2 Kings 7:2,20: “So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God [Elisha] and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And [Elisha] said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it . . . And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.”

August 1st, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Syria besieged Samaria to the point of famine. It became so severe that the people inside the city even began to eat their own children. Elisha proclaimed that the Lord would deliver them overnight and that by the next day, they would find themselves with an abundance of food. The king’s officer denounced such a deliverance as totally unreasonable. He was a skeptic and scoffer, and could not get his mind around the possibility that God was able to deliver on such a promise. This is often our biggest problem with God-issues as well—our own intellect. When we face a difficult situation in our life, our reaction is often to limit God’s abilities to what our mind tells us He can or should do to work out our problem. Sometimes we are even arrogant enough to claim there is no answer or solution.

Outside the city gates were 4 lepers. They knew they’d starve if they went into the city or if they stayed at the gate, so they decided to take their chances with the Syrian camp, the only place that had food. When they arrived, they found it completely abandoned. God had miraculously caused the Syrians to think they were being attacked, and they had run, leaving everything behind. These lepers had a go-for-broke attitude. It’s the same kind of attitude we should have when it comes to sharing our good news with people, especially since we often have to deal with the thanks-but-no-thanks response. The lepers had great attitudes and simply rejoiced, drinking in their great blessing. They also had a sense of accountability and integrity, which we also need in sharing the good news. They realized that it was wrong not to share the banquet with other people.

There is a lesson to be learned here from the lepers and the king’s officer, who was trampled to death as the people went out the gate to get to the food the lepers had found. What kind of a person are we going to be in life? Are we going to be like the lepers, who ventured out with nothing to lose and all to gain and made the greatest discovery of their lives? Or are we going to be like the king’s officer, who scoffed at God’s promise, refused to believe His word, and missed out on His blessing?

“LORD, forgive us our prideful attitude that tries to tell You how to work in our lives. You be LORD today we ask, in Jesus’ name.”

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2 Kings 7 KJV

¹ Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. ² Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. ³ And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? ⁴ If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. ⁵ And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. ⁶ For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. ⁷ Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was , and fled for their life. ⁸ And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also , and went and hid it . ⁹ Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.  ¹⁰ So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were . ¹¹ And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within. ¹² And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. ¹³ And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say , they areeven as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.  ¹⁴ They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. ¹⁵ And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. ¹⁶ And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. ¹⁷ And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ And it came to pass 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, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria: ¹⁹ And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. ²⁰ And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.