Today's work is difficult. The passages we will read take us into horrific places. They remind me of movies I have seen like "Schindler's List" and "Hotel Rwanda" - movies that take us into wretched times of evil and suffering and pain. Scripture is carefully realistic. And this is a fallen world where evil and rebellion and wickedness abound - where war and inhumanity are viewed in technicolor. We cannot gloss it over or pretend it does not exist and does not effect us. So take a deep breath, pray for God's Spirit to be your teacher and let's read ...
Some time has passed, we don't know how much, from the events we studied in Day 1.
Read 2 Kings 6:24 - 7:2.
We are going to observe negative examples today. So many times in our lives we stand at crossroads and have to make decisions about which way to go. What makes it difficult is that we seldom get to see the end of the road. We choose using some criteria. In this passage, God, in His mercy, allows us to see the END of some of the roads that are chosen by humanity.
In the farthest reaches of my imagination I cannot imagine this scene. But here it is. Starvation leading to cannibilism. But a mother? Her child? I can imagine that this woman has chosen SELF at all of the crossroads in her life. Her driving force has been to meet her own needs ... first ... and at all costs. On the early part of this road, it doesn't seem so bad. In fact, culture convinces us that it is a good thing! I mean, if you don't look out for your own needs, who do you think is going to?! So we choose SELF ... We find this woman at the end of this road of SELF and her life-long focus allows her to do this unthinkable thing.
Lessons for us? Don't get on that road! Of course I do not mean that you don't take care of yourself. You can't serve anyone - God, family, others - when you are sick and unhealthy. Pray that God will show you healthy ways to express your own needs. You can't ignore them ... but they can't be the primary driver in all your life decisions. God must be that driver! His truth, His Word, His presence must be that driver.
A second negative example in these verses is found in the King of Israel. He is appalled when he hears this woman's request! He is overwhelmed. He is in mourning for his country, his capital, his people, himself. But he never takes the crisis to Israel's God! Instead, he lashes out in rage against God. And since he cannot kill the Almighty God, he goes after God's prophet - he seeks to kill Elisha. I mean, you have to blame someone for this tragedy. He certainly would take no responsibility upon himself ... so go after God.
Have you ever been there? Or have you ever witnessed someone choosing that road? Life crashes in, tragedy strikes, the unthinkable actually happens. Casandra Martin says that the King illustrates people who "use God as a vending machine. I have put in my money, or time. Now, God, do what I want." And when God does not seem to do what we want, there is outrage ... blame. And at the end of this road, we witness people saying exactly what this king said in verse 33, "This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I hope in the Lord any longer?"
Lessons for us? Where can you release the rage and frustration and hopelessness that can come in times of great crisis? I think we need to take our signal from David, the writer of many of the Psalms. He takes his cries, his anger, his frustrations, his self-pity, his vengeful thoughts ... he takes them all to God in brutal honesty. You can feel him raging in so many of the Psalms. But at the end, he always returns to giving thanks and to praising God. ALWAYS!
Close today by remembering ... GOD IS GOD ... I AM NOT ... THAT IS GOOD!!
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