gate) called Elisha crazy.  He said God simply could not perform that big of a miracle!  Elisha then, in his pragmatic way, ended the discussion; in effect, Elisha said–“Fine, tomorrow you will see the miracle but your lack of trust in God will prevent your enjoying the fruits of it!”
 
The sun rose, and as promised, God ended the seige with a mighty miracle.  There was so much food that the price of grain dropped to nothing. The afore-mentioned guard and would be assassin heard the announcement and as people stormed the gate to get the food they so desparately needed–the guard was trampled! Uggh.  
 
Thoughts on the story:  
1. Trust God to do what He says He will do.  We cannot lose our faith despite the circumstances we face. Often, continued faith builds an amazing history of miracles and provision that we can only attribute to God and His amazing nature!
2.  We are the ones that sin and break our promises to God.  We should be ashamed when we question and doubt the Lord’s power to prepare, protect and provide for us.
3.  It is so much easier simply to obey God immediately and forego the possibility of missing His blessing because of our lack of faith and trust in Him.
4.  God uses all kinds of folks in our lives, we have to get used to listening for His voice and following His lead.
 
God Bless You

Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah[a] of the finest flour will sell for a shekel[b] and two seahs[c] of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

The Siege Lifted

Now there were four men with leprosy[d] at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace…

Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house. 18 It happened as the man of God had said to the king: “About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

19 The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

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This is an amazing Journey. I hope you will hear from the Lord, as you seek Him with your heart. Matthew 6:33

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