The Days Of Elijah – Confronting Critical Conditions

God uses many different methods to instruct His people on the earthly pilgrimage. Many of God’s instruction are clear and to the point, other are hidden in parables, Proverbs, and stories. I am fascinated when I discover how God speaks through stories like those found in the book of Esther. As you know, the name of God is not mentioned anywhere in the book, yet you can sense God’s presence and His guiding hand throughout the Book. 2 Kings 7:3-11 is like that. The story centers around four leprous men, forced out of the city by a dreaded disease, during a time when the capitol city, Samaria, was besieged by a powerful army of Syrian. Usually, preachers focus on God’s provisions for these four men and the inhabitants of Samaria as a result a prophetic word from God to Elisha. We will certainly revisit those truth, along other valuable lessons that can be applied. I would like to lift some lessons taught by the lepers.

Many of us realize that life is really a series and seasons. The truth is everyone, Christians and Non-Christians alike, go through different season of life. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

Although, God may not send every season, but He certainly allows them, and uses them for His own design and purpose. The four lepers of our story in the city of Samaria are caught in the grip of a down cycle. If we live long enough, we will also experience a down cycle in our lives. The pandemic has taught us that some down turns can affect the whole world. Life can take us to the point of desperation. It is wonderful to know that even in desperate times, our God can provide deliverance despite down turns. Times of desperation require us make to important decisions. These four lepers needed to make a choice. Consider the following the things:

A Choice To Make – 2 Kings 7: 3, 4 “And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.”

In their desperate situation, the lepers had a choice to make! The city was besieged, the famine was severe, and the people were in despair. This period in Israel was so severe that some mothers were actually cooking and eating their own dead children. People were doing things they never thought they would do. The lepers were in a category of their own. The lepers were facing a critical medical crisis, forced to live in isolation, outside of the city wall with little prospects for the future. They were dying of hunger and living in desperation. The Law was against them, in Le 13:45, it says, “And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. 46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”

The lepers reasoned among themselves, “if we go in the city, there is nothing for us in the city. Sitting still means certain death and time was working against us.” They discovered that they still had options. The more they thought about the situation, surrender to the enemy and even prison life started to make sense. We don’t like to admit it, but there have been times when we all have felt like we were between a rock and a hard place. Right now, during the pandemic, there is a housing crisis, and many people find themselves in desperate place. I recently talked to several people on the brink of eviction and now foreclosure and bankruptcy sounds like the best option. Are you facing a desperate situation in your life? Has the pandemic left you feeling boxed in? Life’s crisis can make you feel boxed in, you feel “besieged.” Your troubles may include a wide range of crisis, broken relationships, economic short falls, homelessness, diseases, unemployment, it’s real and it’s difficult for you. What should you do? What will you do? Like the lepers of our lesson, you must consider your options and make a choice. Secondly, you must take a chance. You see there is a choice to make and there is a chance to take.