Elisha had charge over a group of young prophets, and they came and told him the place they were meeting was too small and that they needed to build a larger one. As they were building, an ax head that one of the prophets had borrowed fell into the Jordan River. Elisha threw a wooden stick into the river in the exact spot where the ax head had sunk, and by the power of God, the heavy iron floated to the surface. Elisha made the young student personally take the ax head out of the water. By doing so, the student became a participant in the miracle, which would lead him to mature and look for God in hard circumstances in the future.<\/p>\n
Still to this day, some foolish “scholars” try to explain away miracles. Why bother? The simple answer is that it is a supernatural act of God, which is not difficult for Him since He is the Creator of the laws of physics. The One who made the laws simply suspends them to accomplish something for one of His children.<\/p>\n
We find an illustration in this Old Testament story of what the New Testament teaches us: the Lord desires to enter into our daily lives. Our greatest human attribute is the capacity God created in us to be in a personal relationship with Him. And we are in our finest position when we are on our knees before Him in humble prayer, as 1 Peter tells us, “casting all [our] anxiety on Him, because He cares for [us]” (5:7, NASB). What kind of difficulty are you facing this week? Have you taken it to the Lord of the universe? Asking is so simple, but we often forget to do so, even when we are supposedly mature believers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLORD, please carry all our cares for us this day. We place them at the foot of the cross.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Kings 6 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>in thither; and the iron did swim.\u00a07<\/sup>Therefore said he, Take\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it. 8<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>my camp.\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>for the king of Israel?\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And he said, Go and spy where he\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold,\u00a0he is\u00a0<\/em>in Dothan.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.\u00a0\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And he answered, Fear not: for they that\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>with us\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>more than they that\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>with them.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And Elisha prayed, and said,\u00a0LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the\u00a0LORDopened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the\u00a0LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19<\/sup>\u00a0And Elisha said unto them, This\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>not the way, neither\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.\u00a0\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said,\u00a0LORD, open the eyes of these\u00a0men\u00a0<\/em>, that they may see. And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold,\u00a0they were\u00a0<\/em>in the midst of Samaria.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>? shall I smite\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>?\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0And he answered, Thou shalt not smite\u00a0them:\u00a0<\/em>wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. 24<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass\u2019s head was\u00a0sold\u00a0<\/em>for fourscore\u00a0pieces\u00a0<\/em>of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove\u2019s dung for five\u00a0pieces\u00a0<\/em>of silver.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And he said, If the\u00a0LORD\u00a0do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?\u00a0\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold,\u00a0he had<\/em>sackcloth within upon his flesh.\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and\u00a0the king\u00a0<\/em>sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door:\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>not the sound of his master\u2019s feet behind him?\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>of the\u00a0LORD; what should I wait for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0any longer?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Elisha had charge over a group of young prophets, and they came and told him the place they were meeting was too small and that they needed to build a larger one. As they were building, an ax head that one of the prophets had borrowed fell into the Jordan River. Elisha threw a wooden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6820"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16273,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6820\/revisions\/16273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}