Tag: Elisha

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Refusing gifts of gratitude.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused. Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord. However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing: When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow, too.” “Go in peace,” Elisha said. So Naaman started home again.” ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭15‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

After Naaman is miraculously healed of a deadly skin disease, he was not only convinced of the one true God, he was also grateful. When facing death and escaping it via a miracle – gratitude races to the top of the heart. When you’ve been given to, there’s supposed to be a desire to give back – at least when one recognizes how the Kingdom of God works. Naaman came prepared, I doubt the guy travelled with a a caravan of expensive clothes and large amounts of silver just to take a trip to the hill country above Samaria.

Naaman’s gratitude was a key part of his transformation. He wasn’t just healed of Leprosy, he got wrecked by the reality of God’s undeserved goodness.

The shocker is Elisha refused the extravagant gifts.

Naaman insisted, Elisha resisted.

I wonder why? Did he not need the money? Couldn’t he have received it so that he could give it away to the poor?

Money does strange things to people. Obviously Naaman had a lot of wealth and had no problem trying to give it away. And sadly, we know what even the idea of having some money, snuck & tucked away for oneself, did to Gehazi. Did greed just creep in so fast that it overwhelmed the young man – Gehazi just couldn’t let it go. ”But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said to himself, “My master should not have let this Aramean get away without accepting any of his gifts. As surely as the Lord lives, I will chase after him and get something from him.” ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬. It was for “Elisha…” – right?! Greedy people always believe they are going to get away with it.

Maybe Elisha had learned some lessons and already figured out that he was just a steward for his own master, he didn’t need to own or keep anything. God was the one that healed Naaman, not Elisha. Elisha just sent Naaman on the humiliating task of dunking his pride in the dirty Jordan river.

After refusing Naaman’s gifts, Naaman seemed so caught off guard that he asked to take some Samarian dirt home with him! Plus – Naaman swore off of pagan sacrifices to fake gods. He truly was a changed man! I love it when new believers get so confessional because the Spirit of God brings freedom in repentance!

As a pastor, I can tell you that it is humbling to receive gifts. Cards of appreciation are definitely encouraging, but I often tell folks who give me money or gift cards out of their generosity – I’m going to be saving this gift and giving it to someone that God directs me to bless! They have to be okay with that.

Prayer.

​Dad,
I love the fact that Elisha refused Naaman’s grateful gift. And, I’m sad that Gehazi couldn’t handle Elisha refusing to receive that much money. It looks like greed, but I have no idea what was going on in Gehazi’s heart. I do see what gratefulness looks like from such a powerful commander of the Syrian army who had it all, but almost lost it because of a deadly skin disease. I hope to live a life of both gratefulness and generosity – I think they go together.

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When your mentor is missing.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.” ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Just moments before these verses, the agreement for Elisha to succeed Elijah had just barely made the deadline of God whisking Elijah off to heaven in spectacular style – fire driven horses and chariot, flaming from the sky scooping up Elijah in a whirlwind. Elijah’s cloak comes floating down to the ground at Elisha’s feet! Elisha had just asked Elijah for a double portion of the power God entrusted in His prophet. Elijah kinda shrugged it off – yeah, we’ll see.

Then we find Elisha standing alone in the field. Elisha had just witnessed a most unexpected, extraordinary miracle, but as he stands there, he realizes, “I have no idea what to do now!” Elijah’s last order was to stay in Jericho, but Elisha refused, not wanting to let Elijah out of his sight.

What does one do when your mentor has moved on? Now, Elisha would be self directed, depending completely on the Lord to lead him. And in that awkward silence, Elisha picks up Elijah’s cloak and walks back to the edge of the Jordan river, where he and Elijah had previously seen God miraculously part the water to walk across on dry land. As Elisha stood there, the Bible reveals his anxious heart when it says, he struck the water and cried out. It reminds me of Moses and his hit-the-rock moment!

Oftentimes, I’ve noticed, the Old Testament prophets had shown a wide variety of real emotions, mostly angsty, deeply dark and moody. Sure, the miracles are amazing, but prophets obviously carried the difficult weight of delivering God’s word often to leaders who did not want to listen and definitely did not want to obey God. After the water parting, Elisha did go on to perform twice as many miracles as his mentor, Elijah – https://bit.ly/ElishaMiracles. The Talmud records that Elisha struggled with this anger his whole life, eventually becoming the cause of his own death, “The Talmud teaches, Sotah 47a, that Elisha had been sick with the same sickness twice before and he recovered. His sicknesses were a punishment for his having behaved in a harsh way twice. Once, when he cursed the youths who had behaved in such an insolent fashion towards him. The second time was when he excommunicated Gechazi and cursed him with Tzara’at (a form of spiritual leprosy).” Even though God used Elisha in extraordinary ways, Elisha could not get free from his own issues. Even after Elisha’s death, it’s recorded that his own bones had the power to bring a dead man back to life! According to 2 Kings 13:21, a corpse touched Elisha’s bones and was restored to life!

Elisha’s life and calling from God tells a story as well. Was Elisha too young? He was probably in his twenties when Elijah met him in his family’s field. Was his time with Elijah too short? He served under Elijah for six years. Was Elisha influenced by Elijah’s own self esteem and even depression towards the end of his own ministry?

Sometimes, with folks that have “seen it all” in ministry have a darker reality of what ministry really looks like. Personally, I watched the effects of longtime ministry on my own mentors. It changed them, it seemed to have sucked some of the joy and faith out of them. Whatever it was, I often said, “I had no interest of sitting in that seat of leadership.” I wonder how much of all that Elijah faced impacted Elisha?

Prayer

​Dad,
As I read about Elijah’s life and ministry calling and compared it to Elisha’s, I realized – everyone has issues they have to deal with from within. Ministry calling, although fulfilling in so many ways, is also an exposure to the full gamma of human expression from the people we serve. The highest of highs, but also the lowest of lows! I’ve seen people behaving at their best, as well as at their worst. I’m privy to the most private behaviors in families and relationships. It is a lot to carry. At this season of life, I understand far better of how the world works, the church works and how hard it is to keep our souls in shape before you. Thank you for your long suffering grace as we do life over the long haul.

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God puts out a hit on Ahab.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“When he arrived there, he found Jehu sitting around with the other army officers. “I have a message for you, Commander,” he said. “For which one of us?” Jehu asked. “For you, Commander,” he replied. So Jehu left the others and went into the house. Then the young prophet poured the oil over Jehu’s head and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the Lord’s people, Israel. You are to destroy the family of Ahab, your master. In this way, I will avenge the murder of my prophets and all the Lord’s servants who were killed by Jezebel. The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out. I will destroy every one of his male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel.”2 Kings‬ ‭9‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God spoke to Elisha and gave him instructions to send out his student prophet to a difficult assignment- the assassination of Ahab, the wicked king of Israel. But before doing that, the young prophet must anoint and install a new king.

Elisha was VERY specific. He told him to take the olive oil, go to Ramoth-gliead, find Jehu, get him alone in a room and pour the oil over his head. Then, to tell him the Lord has anointed him to be the king of Israel. Last step – run for your life! The prophet did as Elisha instructed, but either added the following or we are not privy to what Elisha told him to say.

Either way, the rest of the message was an order for Jehu to elliminate Ahab’s entire family lineage. God said He would avenge the murders of his prophets and servants killed by Jezebel’s orders. And, in a very NSFW moment, the prophet tells Jehu what to do with Jezebel’s dead body! He says, “Dogs will eat Ahab’s wife Jezebel at the plot of land in Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then the young prophet opened the door and ran just like Elisha told him to do. If you want to read about Jezebel’s gruesome end, you’ll find it in ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭9‬:‭32‬-‭37‬.

God says he owns and operates vengeance because He is the only one who can handle it properly. God is always true, just and right – Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, He says in Deuteronomy 32:35. Not only does God properly handle vengeance and retribution, He knows it is toxic poison for us to handle even the smallest amount of it. Humans feel that holding onto revenge makes us powerful- it does not. It makes us weak! Holding onto anger, grudges and thoughts of revenge not only tears holes in our soul but it also hardens our heart. It gives the deceiver, the liar and thief, a foothold to enter into our mind causing havoc and irreparable damage.

The only way to escape the devastating fires of rage and fury is to give our grievances to God and let forgiveness flow freely. Forgiveness does not mean the perpetrator goes free, it means that we are set free of the self afflicted prison that revenge will bring. Let God be our champion of justice and not our own seething and planning our enemy’s demise!

Prayer

​Dad,
One of the greatest and hardest lessons as a young believer was the time you told me to forgive my third father – my stepfather, Ben. He was viscously evil, with a super hard heart and burned out conscience. I knew he had a hard life himself, but he turned bitter and took it out on those closest to him. When you told me to forgive him, I had no understanding of why I or anyone should forgive him. But I was learning obedience and did what you asked. I told him to his face, “I forgive you for what you have done to my mother and sister!” His response was to laugh at me in most wicked voice. But as I walked away, I knew I was FREE of him! Free of his damaging words and free of the fear he brought into our family. I learned that forgiveness is powerful to the victim and shocking to the offender. Thank you for teaching me while I was so young. Learning forgiveness instead of revenge has kept my enemy list down to zero!

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Natural or Supernatural Miracles?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“One day the leaders of the town of Jericho visited Elisha. “We have a problem, my Lord,” they told him. “This town is located in pleasant surroundings, as you can see. But the water is bad, and the land is unproductive.” Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl with salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring that supplied the town with water and threw the salt into it. And he said, “This is what the Lord says: I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or infertility.” And the water has remained pure ever since, just as Elisha said.” 2 Kings‬ ‭2:19-22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Aren’t miracles, well…miracles, you may ask? I thought so. Then I watched this documentary about Moses and the Jewish people crossing the Red Sea. The water parted, it separated, and over a million people walked across on dry land. Then the Egyptian army, with chariots and thousands of foot soldiers followed them into the water. The Jewish people arrived safely on the other side, then God closed the opening on the sea, drowning the entire Egyptian army. Remember this? The documentary had lots of theories, but shockingly the experts were divided on this idea of natural vs supernatural miracles. Did God use the natural forces of the earth (wind, specific spot in the body of water, even the gravitational pull of the moon and earth in that exact moment) or did God just command the water to divide and it obeyed?

This “little” (not little at all) miracle that Elisha performed was titled, “Elisha’s First Miracle.” Well, yeah it was God’s miracle through Elisha but I get it. Was it natural or supernatural? Does it matter to you? It really doesn’t matter to me. I love science and knowing some of the cool mysteries of our world. I love that scientists thought their discoveries would become more simple as they searched deeper and higher than man had ever searched before. But instead, their searching has become more complicated, forcing them to ask even more difficult questions. This applies to the smallest microscopic particle to the largest and many universes in the cosmos. So if Elisha’s was some kind of chemical biologist, knowing that a few cups of salt would permanently balance the PH levels in an ever flowing river, and God gave him this knowledge – so be it. However, if God told Elisha about the salt or even if he came up with it on his own then God just “healed” the water supply for the whole city – well that’s fantastically okay with me as well!

If you study some of the Old Testament prophets’ miracles, you’ll find they are pretty strange. Floating axe heads, Elisha and the two bears, or laying nose to nose, toe to toe on a dead little boy’s body, you’ll really scratch your head and say, “Whoa, this is some crazy stuff!” But the point still remains here. Jericho had a citywide problem and the leaders went to the new man’s of God, Elisha. They may have expected him to pray or make a big spectacle of it all. He didn’t. He asked them for a bowl of salt. He went out to the spring that was the water supply for the city and threw the salt into the running stream. Then he tells them, the Lord says, “I have purified this water.” Boom. Miracle.

Prayer

Dad,
You are the God, the only God. And, since you created all things, it’s not surprising at all that you do both “natural” and supernatural miracles. I don’t even think they are miracles to you, just simple commands that all the existence of any and all universes and planets within must comply with! Yet with us, you allow us to choose. You’ve given us freedom to believe, to know you. Or, to not believe and deny not only your existence, but also your plan to save us from ourselves. I believe in you and in miracles!

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From fame to furious

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.” Luke‬ ‭4:22-24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This curious scene out of Luke is an interesting story about US – our human nature and how consistently enduring and predictable it can be. This little side-bit is full of information about who WE are. Jesus goes home, and goes to his local synagogue. Nazareth may have been small and considered the “armpit” of Jerusalem, but there were a good number of very devout religious men there – enough to qualify for a synagogue.

Jesus goes to the front of the gathering, confidently unrolls the scroll and finds his text – in Isaiah! I’m sure whispers and eye-raised glances bounced around the room at that point. That day was “Isaiah” day, reading from the longest and most complicated Old Testament prophet book in the history of Judaism. There are no coincidences! And, he thinks he’s going to comment and give a Jewish sermon on it? Yeah right.

Luke, in his punchy wit writes, “He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.” Then Jesus gives his homily…“The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” Whoa.

Questions fill the room, sucking centuries of religious pretense right out of the room! In those stunning moments they began to comment, “Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips.” Then seconds later, someone just had to connect the dots of who and where this young buck came from. So then they mumble into the now religious-free air, “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Then Jesus being the truth-teller, breaks their murmurs mid-thought and hijacks their conclusions saying, do you really want to know why I’ve done no miracles here? Of course it’s a lack of faith, but more than that, you guys won’t let ANYONE grow and mature as God intends and expects. You guys got STUCK and you want everyone around you to lower to your level back to AD 00 or BC 700!

Jesus masterfully does a commentary on two other very famous Old Testament spokespersons: Elijah and Elisha. “Ever wonder why these guys did miracles with foreigners and not Israel?” – Jesus hints. He tells them, there were a lot of needy widows in Israel and their were a lot of sick, skin diseased men in Israel. Why didn’t the prophets do any miracles among their own – the Jews?

Can you feel the tension building in this quiet little synagogue in the small, dusty city of Nazareth? Big pause here as they followed their stale, self-righteousness breadcrumbs to a finger-pointing conclusion.

I knew that Naaman wasn’t Jewish, but I had no idea the Sidon widow wasn’t either. Did you? OUCH!

Obviously, they got the point, the civil and religious leaders in old Israel sucked all the faith out the country, and right out of the people they were leading! One moment they were all having a nice pleasant day in the tabernacle, the next moment they’re foaming at the mouth with arrogant-anger, grabbing pitch forks and torches – “When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.” I think once Jesus was safely out of town, he stopped at the city border and dusted off his sandals, signifying he wouldn’t be returning home again.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Wow, I love it when Jesus interprets and does a great commentary on the Old Testament, pointing out things I never knew or ever saw! This really challenges my own beliefs and faith as well as in leading others. Am I sucking faith out of the air with others in my community? I want to believe and not put any restraints or restrictions on a move of your Spirit. In fact, I want to be for more faith, not less! Help me in my own lack of faith and help our leaders in their faith as well.