FAVORITE BIBLE STORIES - II Kings 6

My bookmark had me read II Kings 6 this morning. I quickly realized that this chapter included one of my favorite Bible stories and I felt the excitement rising as I read on.

The king of Aram was at war with Israel. [v.1 All quotes from the NCV unless otherwise noted]. 

This king held regular council meetings with his officers during which they made plans to attack Israel.  Each time they made a plan, Elisha, the man of God, sent a message to the king of Israel saying, "Be careful! Don't pass that place, because the Arameans are going down there!" [v.9]

Each time, the king of Israel had his soldiers check out the area where they quickly realized that Elisha was telling the truth.

After this happened repeatedly, the king of Aram was angry about this. He called his officers together and demanded, "Tell me who of us is working for the king of Israel." [v.11]

One of the officers said, "None, my master and king. It's Elisha, the prophet from Israel. He can tell you what you speak in your bedroom." [v.12]

The king demanded that they find out where Elisha was so that he could capture him. His servants came back and reported that Elisha was in Dothan. 

Then the king sent horses, chariots, and many troops to Dothan. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.

Elisha's servant got up early, and when he went out, he saw an army with horses and chariots all around the city. The servant said to Elisha, "Oh, my master, what can we do?"

Elisha said, "Don't be afraid. The army that fights for us is larger than the one against us." Then Elisha prayed, "LORD, open my servant's eyes, and let him see."

The LORD opened the eyes of the young man and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. [vs.14-17]

As the army of Aram descended toward Dothan, Elisha prayed that God would make the entire army be blind. 

As the entire Aramean army stumbled into Dothan, Elisha met them and explained that they were in the wrong city. Then, he volunteered to take them to the right place. Elisha then led the army of Aram directly into Samaria and into the presence of the king of Israel. Then he prayed that God would restore the sight of the soldiers of Aram. They immediately realized that they had been entrapped!

The king of Israel asked Elisha if he should kill these soldiers?

Elisha suggested that he feed them and release them to return home. So the king of Israel hosted a feast for the army of Aram and then released them to return home. 

The armies of Aram did not come anymore into the land of Israel. [v.23]

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The LORD says, "My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  [Isaiah_55:8–9]

Let's remind ourselves that God can do anything He wants to do - any way He wants to do it, when He wants to do it!  God can do anything! [Luke 1:37]

Around the time of 585 B.C., God seemed to favor working through called and designated prophets - such as Elisha! Today - not so much! 

We live in the age of the Holy Spirit! Pentecost - which we just celebrated two weeks ago - changed EVERYTHING!  

Wise followers of Christ will seek to be filled with the Spirit!

They will pursue the direction, wisdom and guidance of the Spirit!

We will also train ourselves to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit is God! The Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity! The Spirit has perfect unity with the Father and the Son! The Spirit is co-eternal with the Father and the Son! They are in perfect fellowship! If heeded, they will lead us to that same unity and fellowship!  And what could be better for our world than for the Church to be unified under the direction of the Holy Spirit?

MAYBE WE SHOULD CELEBRATE MORE?

I recently wrote a blog about Israel’s deliverance through the Red Sea and how God closed the water over the Egyptian army so that not one of them escaped!  If you haven’t read it – you should check it out!

The very next chapter [Exodus 15] is the response of the Israelites.  It begins:

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to GOD, giving voice together…  [v.1]

I have immediate questions about this.  How did they all sing together?  I mean, they didn’t have a copier there and distribute song-sheets! 

This was a large, multi-generational crowd of inter-related people!  They had just witnessed a phenomenal miracle that was clearly a God-intervention.  On the other side of the Red Sea – before this intervention – they had feared for their lives!  At the worst, they thought the Egyptian army would kill them all.  At the best, they would be returned to slavery in Egypt! 

But now they were free!  AND GOD DID IT!  And they were grateful! 

It was their natural response to sing and dance!  But how could they all sing together without knowing the words to the song? 

Perhaps it was done in an antiphonal fashion where Moses or Aaron [or some other gifted leader] sang out a line – and then everyone repeated it?  Perhaps this line was repeated over and over until even the people in the back of the crowd got it?  Just a thought. 

However it happened, it was a joyful celebration of God’s deliverance!  You’re welcome to read it, but here are the first few lines:

I’m singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
    He pitched horse and rider into the sea.
God is my strength, God is my song,
    and, yes! God is my salvation.
This is the kind of God I have
    and I’m telling the world!  [vs.1-2]

Then, Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing.  Miriam led them in singing,

Sing to God – what a victory!

He pitched horse and rider into the sea!   [vs.20-21]

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I’ve been a part of joyous celebrations plenty of times, although nothing that would compare to what I’ve just described!  I wish we had audio/video of that! 

Recently, our Bethel congregation celebrated their first worship experience in the brand new sanctuary.  It took MUCH longer to build than was originally anticipated, so it was a greatly anticipated event.  The sanctuary was full!  The worship experience was jubilant.  And as a result the church is growing…

I guess the greater the sense of God-intervention, the greater the celebration! 

How do we get God-interventions? 

PRAYER! 

SEEKING HIS PRESENCE!

SEARCHING HIS WORD!

God acts in response to our appeals! 

In our land [the United States of America], if we want restored security, unity, bounty, spiritual renewal, then we should do more than vote.  We should call on God for His divine intervention and do so fervently! 

Maybe then, we’d have cause to sing and dance in the streets as well as our sanctuaries. 

AN INTERVENTION OF GOD?

In watching the news over the last several days, I've been motivated to write today about another possibility.  We've just emerged from a time of major crisis!  We were at a point where war was imminent!   If the Iran missiles had taken lives, then President Trump's response would have been very different.  It's likely that we would be in a full-fledged conflagration with Iran right now.

First of all:  thanks be to God!  No one wants war!

I've heard two prominent explanations for the fact that no lives were lost as a result of the Iranian retribution launch.  First, some say that they deliberately launched with no intent to take American lives.  The evidence for this is supported by the fact that via Iraq, they notified the American forces BEFORE the launch.  The destruction of property has been catalogued, but no loss of life was documented.

However, there's a second view that has been put forward by the Presidents' Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley.  He suggested that the Iranians did target with the intention of killing American troops.  This implies either incompetence [rather than intention] or faulty equipment as the reason that no lives were lost.  Hmmm...who is right?

I would suggest another alternative - one that I hope someone brings to the attention of our president. In my humble opinion, it is the most likely scenario.

On the evening of the Iranian threats and launch, thousands of military families were thrown into alarm.  Their family members (sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers) were in the midst of the crisis.  Their response?  PRAYER!

However, not only those military families prayed;  tens of thousands of Christians across this country (maybe even more) began to cry out to God for protection over our troops!  The throne of God was assaulted with a barrage of prayers seeking protection for our forces in harm's way!  It's impossible to gauge this response or even imagine how many were calling on God's mercy and power.

And I believe God responded by diverting these missiles away from our hunkered down troops!  I don't know if God used angels to alter the direction of these missiles or if God used a finger to do so. Or perhaps the great God Almighty simply willed them to their fruitless destinations.  But the end result was clear:  there was NO LOSS OF LIFE!

To those who may agree with this assessment, please join me in praying that someone will alert President Trump to this third possibility.  He needs to have a greater understanding of the power of God.  He needs to be given the opportunity to at least consider that we are not at war today because GOD INTERVENED in response to the united prayers of His people!

THANKS BE TO GOD!  

Let's also lift our prayers to God for the grieving families who lost loved ones in the Ukrainian jet that was mistakenly shot down a few hours after the missile launch!  In an unimaginable and ironic twist, they are suffering the loss that was intended for the Americans.

God, comfort the grieving in their anger and pain.  Awaken Iran and its leaders to Your awesome power and love!  For the Kingdom's sake.  Amen.