2 Kings 6: 1 - 7 - Eleventh sermon on the life of Elisha
Below is the outline of the sermon, I preached on 7 October 2012 at West Ewell Evangelical Church, Surrey
This seemingly insignificant passage tells us much about God.
In context, the problem was that the place where the company of the prophets assembled with Elisha was too small. It had been flourishing under Elisha’s leadership, which was evidence of God’s blessing
Elisha was not just a man who lived pious life, but also his relationship with God was unique at that time.
Prophets had married and raised families (cf. 4: 1, where one of the widows had been left destitute).
The solution was that they were determined to build more adequate facility, possibly the first college campus mentioned in the Bible. The Jordan valley (a heavily forested area) was the natural place to find wood, the most likely trees were to be willow, tamarisk and acacia.
However, the word in passage means that one of the prophets had to plead or beg for the use of the axe before the misadventure occurred. Iron axes were rare in 8th century BC so the items were very expensive – beyond the resources of the prophet. The process was that the handle was split at the place where the axe head was put and tied down with leather, and then the leather was soaked with water, which would cause it to shrink and tighten down. The more it was used, the looser the leather became. It was common for axe heads to become loose and fly off.
The loose axe heads were such a danger that God made a special law where if one flew off and killed a man, it was to be regarded as an accident or manslaughter so the person using the axe could run to a City of Refuge for sanctuary (Numbers 19: 4 – 7).
1. God is interested in all of us
He is Interested in our whole life as He has created us - spirit, body and mind.
There are three basics: love, food and shelter; although some have added a fourth: music.
How often do we consider that God has given us the basics? An example is time. Nelson Mandela stated : ‘We must use time wisely and forever realise that the time is always ripe to do right.’
It is in those basics that we should trust God – everything else will fall into place.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6: 25 – 34), Jesus told us that God will provide sustenance and clothing, just as He has for the birds and flowers. We are told that ‘Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?’ (verse 27) – indeed, we will reduce our lifespans by worrying, as it can even lead to suicide and self-harm.
The entire company of prophets cutting down trees for the houses on that day, but God was concerned about the one with the problem.
God is the God of the individual. This is seen in parables of lost sheep, lost coin and the forgiving father (aka as the prodigal son) for we are created in His image.
He wants to bring us up for the Bible states in 1 Peter 5: 6 – 7: ‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.’
Paul also exhorted us ‘to give thanks in all circumstances.’
2. He deals with our needs
Please note: God supplies our needs, not our wants.
It is not for us to summon God with our whistling for attention, but we are to approach Him humbly on bended knees.
Paul Tournier wrote: ‘God is not at our service. To claim to penetrate His secrets, know his signs and have His power at our beck and call is not faith, but magic.’
After becoming bankrupt and failing at elections to be a senator and then the President of the USA, Abraham Lincoln: ‘I have been driven to my knees several times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.’
God works in amazing ways, as hymn goes ‘His wonders to perform.’
He knows when we have lost that vital item/skill that would enable the work to be done: e.g. axe, needles, cooking utensils, keys – there is no secular or spiritual: all work is for God who wants to restore to us that what we need: which does not need to be an axe!
The student might have been relieved for the lost axe would have been an excuse to stop working altogether. But God has plans for us.
God has the wherewithal to make things happen. Elisha’s question is like us when we lose things: ‘where did you last see it?’
This incident was not an act of magic, but God working through what He had created.
3. We are to give thanks
Although thanksgiving is not mentioned in this passage, it is intrinsic that we do so.
The purpose of thanksgiving is to deepen our relationship with God.
We find this opportunity at harvest: to thank Him for gifts, abilities and talents that He has given to us as well as the provision of food.
The Hollies sang: ‘Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe as to love you’ – our experience should be to love God all the time as He gave us our very breathe.
Philippians 4: 6 – ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ [my emphasis]
We are reminded, in Luke 17: 11 – 19, of ten lepers who were cleansed of their disease by Jesus – only one (a Samaritan) returned to thank Him. Jesus responded: ‘Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ So often, people of the community that should be reflecting the Saviour (i.e. the Church) are put to shame by those who we consider to be ‘outside’ as they thank God for His goodness.
David Prior wrote (‘The Suffering and the Glory,’ p.45): ‘Christian growth, especially in personal relationships, is not so much a matter of solving problems as learning to live through them in the grace which God provides.’
In Lamentations, amidst the grief, we are reminded that God’s mercies are new every morning
I would urge you to read the words of the song ‘Morning has broken’ through Christian eyes – God’s creation and re-creation being so evident (see my blog on 11 October 2012 on this song).
Conclusion
There is no problem in a miracle like this in this passage – God also created the world in six days.
More than that, He came to earth to be born as a baby, died on the cross and then was resurrected after three days – in order to bring us into relationship with Him whilst we were enemies, rejecting Him because of our sin. This has got to be the greatest miracle, so everything else is possible.
The central theme in the Bible is God’s grace – His undeserved mercy toward us, found in all Bible including the Old Testament.
Isaiah 65: 24: ‘Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.’
As we step forward as church and as individuals, we need to have faith, putting our hands and lives into the hands of God. We need to be expectant of what God can do for us and in us.
Will you:
a. Realise that God is interested in every part of your life – reassuring
b. Give all your needs to God
c. Thank God for all that He has done
