Serving God
Scripture Reference: II Kings 4:8-17 (KJV)
8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. 9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. 10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. 11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. 12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. 13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. 14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. 15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. 16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. 17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
INTRODUCTION
I received an email from a friend the other day that had a poem attached to it. The poem was extremely touching and I would like to share it with you. The significance of this poem is that the three main characters the mother, angel and doctor were being obedient to God and neither of them attempted to operate outside of their realm.
Angel Knocking at the Door
There came a frantic knock
At the doctor’s office door,
A knock, more urgent than
he had ever heard before.
~~~~
"Come in, Come in,"
the impatient doctor said,
"Come in, Come in,
before you wake the dead."
~~
In walked a frightened little girl,
a child no more than nine,
It was plain for all to see,
she had troubles on her mind.
~~~
"Oh doctor, I beg you,
please come with me,
My mother is surely dying,
she’s as sick as she can be."
~~~~
"I don’t make house calls,
bring your mother here,"
"But she’s too sick,
so you must come or she will die I fear."
~~~~
The doctor, touched by her devotion,
decided he would go,
She said he would be blessed,
more than he could know.
~~~~
She led him to her house
where her mother lay in bed,
Her mother was so very sick
she couldn’t raise her head.
~~~~
But her eyes cried out for help
and help her the doctor did,
She would have died that very night
had it not been for her kid.
~~~~
The doctor got her fever down
and she lived through the night,
And morning brought the doctor signs,
that she would be all right.
~~~~
The doctor said he had to leave
but would return again by two,
And later he came back to check,
just like he said he’d do.
~~~~
The mother praised the doctor
for all the things he’d done,
He told her she would have died,
were it not for her little one.
~~~~
"How proud you must be
of your wonderful little girl,
It was her pleading that made me come,
she is really quite a pearl!
~~~~
"But doctor, my daughter died
over three years ago,
Is the picture on the wall
of the little girl you know?"
~~~~
The doctors legs went limp
for the picture on the wall,
Was the same little girl
for whom he’d made this call.
~~~~
The doctor stood motionless,
for quite a little while,
And then his solemn face,
was broken by his smile.
~~~~
He was thinking of that frantic knock
heard at his office door,
And of the beautiful little angel
that had walked across his floor.
Compliments of solos hideaway.org
I pray that you noticed how the doctor was only doing what a doctor does, the mother was praying and doing what she could and the angel was operating in direct obedience to God not forcing or doing anything particularly extravagant. Our efforts to please God should resemble theirs and we will notice great things happening in our lives.
MAIN BODY
As Christians, we must remember that although we serve an awesome God who is able to do anything, anywhere, anytime to anybody our efforts to serve him do not have to be so complex that we don’t even understand what we are doing. This may seem silly to some but let’s look at this. What if a well rooted and grounded Christian were to enlighten a new babe in Christ to fasting.
Fast - The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called "the fast" (Acts 27:9).
The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old Testament is in Zech. 7:1-7; 8:19, from which it appears that during their captivity the Jews observed four annual fasts.
(1.) The fast of the fourth month, kept on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; to commemorate also the incident recorded Ex. 32:19. (Comp. Jer. 52:6, 7.)
(2.) The fast of the fifth month, kept on the ninth of Ab (comp. Num. 14:27), to commemorate the burning of the city and temple (Jer. 52:12, 13).
(3.) The fast of the seventh month, kept on the third of Tisri (comp. 2 Kings 25), the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah (Jer. 41:1, 2).
(4.) The fast of the tenth month (comp. Jer. 52:4; Ezek. 33:21; 2 Kings 25:1), to commemorate the beginning of the siege of the holy city by Nebuchadnezzar.
There was in addition to these the fast appointed by Esther (4:16).
Public national fasts on account of sin or to supplicate divine favour were sometimes held. (1.) 1 Sam. 7:6; (2.) 2 Chr. 20:3; (3.) Jer. 36:6-10; (4.) Neh. 9:1.
There were also local fasts. (1.) Judg. 20:26; (2.) 2 Sam. 1:12; (3.) 1 Sam. 31:13; (4.) 1 Kings 21:9-12; (5.) Ezra 8:21-23: (6.) Jonah 3:5-9.
There are many instances of private occasional fasting (1 Sam. 1:7: 20:34; 2 Sam. 3:35; 12:16; 1 Kings 21:27; Ezra 10:6; Neh. 1:4; Dan. 10:2,3). Moses fasted forty days (Ex. 24:18; 34:28), and so also did Elijah (1 Kings 19:8). Our Lord fasted forty days in the wilderness (Matt. 4:2).
In the lapse of time the practice of fasting was lamentably abused (Isa. 58:4; Jer. 14:12; Zech. 7:5). Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocritical pretences in fasting (Matt. 6:16). He himself appointed no fast. The early Christians, however, observed the ordinary fasts according to the law of their fathers (Acts 13:3; 14:23; 2 Cor. 6:5).
The new convert gets so excited about God that he tries to take on a forty day fast in an effort to be just like Moses (Exodus 24:18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.), Elijah (I Kings 19:8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.) or Jesus (Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.). The understanding of the anointing is not there yet, the understanding that such a fast is not necessary for a babe is not there yet, the understanding of hearing from God and letting Him lead them is not there yet. As a matter of fact, they don’t understand anything about God except that they love Him and want to serve Him as best they can. This new convert could get sick and even die in misunderstanding.
We have to always make sure that our servitude to God is in direct relation to how God has blessed us. In the passage of scripture here I want to really focus on (verse 10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.) . Many people say that this was a rich woman because the bible said she was great but just because she was great does not necessarily have to mean that she was rich. I am inclined to believe that if she were rich then she would have been a lot less likely to want to help the man of God in the way that she did.
Another thing that I really want to look at is what she used to bless such a powerful man of God. She did not go out of her way to get extravagant gifts neither did she offer him something that was unworthy. She offered him exactly what he needed no more or no less.
She offered him a little chamber on the wall, a bed, table, stool, and candlestick. Her offer was so simple yet so effective there is still really no way to tell whether the woman was rich or poor which is really not the most important point but it needs to be considered.
The woman offered him a bed which was a place for the man of God to rest because she knew that he needed rest to be as effective as he needed to be in his ministry.
Next she offered a table. This was very important that the man of God have somewhere to place his things and get organized or maybe clean things that were dirty from transport.
She offered a stool. When a person sits in a stool it is normally to do something besides relax. She knew that he would probably need to sit at the table and study his word so she made sure that he had what he needed to be able to do just that.
Then she offered him a candlestick. This represented the light that the man would need. Surely this woman of God was not setting him up for some resort but she was setting up a work area where he could continue his work as a prophet.
Another factor that shouldn’t be overlooked is the bait (if you will) that the woman used to attract the man of God. It was interesting that the only thing that she used was a piece of bread to get his attention. It would seem that such a great man of God would have had a multitude of followers offering him bread for strength on his tedious journey but evidentially the people either did not have the mind or the heart to be so kind.
Sure people probably sung praises to him all day reminding him of how great of a prophet he was but where were the people when the man of God needed something as simple as a piece of bread. They were probably at home basking in the joys of his revelations to them. This is why Jesus said that foxes have holes and birds have nest but the son of man has no where to lay his head.
Even then the people of God were forgetting to take care of the man of God. They were so busy with their hands out that they forgot or (did they) to put back something for him.
Are we doing this same thing today?
Are we consistently being blessed by the men and women of God and being so cold hearted as to not consider that they have needs too?
Many pastors and religious leaders have become rich from the blood sweat and tears of the saints and don’t feel that they should put back anything. However there are also some of the leaders sent from God that would simply like to receive a thank you note stating that you appreciate what they did for you. In all matters it is always proper and in order to give God all of the glory but we must also remember to treat people how you would want them to treat you.
CONCLUSION
We must always remember that serving God to the point where he is pleased is an individual effort. Your level of servitude is not the same as mine neither is my level of servitude the same as yours. However, no matter your level of servitude serving God will always be as easy as counting one-two-three as long as we give ourselves as living vessels to God.
Let’s Pray
Dear God thank you for everything that you are doing in my life right now. I repent for any sin that have engaged in and I am truly sorry for anything that I have done wrong. Lord God you know my heart and you know that my heart is to serve you. I pray right now for the power to do your will and stay within the boundaries that you have set for me to able to serve you at the level to which you have blessed me at. I will continue to serve you with the best of my ability no matter what. I love you and need you and need you. Amen
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane Sr.
