today's meditation (2 Kings 6:24-7:20) Sharing God's Spiritual Food

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word, and let it be the meditation of my heart...)

(2 Kings 6:24-33)  Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad the king of Aram gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 So there was a severe famine in Samaria; and behold, they kept besieging it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. 26 And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord the king!” 27 But he said, “If the Lord does not help you, from where am I to help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” 28 Then the king said to her, “What is on your mind?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, so that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” 30 When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes—and he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body. 31 Then he said, “May God do so to me and more so, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”

32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent a man to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door shut against him. Is the sound of his master’s feet not behind him?” 33 While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “Behold, this evil is from the Lord; why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

(2 Kings 7:1-20)  Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’” 2 The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning responded to the man of God and said, “Even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” Then he said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”

3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; but if we sit here, we will also die. Now then come, and let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, then we will die.” 5 So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. 6 For the Lord had made the army of the Arameans hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, that is, the sound of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians against us, to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled at twilight, and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—indeed the camp itself, just as it was; and they fled for their lives. 8 When these men with leprosy came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver, gold, and clothes, and they went and hid them; then they returned and entered another tent, and carried valuables from there also, and went and hid them.

9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing the right thing. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent about it; if we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now then come, let’s go and inform the king’s household.” 10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor a human voice; only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.” 11 And the gatekeepers called and announced it inside the king’s house. 12 Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’” 13 One of his servants responded and said, “Please, have some men take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send them and see.” 14 Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

15 They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away when they fled in a hurry. Then the messengers returned and informed the king.

16 So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in accordance with the word of the Lord. 17 Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.” 19 At that time the royal officer had responded to the man of God and said, “Now even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could such a thing as this happen?” And he had said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.” 20 And this is what happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

The king tried to blame and kill Elisha for the famine, but Elisha prophesied good news to them.  Interestingly that right at this time, I have been sharing the gospel message with a friend, who likes to blame the Church for all of society's problems.  As well, this friend has many (questions in the form of) reasons as to why the Bible, interpreted exactly as written, just cannot be true.  Just like the royal officer who doubted that the prophecy would or could even be possible.  And when it did happen and it was told to the king, the king skeptically thought it was probably a trap and wanted to avoid it.

Had the gatekeepers not suggested that someone else check it out - just in case - the king would have held everyone back from getting life-saving food!.  And had the leprous men, who had nothing to lose, kept this "the good news" to themselves, many people would have died.  Now, the leprous men hadn't even heard the prophecy and they still found the treasures that God had provided.

It is absolutely possible for people to become believers, even if they never hear the gospel message or see a Bible.  But even so, when we have and enjoy this life-changing good news, it is a selfish thing not to share it with others who are spiritually starving to death.  Sure, they might turn it down with disbelief or skepticism, but we should still desire to share God's spiritual food.  And they might even think that we're crazy, but we never know when someone is ready to listen and believe, so we should take every opportunity that God gives to us.