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.
Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, "Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men."
One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.
The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.
Elisha said, "Get some flour."
He put it into the pot and said, "Serve it to the people to eat."
And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
2 Kings 4:38-41
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
I’ve really enjoyed reading and writing through 2 Kings, Chapter 4. It’s a wonderful chapter filled with good news and wonderful miracles…all with great lessons for us to learn about life and how the Lord is there to help us deal with its circumstances.
In today’s passage, we read where hard times have fallen on the region around Gilgal. A famine has struck there, leaving the people to have to look hard for food to eat.
As Elisha returns to Gilgal, he meets with a company of prophets and during that meeting, he directs his servant to "Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men."
And so the servant did as he was told. He “went out into the fields to gather herbs” and while he was out, he “found a wild vine” from which he “gathered some…gourds”, enough to fill “the fold of his cloak”. He returned to the meeting place, cut up the gourds and put them in a “pot of stew”. Of course, anyone who would soon eat the stew would have no idea of what had been placed in it.
When the prophets were ready to eat, the “stew was poured out” them and they began to eat it. Suddenly, the men cried out to Elisha as they tasted the stew saying, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!" With the gourds from the wild vine, the stew was so bad it couldn’t be eaten.
But Elisha, as he has shown other times before now, had a plan.
We read where he asks for some flour which he received and put in the pot. He then asked for the stew to be served again to the men to eat. And as the men tasted the stew, they experienced a great change. The stew that was once bad and inedible could now be eaten for “there was nothing harmful in the pot”.
In other words, what was bad was now good.
So did the flour have such a miraculous effect?
No…it wasn’t the flour that caused the miracle. It was the Lord…the Creator and Giver of all miracles.
You see, the Lord makes a business out of taking what is bad and making it good.
I know I am a living testament to this truth…and maybe you are as well. In fact, I know you are if you truly have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior.
Because all who are born into the world are sin-stricken…bad from birth and without hope minus the saving redemption that comes from Jesus…the One who shed His blood to atone for our sin penalty.
When it came to the stew, flour added…coupled with the Lord’s miraculous work…led to the stew becoming good. It became useful with a renewed purpose. And once good, the stew could do good, providing nourishment to the men who ate it.
When it comes to us, we become good when we are washed by the saving blood of Christ Jesus…washed white as snow…justified by the sacrifice He made. And you know the word “justified” breaks down to mean that it is “just as if I had never sinned”
Question: Have you been washed by the blood of the Lamb of God…Jesus Christ?
If so, then you have accepted Him as your Savior…and in the process become a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). Once lost but now found…once bad but now good in and through Him.
And once good, then we become something useful…something the Lord can use to make a difference in the lives of those He “feeds” us to…using us to nourish others in His word, will and Spirit.
Question: Have you went from bad to good?
If the answer is no, now is the time to commit to change. Jesus is standing by to make you a new creation…taking you in as bad and sending you forth as good.
Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son!
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
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