WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 3, 2022
TEXT: 2
Kings 7:3-20
3. Now
there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates.
“Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other.
4. “We
will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if
we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army.
If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have
died anyway.”
5. So
at twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to
the edge of the camp, no one was there!
6. For
the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots
and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The
king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attacks us!” they cried
to one another.
7. So
they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys,
and everything else, as they fled for their lives.
8.
When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after
another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and
clothing and hid it.
9.
Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good
news, and wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come
on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
10. So
they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went
out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there! The horses and
donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a
single person around!”
11.
Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.
12. The
king got out of bed in the middle of the night and told his officers, “I know
what has happened. The Arameans know we are starving, so they have left their
camp and have hidden in the fields. They are expecting us to leave the city,
and then they will take us alive and capture they city.”
13. One
of his officers replied, “We had better send out scouts to check into this. Let
them take five of the remaining horses. If something happens to them, it will
no worse than if they stay here and die with the rest of us.”
14. So
two chariots with horses were prepared, and the king send scouts to see what
had happened to the Aramean army.
15.
They went all the way to the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and
equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The
scouts returned and told the king about it.
16.
Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. So it was
true that six quarts of choice flour were sold that day for one piece of
silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain were sold for one piece of silver,
just as the lord had promised.
17. The
king appointed his officer to control the traffic at the gate, but he was
knocked down and trampled to death as the people rushed out. So everything happened
exactly as the man of God had predicted when the king came to his house.
18. The
man of God had said to the king, “By this time tomorrow in the markets of
Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost one piece of silver, and twelve
quarts of barley grain will cost one piece of silver.”
19. The
king’s officer had replied, “That couldn’t happen even if the lord opened the
windows of heaven!” And the man of God had said, “You will see it happen with
your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!”
20. And
so it was, for the people trampled him to death as the gate!
(New
Living Translation Holy Bible)
TOPIC: UNBELIEF
HAS A PRICE TAG
Many African countries,
especially in the West African sub-region, are facing their greatest
existential threats, especially the Christians. These threats are the result of
ongoing acts of terrorism threatening to swallow us all. Imagine your pastor
coming up during Sunday service to announce: “Tomorrow by this time all the
terrorists will no longer be in existence!” Most worshippers will think the
pastor is either joking or has a psychological problem.
In the middle of a famine
crisis, Prophet Elisha announced that in 24 hours there would be surplus food
that the nation may not be able to contain. The king’s servant did not only
disbelieve but he mocked God: “Even if the LORD should open the floodgates of
heavens, could this happen?”
God honored His Word and
Elisha and the unbelieving mocking servant of the king paid the supreme price
of unbelief: he died! Don’t just write off your pastor’s pronouncements, check
them out with God first.
QUESTION: Do
you know that most times when God speaks, it almost never makes sense to the
human mind?
PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, open my eyes, increase my understanding and fill me with the grace
to discern Your will in every situation I find myself, Amen.
Remain
Blessed
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