Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
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.
So now Israel is facing the loving, correcting hand of God once again as God brings judgment upon them for idolatry.
Instead of Jehoram looking to God, falling down on his face and seeking the will of God in the coming battle with Mesha, he decided that he could form an alliance with other kings and go to battle on his own.
Let me tell you that you can’t win the battle alone. Neither can you win the battle with the help of the arm of the flesh no matter how well meaning or how caring the other person is. Your battle is a spiritual battle! If you want to win the battle then it must be fought and won in the spiritual realms.
Jehoram formed an alliance with the King of Judah named Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was a godly king but he didn’t stop long enough to seek God’s face either. After all, the Northern Kingdom was still a part of Israel and he was honor and duty bound to support his brothers who were under attack.
These two joined forces and started out toward Moab then joined forces with the King of Edom. Now they felt secure in their numbers and their ability to wage war and win the victory. What they didn’t count on was the hand of God that was trying to teach them a lesson in trust, faith, humility and obedience.
I find that it is a great deal more than coincidence that they joined forces with the King of Edom for the very name Edom is the same as Esau. It was Esau that sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.
What a great combination this made to fight the enemy of Israel, one king who was an obvious idolater, a second who would sell his soul for the desires of the flesh and a king who was walking outside of the will of God for his people.
This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen doesn’t it? Well, it didn’t take long for them to realize that they were in big trouble.
For 7 days they traveled around the Dead Sea, across the land of Edom and were nearing the land of Moab but they were in no condition to fight now. They had expended all of their supplies and strength crossing the hot, dry desert. Even their cattle were dying and there was no water to drink anywhere. How could they go into battle now?
Isn’t that the way we feel a lot of the time after we have done all we know to do to defeat sin in our lives? Have you ever been to place where your spirit is “drier than cracker juice” and your heart is as dead as last year’s wasp nest? (two of my former Pastor’s favorite sayings)
You have done all you can to plan your victory. You have prayed, planned, and fought it over and over in your mind but to no avail. That’s because we do the planning and not God. You cannot overcome sin under your own strength. We must humble ourselves before God, confess those sins and then trust in God to help us overcome them.
The number 7 always denotes completeness in scripture and therefore we know that these 3 kings had done everything they could under their own power and were only made weaker than when they had begun. Their situation seemed hopeless – but they had forgotten about God.
Thank God Jehoshaphat finally came to his senses and realized that he needed God’s help.
He began to seek out the man of God, Elisha. Elisha’s reputation as a prophet was very well known throughout all the land and he would certainly have an answer for their troubles.
As they came to Elisha he looked upon them all with much disgust. Here were 3 mighty Kings of the Children of Israel and they were all absolutely defeated already without Mesha even having to attack them.
Notice that Elisha wouldn’t have even talked to them except for Jehoshaphat being there. Even though Jehoshaphat was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people, God still recognized him as His own.
Isn’t it amazing at the influence that only one born again Believer can have in the midst of a crowd of unbelievers?
That’s why we are called the “salt of the earth”. Just one Christian can make the jobsite a much better place to work. Just one Christian who will let their light shine can calm the troubled seas of those in desperate situations. Not that we have anything to do with it but it is a result of the power of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit within that makes the difference.
These 3 kings had come through a very dry desert and their hope for victory was gone. They knew that they deserved to be defeated. They knew that their best laid plans were come to naught. They could only throw themselves on the mercy of the man of God and upon the True God of Israel.
When people finally come to the end of their rope and there is nowhere left to turn – that’s when most will finally remember that there is a God in Heaven who has the power to turn their circumstances around and answer their cry. It’s too bad that people have to sink so low before turning to Him!
Elisha called for a musician to come and play for them. There were two reasons for this. First, Elish needed the music to calm him down because he was greatly troubled by the presence of the disobedient kings who had lost their faith in God and in the fact that they had allowed Israel to fall into the place of utter defeat at the hand of Mesha. Secondly, the music was needed to get the 3 kings into the right frame of mind physically, mentally and spiritually, to receive the answer from God that Elisha was to give to them.
Music was played on this occasion much for the same reason that we have music in our church services. It is meant to get our minds off of the things of the world and lift our hearts in worship before God in preparation for receiving the Word of the Lord as it comes forth from the lips of the man of God.
Elisha then gave them some strange instructions!
He told them to fill the valley with ditches! They would not see the rain falling. They would not hear the wind blow in a rainstorm. But God would fill the ditches with water enough for their armies and their cattle. God would provide a great deliverance for 3 disobedient kings!
What a great God we serve. He is able to save to the uttermost! There is no limit to His power to set us free and bring us back into the protection of His mighty hand!
God was not only going to provide them water for strength in a miraculous manner that they could never question, but God was going to give them the victory over Mesha of Moab as a bonus. This was a little thing to God!
That’s one of the messages I have for you today. Your big problems and worrisome troubles are nothing to God. He already has an answer for you if you will seek His face to find it and quit trying to solve it in your own ability.
I know that this is easier said than done. Sometimes God doesn’t speak to you in an audible voice or let a scripture jump out at you to give you a clear cut and precise answer to your dilemma. Sometimes He lets you grope around in the darkness for a while to see if you really want to hear from Him or not. How long are you willing to pray until you get the answer you need – one hour, two hours, a day, a week?
I know this – if you wait upon the Lord and seek His face for the answer, it will come and you will waste far less effort and gain a far greater victory if you do it His way and not your own.
The last message I have for you, and the most important message I have for you is this – HAVE FAITH IN GOD FOR THE ANSWER!
Just as Elisha told the 3 kings to go out and dig the ditches in preparation for the blessing, I believe that’s what God is telling each of us right now.
It’s time to dig some ditches! It’s time to place our faith in God! It’s time start listening and quit trying it our way!
Our requests and needs are small things to the Lord. Not only will He supply your need. Not only will He answer your prayer but God is a God of “lagniappe”.
For those who are not from south Louisiana, that’s a Cajun French word for giving more than is expected.
God’s “lagniappe” is great. He supplies our needs, answers our prayer – then he pours out the blessings of victories that we didn’t expect. He fills our lives with blessings, so much so that we can hardly contain them.
So get out there and start digging your spiritual ditches! God has some wonderful blessings coming down the road and they are about to overtake you.
1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
Psalms 121:1-8, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."
Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Malachi 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Bring Jesus your tithe of worship, your tithe of trust, your tithe of faith in Him and see if He will not fill your ditches to overflowing. God has a whole lot of blessings for each of us but we must dig the ditches if we want to receive them!
