A Savior is Given

2nd Kings 13

Sometimes I would receive a gift from my parents out of the blue. It was not my birthday or Christmas; in fact, I wasn’t really that good at some of those times. I know I did not deserve those gifts but my parents gave them because they loved me. 

In this chapter we are going to read about the kings of Israel, they were the sons of Jehu and because Jehu carried out the killing of the descendants of Ahab he was able to have a couple of generations in the throne.

Jehoahaz

The bummer we read is that this man did just like the kings that were before him, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Because of his sin and the sin of the people God gave them into the hand of the Syrians. This may sound familiar because it is a continual thing of the Syrians dominating Israel at this time. When we read this all may sound familiar with all the kings of Israel, they did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord wrath was upon them, but verse 4 we see something that none of the previous kings did, he sought after the Lord. All the other kings before him went to their Baals and false gods. But Jehoahaz went to the true God. The more surprisingly part is that the Lord listened to this heathen. God was looking out for his people. 

This reminds me of the story of Judges. The cycle went, the people of Israel were oppressed by the surrounding nations and God heard their cry so he would send a deliverer to save them, a judge. When the judge would die the people would start the cycle again and forget the Lord.

God heard them and listened and he acted by delivering the people of Israel from the Syrians. He gave them a savior to deliver them. How cool is this, there have been different thoughts about who this savior was but what we need to focus on is that God desired that his children be freed. They did not deserve it and the king did not even deserve of thought by God, but God acted for he is gracious to his children. Even though God did do his part they still turned back to their evil ways. 

Goodbye old friend

The last few chapter of 2nd kings have been silent of Elisha. He did so many miracles of God through his life and all we see is that he never compromised his walk. He stood up against the different kings of Israel as well as the Assyrians. He was not afraid of man because he stood for the Lord. We read in verses 14 through 25 that he was going to die. 

The king of Israel, Jehoash (also spelled Joash), went to him and cried because he was going to die. The reason why Jehoash went to Elisha was not because he was sad this man of God was dying but because Israel was about to be defeated by the Syrians. Elisha had one last message to give and that was that Israel will be victorious over the Syrians but only three times due to the king and his lack of enthusiasm in God. Elisha died and was buried and we read that his last words came true as Israel defeated the Syrians 3 times.

We have a Savior

How fitting is it that we have read about God bringing a deliverer to a nation that did not deserve it and today is Christmas Eve. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ who is the Savior for mankind. We know that the angel who told Mary that she would be carrying the Savior because he will save us from our sins. 

The nation of Israel did not deserve being rescued from the Syrians because they did not care about God. They followed after false gods and did evil in the sight of the Lord. They abandoned the law and everything that God did for their forefathers, yet God still saved them. We have this gift that we do not deserve. We have fallen away from God because we are sinners. We know that Romans tells us that we all fall short and are not deserving of redemption (Romans 3:32). We know that because of sin we deserve death just like Israel deserved death for their disobedience from the true King, but the gift of God is which is free is the eternal life from the only Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). We have a Savior, are you going to be like Israel and be thankful for the deliverance of the enemy for a short time and then go back to your old ways or are you going to embrace the Savior and follow him? Turn from your old and follow the true King, Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Change

2nd Kings 11

Sometimes reading through 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles can be confusing. I know for me, I get confused with the names because a lot of them look somewhat similar and trying to pronounce them is a challenge. I sometimes need to stop and look back at previous chapters just to see who is king and where are they king over. Is this chapter talking about Israel or Judah or both? 

Reflect from chapter 10: In order for us to understand this chapter we need to read or know what chapter 10 was about. Jehu was king in Israel but wanted to wipe out the old royal family that was before him. That was Ahab and his sons. There were several descendants of Ahab and Jezebeel left and what makes this more complicated is that there was intermarriage between Israel and Judah so the family tree spread even further. 

Jehu was on a killing rampage and the house of Ahab was coming to an end. This was prophecy of the Lord which was spoken about 1st Kings 21:21. Death of the royal family was becoming a very big deal and now it is coming in the land of Judah.

Joash was saved

Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah was upset because her son, Ahaziah was killed. Because of that she wanted to kill any royal boy left alive. Some scholars think Athaliah might be a daughter of Jezebel which shows the apple does not fall too far from the tree. 

She wanted to kill the little baby Joash but his aunt, Jehosheba had other plans. She hid him from this evil woman for 6 years. God had another plan because he was going to save the lineage of David which is prophetic of Jesus family tree. Satan wanted to destroy this in hopes of the Savior Jesus being born but God had other plans. 

The Protector and Counselor:

Jehoiada was the high priest in Jerusalem and he knew that there needed to be change. He brought in the royal bodyguards to protect this seven year old king. They surrounded the palace as well as the temple to make sure this inauguration would not be stopped. Athaliah heard about this new king and she decided she may as well disrupt it. Jehoiada did not want to kill her in the temple so he told the bodyguards to take her outside. They obeyed and Jehoash will be able to reign in Jerusalem.

Change

In verse 17 we see that Jehoiada made a covenant between God and the people of Judah. This was a covenant of getting back to who really is in charge and that is God. In verse 18 we see that all the people went to the house of Baal and destroyed the altar and images. It was not the king but the people who realized they needed to be right before the Lord. So many people think that it takes a powerful man in a high position to make change. The change I am talking about is not political but spiritual. The only way we can have a change is if we realize that Jesus Christ is Lord and repent of our sins. We need forgiveness. The Lord Jesus already came into this earth and died on the cross and rose again for our sins. He did it and now we need to turn and believe. In verse 20 we see that once the person who caused the people to sin was removed from the equation there was peace and quiet in the land. We have distress when we are in sin. True peace and quiet comes from the Lord when we turn to him as our deliverer of sin. Have you asked to be delivered of your sin? Is there no peace and quiet in your heart because you have not given over all of your sin? What are you still holding onto? We need to kill the sin in our life and ask God to reveal the stuff we are hiding because it is holding us back in our relationship with him.

Trust God

2nd Kings 8

Learning to trust in God can be hard at some points in our life. We may think that we can not endure what the future has but God says, “You will.” We come again to the story of the Shunammite woman who showed kindness to the prophet of God, Elisha. They built him a house to stay in when he was in town. The woman was without a child and God gave her a child. That child one day became sick and died. God used Elisha to bring the child back to life. She has had her tough times as well as good times. In this chapter we see that Elisha warned her and her family that there was going to be a famine in the land and they may want to think about moving for a few years.  

The book of 2nd Kings can be a little confusing because it is not always in chronological order. The events in this chapter take place before chapter 5 but after chapter 4. 

Trust in God:

The Shunammite woman took the advice of Elisha and left town. She waited seven years for the famine to be over. When she returned she went to the king and asked for her house and property to be given back. We do not know if there was a struggle or if she had to protest a lot to get her stuff back but what we do see is the stuff that Elisha did was going to help her situation out. 

The king asked Elisha’s servant for him to tell him all about the stuff Elisha has done. This was a chance for the servant to brag about all the miracles of God. I am sure all the stuff that was recorded in chapter 4 was talked about as well as things that we do not know about. When Gehazi the servant was telling him about how he brought a woman’s son back to life, that woman and son came into the king’s court. THis was a “Why don’t you ask them” moment. They were able to first hand explain what God did through Elisha. Because of their testimony they were able to have their land and house back. Because of God working through a faithful man, they were able to trust in Him and receive their stuff.

Do you trust in God? We can look at the life of this woman. She was wealthy, she was kind, compassionate, and hospitable. She saw that Elisha was a man of God and wanted to serve God by taking care of his prophet. She went from being childless to fruitful with a son. All of that was going to change. The son became sick and died. But, God was not done he had more to show her. The son was brought back to life and life continued. We do not know how long of time went from chapter 4 to this chapter. We could say, “Haven’t they been through enough?” Why do they have to leave their home and possessions, “Can’t God take care of them there?” The truth is, God had been taking care of them from the beginning. He was taking care of them from the time of having no son to having one, from losing him for a moment to leaving town. 

God was not going to leave them high and dry. God works out everything for good (Romans 8:28). God has a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). I truly trust God that he is working out everything for my wife and I. I truly trust God that even when the bad stuff happens, God is still in control. I truly trust that God will show himself to the world and people will see his glory and realize Jesus is the Savior of the world. Trust the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6). In you God do we put our trust (Psalm 7:1). We trust in the name of the Lord and not in the works of men (Psalm 20:7). We trust the promises of God (Proverbs 30:5).

God Still Delivers

2nd Kings 6:24-7

I was reading a commentary on this section and the author, Dale Ralph Davis, who mentioned the cost of things during the Civil War. He writes, “March 1865, Richmond, Virginia. The signs in store windows told a story of war: Bacon, $20 a pound; live hens, $50 each; beef,$15 a pound; butter, $20 a pound.” Some of these prices may seem like modern day prices but this was over 100 years ago. The war ravaged the economy. 

In these two chapters we see how desperate Israel was because the Syrians besieged Samaria.

Desperate Times:

Because the Syrians were surrounding the Samaria, there was a famine in the land. The famine became so bad that the price of a donkey’s head eighty shekels and one-fourth of a quart of dove’s dung was sold for five shekels of silver. Fo us to understand how desperate this was for someone was that a man’s wage was 1 shekel per month. A donkey’s head definitely was something not kosher as well as good food but this just shows how desperate the Israelites in Samaria were. 

We read on that a woman stopped the king to express a problem. The problem was her and another family were so hungry that they made a plan to boil one son one day and the other son the next day. Her son was the first to be boiled and eaten and when it came to the next day the other woman hid her son in desperation because she did not want to eat it. The state that people were in were of desperation and wanting to survive from famine and war. 

The King and Elisha:

Once the king heard this he became sad and instead of turning to God because of the desperation, he turned against God and blamed Elisha for the outcome of the people. In desperate times we can always see people’s true hearts. They either run to God or blame him for their problems. The king of Israel desired for Elisha to be killed, thinking that his death would end the suffering. Elisha spoke God’s word to the man who was going to kill him with saying, “By this time tomorrow flour will be sold for a shekel.” People doubted that God could do such a thing, that would be impossible. 

God Can Deliver:

From verses 3 to 20 we read about how God dismantled a whole army without the use of men, soldiers, or warriors. We read that lepers who were desperate knew that either they stay there and die or go to the Syrians and die. They went to their dismay and found the Syrians gone, and they left in a hurry because they left behind everything. God not only had the Syrians leave but also leave behind the goods that Israel needed like food and clothing. 

It is interesting that God still delivered a group of people that had forsaken him. Israel worshiped other false gods and rebelled against the true God. Not only did they rebel but when hardship came because that was the result of their rebellion, instead of turning to God and asking for forgiveness, the start blaming and hating God more. Yet, despite all this, God still delivered them from their enemies hands. He made it so the economy could recover quickly, people would not be starving due to the famine. I am reminded of how God delivers me from sin even though I do not deserve it. Have you ever blamed God for a hardship? Have you ever thought he was the reason for the pain? It is an easy thing to do as to blame the creator for hardships but yet we don’t praise him for the blessings. We need to be faithful to God and know that he is sovereign (Isaiah 46:10). He is patient with us even though we do not deserve it (2nd Peter 3:9). Jesus died to save sinners, we went from enemies of God to children. He delivered us from the doorsteps of hell. He took the famine of sin in our life and the bondage of desperation and filled it with deliverance from sin and bondage. We were a desperate slave to sin and now are set free in the slavery of Christ.

God Help Me Be Bold Like a Child

2nd Kings 6

I remember being a child and always having more guts than I do now. I do not know if that means I just was not afraid to get hurt or do certain things. Now if you asked me to do a trick on a skateboard compared to when I was a teenager I could not. I always had this feeling that nothing could hurt me. I was almost invinsible. I know that was not completely true because I would get hurt but I still felt protected. If someone would come and try to hurt me, I felt the confidence of my dad able to protect me.

In this chapter we read about God’s protection over the child of God and how there is a spiritual battle going on.

Elisha-Hidden Soldiers of God-Deliverance

We read in this chapter that the king of Syria was making raids on Israel. He was trying to break down the moral of the people of Israel so he raided on bordering towns of Israel and Syria. Somehow everytime the Syrians came to raid on the people of Israel, the soldiers of Israel were ready to fight. The king scratched his head and said, “How do they know where I am going to raid next?” The answer was because God revealed this information to Elisha who then told the king of Israel.

Well, the king of Syria found out that this man Elisha was ruing all the fun and he wanted to end that. Elisha’s servant arose early and found out that there were horses and chariots of the Syrians all around the city and asked Elisha, “So what do we do?” The reality would seem that there was no hope for Elisha, obviously they were outnumbered, obviously Elisha and his band of prophets were not trained soldiers. It would seem to the worl that they were done for but when God is in control there is always his way.

Elisha knew something the servant did not and that was God was the protector and was protecting them right at that moment. He asked God to open the eyes of the young servant and as God did, the servant saw the mountains around them full of horses and chariots of fire. It was God’s army that was there ready to fight.

God had another plan than what was happening, Elisha asked that the Syrians would be blinded and they were. Elisha then told them they were at the wrong place and that he would direct them to the proper place. He led them to the capitol of Israel, Samaria where the king and the army would be ready to capture them. Elisha walked them right into the hands of their enemies. This was God’s plan of deliverance for Elisha.

Imagine if we had an invincible attitude when it came to spiritual life. What if our eyes were opened and we saw the army of God around us and ready to fight. We know in Ephesians 6:10-20 that there is a spiritual war going on. Do we know that God is there and knows what is going on. He knows that the devil wants to destroy us. He knows that temptation is always knocking at our door. We see throughout the Psalms that God is our warrior, our shield, our strength, our fortress, our right hand, and our protector. Are you timid in your spiritual walk because you feel like you will fail? Like when I was a child, I felt like I could do more crazy things and not get hurt. Now, I feel like I need to be safe because I can get hurt, what happened? I wish I could be more like the child Jon in my spiritual walk and not be timid. I pray that God would open my eyes like the servant of Elisha and I can be bold in a dark world.

Share the Good News to Dying People

2nd Kings 5

Have you ever been treated badly by someone at your school? Maybe it was someone that is a bully and they pick on you once in a while? Maybe you just looked at the wrong person the wrong way? Once they treat you badly and pick on you, most likely you are not wanting to go out of your way for them let alone walk by them.

In this chapter we are going to read about a Syrian named Naaman who had leprosy and through the faith of a unknown, Israeli, slave girl who mentioned who God is and that a righteous man named Elisha might be able to help.

Naaman- Doesn’t Everyone Know Him

We start out by reading about a man who was a big deal to the Syrians. He was a great man with high favor. Even though he was a known man, he still had a big problem, he had leprosy. Now some scholars try to figure out if was what we call leprosy now or some other condition, either way he was sick with something that made his skin was as snow. He was sick and he was going to die unless he was miraculously healed. He was such a great man but still had a problem that his fame and popularity could fix.

One day a slave girl who was taken from her home in Israel and somehow managed to be serving under Naaman’s house had enough guts to mention Elisha. Nothing is known about this girl, not a name, not even what happens to her after this, all we know is that she pretty much saved Naaman’s life. This girl had enough faith that God would show himself to this man who was not a Jew. She had enough faith that God would work out even though she could have been bitter that she was taken from her home and now was a slave. She could have kept her mouth shut and enjoyed the luxury of knowing a saving God but instead she shared good news with a dying man.

Naaman Listens

Naaman gets permission and goes into enemy territory with the hope of healing. He brings with him a hefty gift for the man named Elisha. Naaman and his entourage visit Elisha at his house but Elisha does not greet them; he sends a servant to give the instructions. They were, wash in the Jordan seven times. You think Naaman would have been, nice, let’s do this but instead he gets cranky and upset. He throws a temper tantrum. I thought this prophet would have come out to me and greeted me, am I not someone special. He was beginning to act a little to big for his britches. 

It took his servants telling him, “Dude, this guy did not say you will be healed, he said, ‘Wash and be healed.’ You should take his instruction.” Naaman listened. Sometimes a little humility is what we all need. We become to proud to listen to a wise person, a parent, a teacher, an authority figure, because we think we know it all. May this serve as a warning to us all.

Since Naaman listened, he did just as Elisha said. His skin became restored to that of a little child. He was clean. How cool, his skin did not only get cleansed but also became like a child, smooth. He was probably a rugged man, lived under the sun, was a man of war and so his skin was probably all leather like and nasty. God not only cleansed him but gave him better skin than what he had before. Awesome!

Gehazi should have learned from the foreigner

In verse 15 we see a change in the story. Naaman returns grateful as ever and wants to give Elisha the hefty reward that he brought from Syria. Elisha did not want to accept it because he did it just because he was obedient to God. Elisha’s servant Gehazi saw it differently. He thought they should have received something so he followed after Naaman and asked for some of the gift and left. But there was no fooling old Elisha, he knew what Gehazi was up to and for his personal benefit now Gehazi received the leprosy that once was upon Naaman. 

Who is Your Enemy?

It is interesting that the story begins with an unknown girl who opened up her mouth to save her captor. Talk about loving your enemies. Jesus spoke up about this in Matthew 5:43-48. He talks about loving your enemies. We all have them, we all have people we do not like. As Jesus challenged the multitude to love their enemies, to love those that persecute them, to love those who do not love them, that is hard. It is hard to go out of your way for someone you cannot stand. It is hard to be able to want to share something great with someone who does not deserve it. The servant girl did not need to share good news with a dying man and neither did someone need to share good news to us, dying people. Someone shared the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ with you so you we be healed of the sin inside. You were dying but now you have life. May we learn to be able to share this good news with our enemies. May we learn to be a light to a dark world. May we desire to speak up to dying people in a dying world. AMEN!