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\u2014our 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.<\/p>\n
Outside the city gates were 4 lepers. They knew they\u2019d 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Kings 7 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the\u00a0LORD; Thus saith the\u00a0LORD, To morrow about this time\u00a0shall\u00a0<\/em>a measure of fine flour\u00a0be sold\u00a0<\/em>for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold,\u00a0if\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And 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?\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And 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,\u00a0there was\u00a0<\/em>no man there.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>, and fled for their life.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And 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\u00a0it;\u00a0<\/em>and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence\u00a0also\u00a0<\/em>, and went and hid\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>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\u2019s household.\u00a0\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0So 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,\u00a0there was\u00a0<\/em>no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And he called the porters; and they told\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>to the king\u2019s house within. 12<\/sup>\u00a0And 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\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And one of his servants answered and said, Let\u00a0some\u00a0<\/em>take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold,\u00a0I say\u00a0<\/em>, they\u00a0are<\/em>even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was\u00a0sold\u00a0<\/em>for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the\u00a0LORD. 17<\/sup>\u00a0And 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.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0And 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:\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold,\u00a0if\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0should 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.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 […]<\/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\/6824"}],"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=6824"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16274,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824\/revisions\/16274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}