As I’ve mentioned to you I’ve been spending some time in reading/thinking through Kings/Chronicles. In 2 Kings 2 I was struck by a very simple & straightforward incident. It is not hard to understand. You do not need to know Hebrew to discover its meaning. It is a short quick episode in life of the prophet Elisha. But if you were someone assigned to preach this passage you might be puzzled at how to preach it. In one sense there is not a whole lot in it. Let’s read it – 2:19-22…
So what are we to do w/ this little story? Are we just supposed to say, “Oh, that was a neat miracle. It is good to see God using Elisha like He did Elijah.” What are we to do w/ this story? What can we glean from it?
It is interesting to read how many of the commentators chose to address it. Many chose to use it as basically a parable illustrating the problem of bitterness, represented by the bitter or polluted waters & how to go about dealing w/ bitterness. You have to go to the source as Elisha did. That has merit. Another addressed it in the sense of talking about the polluted water (spiritually speaking) in our country today. And that has merit, but I saw something in this little incident of 4 verses that is quite exciting & which I pray will greatly encourage you.
In this story I want you to be reminded of a very basic truth about God. A truth I would not be surprised if some of you need to hear this morning. It is a truth we all know & believe but I find we need to be constantly reminded of it because it is easy to grow doubtful of this truth in certain situations. So I pray the Lord will use this in your life as He has in mine.
Let’s take this story & use it to illustrate the power of God to change the unchangeable. The power of God to change the unchangeable as people seek Him for the solution, for the answer. But not only that, we also see in this story the power of God to change the unchangeable to the extent that there is a permanent, lasting result. And frankly that is a truth we need to continually keep in front of us.
Let’s look at this truth illustrated in terms of the story in 2 Kings & then from some other biblical examples.
2 Kings 2:19-22 - Some of the men, possibly the leaders, of Jericho came to Elisha w/ a problem. Jericho was a pleasant city the text says. Although the location of the city of Jericho was good, the city had a serious water problem. The city was in the Jordan River valley, approximately 5 miles west of the Jordan River, & a few miles north of the Dead Sea. And at 1st glance, things looked prosperous. There were probably nice buildings & much activity but there was a serious problem, one the real estate agents would not have wanted to mention to prospective clients. The problem was the land was unfruitful because of the water. The waters of the spring at Jericho were “bad”. The result was that the water was not drinkable, & the land was barren & unfruitful. Things grew, but before they produced fruit, the fruit would drop off or the plants would wither.
These men recognized the authenticity of Elisha as a prophet of God. He had just, that week probably, walked across the Jordan as the waters parted just as Elijah had done. And now w/ Elijah miraculously taken up to Heaven, Elisha was recognized as having the spirit of Elijah upon him & therefore the power of God at work through him. So they came to Elisha & requested help for their problem.
Elisha requested a new jar filled w/ salt. He goes & throws it into the spring, & by a miracle of God, not by Elisha’s scientific knowledge or by the addition of salt, but by a miracle of God the water was purified w/ permanent results. Evidently, the spring to this day is okay. Please note in 2:21, Elisha gives God the credit. It was not Elisha & it was not the salt--it was God. Elisha was only a representative agent of God & the salt a symbol.
So here you have an unchangeable situation. The spring was putting out “bad” water. I’m sure present & past leaders of Jericho had brainstormed over the situation many times trying to come up w/ a solution, but had found none. The situation could not be changed. It was unchangeable.
• Unchangeable from a human perspective.
• Unchangeable in terms of human ability.
• Unchangeable in terms of scientific knowledge but not unchangeable for God.
What do you do when you are faced w/ an unchangeable situation be it a person, a condition, whatever? You do what the men of Jericho did. You go to God, which is what they were doing by coming to God’s prophet & spokesman – Elisha.
In response to their humble request & in response to as I read into this – their expectant faith for there seems to be every indication that they expected a change in their unchangeable situation as a result of appealing to God’s prophet – in response God performs a miracle & changes the unchangeable & changes it to the extent of having a permanent & lasting result – (v.22 “So the waters have been purified to this day).
How many of you are facing some hopeless situation? It might be something in your personal life or some person [mate, child, family member, friend] who is heavy on your heart. They do not know the Lord or have turned from Him. It might be just a situation you’re facing & from your perspective, it is unchangeable. Whatever it is in your case, you know that unless God intervenes it is a hopeless situation. Anyone here facing something like that? Before I ask for a response, let me take you to a couple of more examples of God changing the unchangeable in order to fortify this truth in your heart.
Example of Manasseh – When I think about this truth of God changing the unchangeable particularly as it relates to peoples’ hearts there is 1 particular example in Scripture that always comes to mind. It is the story of Manasseh. If you have been here long you should be familiar w/ Manasseh because I have talked about him several times because his story is such an encouragement to me. Let me just quickly recount it for you.
Manasseh, in terms of wickedness, was to the southern kingdom of Judah what Ahab was to the northern kingdom of Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:1-9 – Do you realize what an incredible condemnation it was on Manasseh to say that he led (seduced) Judah to do more evil than the nations they had destroyed when they came into the land of Canaan?
The reign of Manasseh was evil beyond imagination. This man, it appears, was determined to immerse himself in seemingly everything that was forbidden by God. I think if you could have been in the same room w/ this man you could have felt wickedness emanating from him.
In Deut.18, God lists several wicked sins, all occultic & satanic in nature. And He declares them detestable in His sight & goes on to say, anyone who practices them is also detestable in His sight. Well, it is almost as if Manasseh read the list & said, “Oh, God forbids this, so I’ll do it. And God forbids this, so I’ll do it too.” Every one of them.
Manasseh was an incredibly wicked, perverse, evil & hardened man & one who paid no attention to God’s warnings & rebuke as we read in 33:10. So it is no surprise to read of God’s judgment on him & it is a judgment that will make you shudder.
2 Kings 21:10-15 - Now the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, & has also made Judah sin with his idols; therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ’Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem & Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria & the plummet of the house of Ahab, & I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it & turning it upside down. And I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance & deliver them into the hand of their enemies, & they shall become as plunder & spoil to all their enemies; because they have done evil in My sight, & have been provoking Me to anger, since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.’"
[By the way, who will cause this? Who is it that will bring this destruction & calamity on Israel? Who will plummet the house? Who will wipe Jerusalem like one wiping a dish? Who will do it, not just allow it, but will do it? God! I have no problem declaring God sends calamities.]
So God sends His judgment on Manasseh. End of story, right? I mean, if anyone was beyond being reached, if anyone could be written off from ever coming to the Lord, it would have to be Manasseh? Talk about an unchangeable situation. This was it.
-33:11-13 – And this wasn’t just some jailhouse conversion. It was true repentance, which led to genuine change.
The power of God to change the unchangeable.
Conversion of Saul – Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-2 – Saul was
a man who was of a different religion than Christianity. He was a man who hated Christians, hated Jesus. He didn’t believe in the resurrection. He was a man who believed he was doing God’s work in his private war against Christianity even to the extreme of using violence against them or throwing them in prison, possibly even having some of them killed. Again, this was a man who many would say could not be changed, could not be reached for Christ. Forget about him, let’s go after more promising possibilities. He’ll never change. But God changed the unchangeable & turned him into 1 of the greatest Christians & missionaries that ever lived.
Example of Manna – Ex.16 – Here are the children
of Israel, a couple of million strong, out in the desert. Where do you go to get daily food out in the middle of the desert for a couple of million people constantly on the move? There is no Food Lion to run to & even if there was, would they carry that amount of food? They didn’t stay in 1 place so they could not plant seeds & wait for its yield. I’m sure they took some food from Egypt when they left but there was no way it was enough to last for 40 years. And each additional day after leaving Egypt only caused the situation to grow worse.
How do you daily feed 2-3 million people who are out in the desert & constantly on the move? I remember in the past the difficulty in trying to plan meals for 40-60 people on a church camping trip. And this situation was not going to change for 40 years. It was an unchangeable situation.
Ex.16:4 – “Then the Lord said to Moses...” & immediately that which was unchangeable changed. “I will rain bread from heaven for you; & the people shall go out & gather a day’s portion every day.”
The Widow of Zarephath – 1 Kings 17:8-24
Here was a widow w/ a young son. It was a time of severe drought. I’m sure she had done everything she could think of to make money in order to buy food or to find food some other way. But it had finally come down to 1 last meal. That’s all the supplies she had. And I imagine her neighbors were in similar situations. And there was no prospect of the drought ending. She saw no change in her situation. She knew she & her son would die. It was a foregone conclusion. And so she set about preparing their last meal after which they would wait for starvation to claim them.
But then in the exact moment [after Elijah had been traveling for a week or more] & in the exact spot she was gathering sticks for a fire, up walked the prophet of God, Elijah. He asked for some water & bread. She explained her situation which prompted this response from Elijah - “Then Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear...for thus says the Lord God of Israel, “The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day the Lords sends rain on the face of the earth.’” And immediately, by the power of God, the unchangeable changed.
Healings – We could easily take the next hour &
go through the Bible noting the times God healed someone. Physical diseases & infirmities, especially those you are born w/ can be some the most unchangeable situations you can experience. But by the power of God what do we read of?
• A man born blind, no hope, a completely unchangeable condition, received his sight.
• A woman w/ a blood disorder that no doctor could cure. She had spent all her wealth only to end up worse off. But
through simply touching the Savior that which was unchangeable was immediately changed.
• A leper (Mark 1) who had no chance of changing his unchangeable condition said to the Lord, “If You are willing, You
can make me clean.” Jesus said, “I am willing; be cleansed” & immediately the that which was unchangeable was
changed.
Death – that has to be the most unchangeable
situation of all & yet Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain from the dead. He raised Lazarus from the dead. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead – that which was absolutely unchangeable was changed.
Let me ask the question again: are any of you facing some hopeless, seemingly unchangeable situation? I don’t want to resign myself that a particular situation or person is unchangeable. Let’s face it – we do resign ourselves to that many times – whether it be in a marriage, in 1 of our children or grandchildren, in some other relationship, in some person who has been like this for years (Oh, they’ll never change) or some other kind of situation. I don’t want to resign myself to that kind of thinking. Where do you think that kind of thinking comes from? Who do you think desires for you to think like that? Who wants you to give up because this is an unchangeable situation? You know where that thinking comes from – the pit of hell.
Now please understand me, I am not talking about thinking positively. That’s the world’s answer. I’m talking about refusing to resign myself to thinking this is unchangeable because it’s not for I belong to a God who changes the unchangeable all the time & I come to Him again & ask & trust Him to change the unchangeable once again – to work His miraculous work again.
Let me give you one more example, a modern day example. Story of Josh Hamilton, baseball player for the Texas Rangers and hero of the 2008 Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game. [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2926447]
If you have some hopeless, unchangeable situation I invite you, as we close to come to the altar, front row & lay it all before the Lord again & ask Him to change that unchangeable situation that is on your heart – not for the sake of convenience or making life easier for you but for the glory of God. I invite you to come & the quietness of that spot where you kneel ask God to demonstrate His mighty power once again.
Let me also say, I don’t know the mind & will of God for that situation on your heart. Quite likely, it will not change immediately. It may, praise the Lord, but it may not. And quite likely, God wants to do some changing in you during this process. Therefore, I want you to take this truth we have talked about today & continually, regularly lay it before the Lord asking Him, the sovereign omnipotent Lord of this universe, to change the unchangeable. I believe the Lord is wanting to do marvelous things in our day but He is looking for dedicated people & people who come in humbleness & earnestness & beseech Him to do the miraculous for unless He does it, it will remain an unchangeable situation.
Prayer: “Oh, Lord, here our cry today & grant to us the faith to trust You to change the unchangeable.”
Song: Nothing Is Impossible
