Elisha replied, “Hear
the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: 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.” 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!” (Second Kings 7:1-2)
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.” 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!” And
that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the
gateway, and he died.
(Second Kings 7:18-20)
In
Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Joy noted that the seventh chapter of Second Kings begins
and ends with the same form. We read of a prophetic promise, an expression of
unbelief, and a pronouncement of consequence.
As
we have spent this Lenten season in reflection on temptation and its role in the life of the Christian, we must
remember that God allows temptation to serve as a “litmus test” of our relationship with Him. Our external response to the temptation is the
evidence of the thoughts and motives at work inside of us.
In the case of the
king’s officer, we see that he gave in to the temptation of focusing on his
years of lack instead of embracing God’s promise of plenty. The
response of the king’s officer to the prophetic word, when boiled down to its
core, was a response of unbelief: God can’t
do that. His negative response to the prophetic word was the evidence of his
lack of faith and trust in what God had said through the prophet Elisha. And
the end result was that the officer experienced two profound phenomena: the
experience of seeing the promise come to pass, and the experience of losing any
chance of participation in the promise.
How
have we responded to the men and women God has sent with a prophetic promise? Have we embraced the word of the Lord, anticipating the miraculous, or have we dismissed
His word as ‘no longer possible’?
God,
in one day, can change everything. Believe it.
We thank You, God,
because You still speak, and You have spoken to us. Give us the wisdom to listen. Give
us the wisdom to align ourselves with the word You send through Your prophets,
men and women empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak in accordance with Your word.
Please help us to agree with Your word regardless of what others might be saying or doing. We thank You and we look forward to the fulfillment
of the promises You have spoken to us. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
All
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,
Inc.®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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