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.
Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
At the end of the seven years, she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done." Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land.
Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life." The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.
Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."
2 Kings 8:1-6
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
How much does the Lord favor and reward obedience?
Well, we need only go back to the first 19 chapters of Genesis to answer the question by looking at what happened when God’s people decided to be disobedient.
When Adam and Eve decided to not follow the Lord’s orders and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God placed specific consequences on each of them. (Genesis 3)
When God’s people decided that living in sin was more acceptable than seeking righteousness, God decided to wipe out everything with the execption of Noah, his family members and the animals God prescribed to be spared. (Genesis 7)
When God’s people decided to build a city and tall tower because of their own will and not God’s, He confused their language so they couldn’t understand each other and scattered the people. The place was called Babel and spawned a similar word in our language today…babble. (Genesis 11)
And when the people of Sodom and Gomorrah decided that it was acceptable to openly sin in the eyes of the Lord, burning sulfer was sent and both cities were destroyed. (Genesis 19)
Go on through the Old Testament and you’ll see over and over how God holds His people accountable when they decide to disobey him.
Truly, the Lord expects that we follow His word, will and way unconditionally.
Fast forward to our passage in 2 Kings.
You may recall that the Lord had resurrected the son of a Shunammite woman through His prophet Elisha. (2 Kings 4)
As Chapter 8 opens, we see where Elisha warned the woman of the coming famine saying, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." And the woman obeyed the word from Elisha, taking her family and staying in “land of the Philistines” for seven years.
Once the seven years had ended and the famine was over, we read where the woman “came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land”. It’s apparent that while the woman was away, someone decided to take her home and land for themselves.
Well, the king consults Elisha’s servant Gehazi and asks him, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done." And so Gehazi told the king about how Elisha had brought the Shunammite woman’s son back to life…the same woman who was now asking the king to return her house and property to her. The woman then told the king about what had happened after he asked her.
So what would the king’s decision be? Would the woman get her home and property back?
Well, we know that God favors the obedient. The woman in faith went to Elisha when her son dies, knowing that only He, with the power of God working through him, could help her and possibly save her son. He faith was exceptional and resulted in her son’s lfe being restored. She then listened to Elisha when he told her to go to the land of the Philistines to escape the coming famine. She obviously had faith in what Elisha had to say and that things would be fine when she returned.
Well, as we can see in our scriptures, the woman did receive blessings for her obedience. For the king “assigned an official to her case” and ordered him to "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now." Not only was the woman getting back her property but income as well. Indeed, she had been rewarded.
Question: Are you being obedient in your life? When the Lord tells you to do something, do you do so without question…obeying His commands?
It’s obvious that the Lord favors those who do what He expects. It’s also obvious that He disciplines those who don’t.
Which way will you choose?
The Lord is watching to find out.
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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