July 3, Day 185 – Probably Not What He Wanted
- Dr. Eric Stricker
- Jul 3
- 3 min read
In 2 Kings 4:38-6:23, we see Elisha’s ministry among the company of prophets. In verse 38, we read, “There was a famine.” In Scripture, a famine always represents God’s judgment on some spiritual deficiency. Here, we read that one of the prophets “went out into the fields to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine and gathered some gourds” that he cut up and put into the pot of stew. However, no one knew what these herbs and gourds were. Then we learn that “there was death in the pot” (verses 39-40). As the prophet Elisha foreshadows Christ’s future ministry, this scene typifies the evil world’s influence on believers today. The “wild vine” is a crawling plant that reveals the manner by which sin creeps into and affects our lives. The fruit of this vine – unfamiliar gourds – equates to the deceptive produce of sin; it may be attractive, but it is deadly. Elisha said, “get some flour; then he put it into the pot” (verse 41). This is Elisha’s ninth miracle, and the flour is a picture of the grain offering that represents our Bread of Life – Jesus Christ – Who alone is the Antidote to the world’s various evils and leads to death. In verses 42-44, we see Elisha’s tenth miracle – the feeding of a hundred men – with bread left over. In chapters 5:1-6:23, we see Elisha’s eleventh miracle – the healing of Naaman the leper – who represents us all in our sins and in dire need of cleansing from them. Naaman wants to be cleansed in the “Abana and Pharpar Rivers of Damascus” (verse 12). These rivers represent the world’s religious systems which cannot possibly cleanse us. Only obedience to God’s mysterious requirement (i.e., dipping “seven times in the muddy Jordan River”) can “restore our flesh and make it clean” (verse 14). Interestingly, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, suddenly decides to become deviously greedy. He says, “I will run after him [Naaman] and get something from him” (verse 20). Miraculously (miracle number twelve), Elisha already knew about Gehazi’s deception (verse 26), and he performs miracle number thirteen –cursing “Gehazi and his descendants with [Naaman’s] leprosy” (verse 27). Certainly, for his greed, Gehazi did “get something” from Naaman, but probably not what he wanted!
Psalm 79:8 says, “may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.” This verse wholly characterizes our condition before the Lord – regardless of our stage of faith. We are ever desperately dependent upon God and His mercy, not only for our salvation, but also for our very breath – every moment of every day. The next verse reveals the only solution to our desperate dilemma – “Help us, God our Savior!” (verse 9). Apart from God’s direct provision and His supportive intervention in our lives, we would all simply be “consumed” (cf., Lamentations 3:22). May we always be grateful to our Lord for His moment-by-moment care and provisions for us.
Once again, in Acts 21:27-22:21, we see how gatherings among crowds degenerate to violence as the multitudes in Jerusalem riot and attack Paul, who verbally defends his own calling. Today we are witnessing a resurgence of persecution against Christians, particularly by secularists, large groups of gangs, Islamists, liberal antagonists, protesters, and militant people who follow other religious systems. In Paul’s day, soldiers tried to control the mob, but in our day, the civil authorities are no longer reliable or even capable of protecting us against groups of violent, anti-Christian, and anti-Jewish people. Often, we see gangs of people turning on the police or the police becoming fearfully ineffective. Already decadent, our whole culture continues perpetually to deteriorate.
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