Start Time:	06:53AM
End Time:	07:24AM
Date:	July 2, 2014

 

TITLE: An Axhead Floats

Scripture: 2 Kings 6:1 – 33

God’s Message / God’s Commands / God’s Promises:

→The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.” And he said, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied. ⁴ And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”  The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.  “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

NOTES:

Ø  God wants us to return whatever we borrowed! Elisha and the company of the prophets met and were trying to build a place for them in Jordan but as they were doing so, an axhead fell into the water but Elisha came to help find what was lost especially when it is not theirs in the first place.  I can relate this to us today.  The axhead is like all the people that were borrowed from God.  It is our responsibility as the “Elisha” of this time to help find and allow the axhead to float by leading the lost people back to surface so they can be returned back to God.

→ Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.” The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.  This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?” “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.  When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.  “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.  After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father?Shall I kill them?” “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.”  So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

NOTES:

Ø  God is a God of His covenant, even the covenants or agreements we made with others, He ensures we fulfill because we represents Him!  The Israelites had a covenant with the Arameans but the King of Aram decided to pursue them (possibly because of what Ahab did against them – Benhadad asked for Ahab’s supplies and slaves, but Ahab turned it down).  But God made sure that the covenant between the two nations are honored (At least in the Israelites side).  God healed Naaman who was the commander of the Aram army and converted him.  Now the King pursued the Israelites and wanted to capture Elisha.  Even after God gave the Israelites the victory by blinding all the Arameans and leading them to the King of Israel, in the end, God prepared a feast for the Arameans and sent them home.

Ø  All we need is God in battle, He is more than enough against thousands of men set to fight against us!  Elisha was not afraid even when the King of Aram sent his army to him to capture Elisha.  Because Elisha’s eyes were open and he sees God’s army with him in this battle.  Every struggle, every fight, every battle we face, God sends us His armies to fight for us and with us.  So do not be afraid but put your full trust to God alone.

→ Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels^[a] of silver, and a quarter of a cab^[b]of seed pods^[c] for five shekels.^[d] As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!” The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?”  Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?”She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.” When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and they saw that, under his robes, he had sackcloth on his body. He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”  Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Don’t you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. The king said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah^[a] of the finest flour will sell for a shekel^[b] and two seahs^[c] of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

NOTES:

Ø  God speaks His word and we are to believe it, those who don’t believe, will not receive!  There was famine in Samaria because Ben-hadad, king of Aram had laid siege of Samaria.  Prices for food became very high and the demand for it increasing but supply is getting less and less.  People are eating people to survive.  So the king of Israel was devastated that he tore his robes and sent someone to kill Elisha, the prophet.  But when the king came to Elisha, Elisha gave a solution but his soldier did not believe it.  So Elisha declared that God’s word will come to pass but the soldier who did not believe will not receive it.  It is funny, because most of the time, when someone does not believe what we say, as humans we try our best to prove our word but with God, if you do not believe His word, then you will not reap the harvest of His promise.  God does not try to prove anything from us because He is God!

Ø  When chaos and hunger fills the land, people always put the blame on God and direct their anger to the Man of God!  When the king heard that His people are now becoming carnivore, he sent someone to kill Elisha, the man of God, because the famine was an act only allowed and permitted by the Lord Himself.  Instead of being faithful and crying out to God, people, as humans, tend to blame the Lord and His chosen man.  Let us learn from this as this history was written for us to see the truth from it.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Amazing God and marvelous King!  Lord of all and the Only One and True God.  Thank You because You are for us and You send us Your army to fight our battles for us.  Thank You because You are true to Your covenant and whatever promises we make to others, You also find ways for us to keep even if we always fail to do so.  Thank You because You preserve our reputation and our lives because it is our testimony of Your goodness.  Thank You because all we need to do is to believe in Your word and if we don’t, we do not reap the reward from Your promises.  Lord help me to hold onto Your word always because it is the Only thing on earth that remains forever.  Help me Lord to keep my faith in You even if people will blame or put their fingers on me or on You.  Help me Lord not to put my fingers on the people You have chosen but instead create in my a heart that will always be humble and keep faith in You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!