It's Time To Dig Some Ditches

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Pastor James May

IT’S TIME TO DIG SOME DITCHES

2 Kings 3:9-18, "So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab! But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him. And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand."

Sometimes we make a lot of mistakes and those mistakes can leave us desolate and hopeless. In times like these it pays us to hang around the people of God until we can once again be ready to receive the blessings of God.

There is not one of us who has not made some grave mistakes in our lives. Sometimes it’s a problem with hidden, secret sin, and sometimes the problem arises from just making some really bad decisions that have ruined our family life, strained our relationship with one another, and driven a wedge that separates us from the victorious life in Christ that we are meant to enjoy.

It seems that King Mesha of Moab had turned on the Northern Kingdom of Israel under the leadership of Jehoram, the son of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehoram was a better king than his father but he still didn’t do what was right in the sight of God. Mesha was a friend of Ahab because he was such a worldly man and Mesha liked Ahab’s godless ways.

Now it seems that Mesha had turned on Jehoram because Jehoram was going to at least make an attempt at doing right. Jehoram still allowed and even encouraged the worship of golden calves. Just tearing down some of the idolatrous practices of Ahab wasn’t enough and God wasn’t going to allow Jehoram to continue worshipping idols and leading Israel astray.

You see friend, it isn’t enough to just turn around and start to make things right in your heart; you must make a total commitment. Half-heartedness is not good enough. God wants every idol taken down. He wants every part of your life surrendered to His will. We can’t get rid of the glaring, visible sin in our lives and hold on to secret sin and still expect God’s best. Sooner or later all sin must be dealt with and God’s methods of dealing with sin are never fun or pleasant.