Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!' "
Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.
At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!' "
"If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"
The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
2 Kings 1:1-8, 16-18
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Chapter 1 of 2 Kings opened, we found King Ahaziah, king of Samaria, bedridden after falling through the lattice of his upper room. Wanting to know whether he would ever recover, he sent messengers to consult the false god of Ekron, Baal-Zebub.
As the messengers traveled to carry out the king’s order, they met Elijah, God’s prophet, who had been sent by an angel of the Lord to intercept them and send the following message from the Lord back to Ahaziah:
“Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!"
When the messengers returned with the message, Ahaziah defiantly sent “a captain with his company of fifty men” to confront Elijah and bring him in. And as the captain and his men found Elijah “sitting on the top of a hill”, he gave the following order:
"Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!' "
Of interest here was that Elijah was identified immediately as a “man of God”…big “G”. The order wasn’t, “You! Come down!” or “In the name of King of Samaria, I order you to come down!”
No…the order was “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”
Now…I guess that could have been enough. Elijah had been identified as a “man of God” but that could be said about anyone. How could the identification be validated?
Well, Elijah answered that question. For we read where he says to the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!"
And that’s exactly what did happen.
For “fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men”. Indeed, Elijah was a man of God…the one and only true God…the only God who could do what had just happened.
Now THAT’s validation!
Well, it was obvious that the captain and his men never returned to King Ahaziah so he decided to send out “another captain with his fifty men” with the same task...to bring in Elijah.
Just as the first captain did, the second captain approached Elijah and gave him an order, this time with a little more urgency:
"Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!' "
Again, note that the captain identifies Elijah as a “man of God” and, just like the time before, Elijah replies, "If I am a man of God may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” and that’s what happened. Another captain and his men consumed by “the fire of God” sent from heaven.
So for a second time, King Ahaziah failed to receive his captain and men back. You would think he would just give up at this point but he doesn’t. For we read where he decides to send “a third captain with his fifty men” to try and accomplish what the two before them could not.
Now, imagine you are the third captain. You know two have gone before you and neither returned. Neither did any of the 100 men who had gone with them.
How would you feel?
Well, we should not be surprised that the third captain decided to take a different approach when he went to Elijah. Instead of approaching him with an order, the third captain went with a request…a humble request for mercy as he fell on his knees and begged:
“Man of God, please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"
His approach worked. For no fire came from heaven onto him or his men. They were spared because the captain humbly acknowledged Elijah as a man of God…falling down before him just as he would fall down before the Lord Himself if He were present.
Sadly, it took fire from heaven twice consuming a group of men for Elijah to be truly seen as a man of God. The two captains who made demands didn’t really believe that Elijah was God’s representative. So God showed them. And by the time the third captain and his men came, there was no hesitation in acknowledging that God was with Elijah. And this time God rewarded the captain and his men with their lives.
Friends, how often are we like the first two captains? We say we are in a place of God or identify someone as being of God but we don’t really believe He’s present…until we see some form of proof…some validation that confirms identification.
That kind of behavior got two captains and 100 men burned to ash.
Indeed, we have so much to learn from the third captain who fell on his knees at the mention of the name of God…in this case attached to the prophet Elijah. For in identifying Elijah with God, the captain fell before him as if he were falling before God Himself, asking for mercy…knowing he would not live except by the Lord’s grace and pardon.
And it was this humbleness that saved him…just as it will save all of us who approach God’s mercy throne with the same sense of unworthiness and humility. The third captain showed that he was too a man of God through his actions and attitude…a man who saw God as His Ruler and Redeemer.
Come to think about it…any other true man or woman of God would behave in the same way.
Would you?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment