Death In The Pot

"Death In The Pot"

2 Kings 4:38-41

Someone has observed that we live in a “cut-flower civilization” today. We speak of justice, morals, peace, and ethics, but do not establish a rooted foundation in God. Therefore there is little left to sustain a purposeful life. Things can look good on the outside, and sound good to the human ear, but if it is disconnected from the True Vine, it is like cut flowers that although they are beautiful for a moment, they will die in no time at all.

The Bible says in Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Man today is trying to give humanistic answers to spiritual problems to solve the emptiness of the soul, but it cannot be done....

The answer may often sound right, look right, and even be politically correct, but we realize that apart from Jesus Christ the answer is only fleeting and will not last...

2 Kings 4:38-41 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." [39] 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. [40] 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. [41] 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.

These sons of the Prophets were being taught by Elisha... In other words, they were in Bible School learning about the power of God, and who better to learn under than Elisha the Prophet?

They were doing what was right as they were feasting on manna from God in their spirits, but their bodies were becoming tired and hungry...

Here they were no doubt in the center of the Will of God, yet enduring a time of testing!

The Bible says in vs. 1 that

I. There was a dearth in the Land.

Famine had come into that land touching every area of it, and the School of the Prophets was no exception to what was happening...

The fact that we do the will of God does not release us from times of trial and testing...

It rains on the just and the unjust, but we see that the famine didn’t break this community of men up, it drew them closer together...

Here were men that were feeling the famine with growling stomachs like you and I would...

Just go ahead and try to delay my food, and see what happens!

They could have lashed out at Elisha wondering where God was!

Where is the God that fed Elijah with ravens by the brook?

Where is the God that multiplied the widows cruse of oil?

Where is the God that parted the waters for Elisha when he struck the waters with Elijah’s cloak?

Where is the God who took Elijah up into heaven with blazing chariots and horses.

They might have said, if God can do all of those things, then surely we don’t have to struggle here with where our next meal is coming from.

No, they had the resolve of a man like Job who said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him..."

Often we can look around us and only see dearth, famine, and destruction, but if there is ever a day for the church to stick together it is now!

The Bible says Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

When the Holy Spirit inspired the writer of Hebrews to write this portion of scripture that as the coming of the Lord drew nearer that perilous times would come, and we would need the support of one another more than ever...

The H.S. knew that there would be a tendency to forsake God’s house and fellowship with His people, but He said, don’t let it happen! As you realize the day is approaching, get in there more! don’t let up! We need a relationship with God more than ever!

Old John was a man of God and loved his village chapel. One day he was stopped by an acquaintance, who, by the way, was an ardent angler. "I say, John," said the angler, "I have often wondered what attraction there is up at the village chapel. You go week after week to the same old chapel, see the same folks, sing the same old hymns." "Wait a minute," interrupted John. "You fish very often at the same spot, and in the same water, do you not?" "Yes, that’s true," agreed the other. John smiled, and then exclaimed: "Well, you do not, for the water you fished in yesterday has passed on to the sea; and every time I go up to the chapel the Lord has something fresh for me." --Sunday School Times