ESOCS Devotional 29 May 2024 – Has the Lord Spoken It?
MEMORY VERSE: “Elisha had told the king that by that time the following day, ten pounds of the best wheat or twenty pounds of barley would be sold in Samaria for one piece of silver.”2 Kings 7:18 GNB
TEXT: 2 KINGS 7:3-20
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” 5 And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. 6 For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” 7 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. 8 And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.
9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” 11 And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.
12 So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.’ ”
13 And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; or indeed, I say, they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed; so let us send them and see.” 14 Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” 15 And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
17 Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.”
19 Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, “Now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?”
And he had said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” 20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.
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Unbelief, or doubting spirit remains the greatest undoing of many Christians, even today. It has caused people to continue to wallow and languish in the limbo of unrealized expectations, or unfulfilled prophecies. It has even brought about the anger of the Lord on some persons (v 20). In our text, Elisha had prophesied that the end of the famine that ravaged the land was near. He declared that on the next day, food prices would return to normal, or even lower. Under normal human reasoning, this was a most unbelievable pronouncement to listen to. But it came to pass as prophesied.
How did it happen? Four leprous men who sat at the gate of Samaria begging for arms were already starving to death. Nobody had enough for himself and family, talk less of giving to beggars. At a near breaking point, these lepers decided to crash into the enemies’ camp, having resolved to “perish or succeed” and come back alive. The resolution of these four lepers brought to fulfillment the prophecy of Elisha.
As they rolled on their wheelchairs into the camp of the Syrian army, the Lord caused a great noise like those of chariots and noises of horses hurrying to the battle field. This miracle was even unknown to the hungry and near hopeless lepers. In the darkness of the night, the Syrian soldiers became so terrified that they fled, leaving behind abundance of food, clothes and gold and silver. The leprous beggars became instantly rich, and even extended the information to the people back home. Everybody rushed to the deserted camp to enrich themselves. Prophecy fulfilled.
Among those who heard the prophetic voice of the Lord in ancient times and lived to experience its fulfillment include: Abraham, Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Manoah and his wife, Mary, the mother of Jesus. So, child of God, what has the Lord said concerning you? Believe it; doubt not. At the fullness of time, it will come to pass. Wait for it in faith. Waver not in unbelief. Even though it tarries, it must surely come to pass (Habakkuk 2:3).
- Doubt not, meekly wait and murmur not. It must surely come to fulfilment.
- Lord, help my unbelief, lest I lose out.
Further Reading: Exodus 13:1-8; Mark 7:14-23; Romans 4:13-25
ESOCS Devotional 29 May 2024
