2 Kings
7:1-3 (NIV)
1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the
LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and
two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."
2 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!"
So the
situation looked real bad. The news media were all in agreement that things
would never get better. Everyone allowed the media to convince them that they
spoke the truth so no one believed that anything good could actually happen
anymore.
Enter one
man of God, named Elisha. Listen carefully to this media person sent from
Heaven to give the correct news for all to hear. "Hear the word of the
LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour
will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of
Samaria."
Now Elisha
was speaking something that was completely contrary to what the modern news
media and intellectual elites were saying in his day. (Not much has changed in
3000 years huh?) His word was the economy was going to turn around so fast that
it would make your head spin. What Elisha predicted was equal to some one being
interviewed on our national media today and predicting that gasoline will sell
for less than ten cents a gallon beginning at noon tomorrow.
Now
consider what the news media pundits would say bout such predictions. I am sure
the reports would go something like this, "Some crazy preacher that
dresses poorly has gone off his rocker yet again. He is predicting that gas
will be selling for ten cents a gallon by noon tomorrow. Katie, what do you
think about this?
"I
think he is crazy and should be locked up. His fanciful predictions do not help
us in this situation. We do not need someone to come in to tell us that God
desires to bless us, what we really need is someone to tell us how bad things
are and how they will never be good again. What we need is the truth, not some
crazy preacher telling us some fancy fairytale."
Ok let me
get you back to reality before you go thinking I have lost my marbles too. To
be sure we are in difficult times. The economy is not looking very good and our
politicians do not look like they will be our deliverance, even after this
election. Surprise surprise!.
So what
can we glean from this text for our lives during this time of year when
churches are calling on us to give more money and make more commitments to
missions than ever before? Surely those who ask for such things are somewhat
like that crazy half baked prophet, Elisha.
Not so
fast. What is our reality. Is it what we see with our eyes or is it what we
believe about God without seeing? I hope you chose the second answer. So just
how does this all help me live in this present situation? Trust me this story
has much to say to all of us who will keep on reading. But since I have already
taken up a lot of your time today you will have to come back tomorrow to see
what message there might be in this text for you, or you could just keep on
reading II Kings 7 and see if you can discover it on your own.
See you
tomorrow,
Pastor Phil