How Do You Do Daily Devotions

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022

TEXT: 2 Kings 6:24-33

24. After this, Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army and went up against Samaria.

24. There was a time of no food in Samaria. The Syrian army gathered around it, until a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver. A half cup of dove’s waste sold for five pieces of silver.

26. Ass the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord, O king!”

27. And he said, “If the Lord does not help you, from where can I help you? From the grain-floor, or from the grape-crusher?”

28. Then the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, so we may eat him today. And we will eat my son tomorrow.’

29. So we made my son ready to eat over the fire, and eat him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, so we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”

30. when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. He was passing by on the wall, and the people looked. They saw that he wore cloth made from hair under his clothes.

31. Then he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”

32. Now Elisha was sitting in his house. And the leaders were sitting with him. The king sent a man, but before the man came to him, Elisha said to the leaders, “Do you see how this son of a killer has sent to take off my head? See, when the king’s man comes, shut the door. Hold the door shut against him. Is not the sound of his owner’s feet behind him?”

33. While he was still talking with them, the king came down to him and said, “See, this trouble is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

(New Life Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES IS NOT GOD’S PERSPECTIVE

Yesterday, we saw Elisha’s prayers answered and, in response, he demanded that grace and mercy be shown to the enemies of the Northern Kingdom.

Today’s text reveals that your enemy may never understand the implications of the grace and mercy you show him. The same Aramean soldiers returned and applied the strategy of weakening Samaria by laying a siege around them and blocking all food and water supplies. Soon, the internal supplies finished and nobody could dare go out. This resulted in a severe famine which led the Samaritans into eating their children to survive.

The king rather than remember the miracle of God which had earlier delivered them from these same enemies, chose to focus on the difficulty at hand and so missed out on what God was about to do. He saw Elisha as his enemy and therefore the nation’s problem that must be dealt with.

When you remove your focus from God and fix it on the problem, you will miss out on what God is doing or about to do in your life.

QUESTION: Do you know that God’s perspective regarding your circumstances is to glorify Him alone?

PRAYER: My God, I surrender every difficulty and problem that confronts me now into Your hands, so help me, in Jesus name, Amen.