2 Kings 1-9...Miracles, Death, and Famine

   Hello! We're back this week with the first week of 2 Kings! LOTS of things happen in these nine chapters...so hold onto your seat!

   So, Ahab is dead now, Elijah is taken to heaven(therefore giving Elisha his place as prophet), Elisha performs miracles(with God's help of course), and Jezebel dies. The part I would like to focus on is the miracles that Elisha performs.

   Here are all the miracles that happen:
-Restoring of oil to a widow (4:1-7)
-Giving the Shunammite woman a son and raising him to         life (4:8-37)
-Purifies the deadly stew (4:38-41)
-Naaman is healed of leprosy (5;1-14)
-An axe head was recovered (6:1-7)

 
   There are other miracles as well, but these are the big ones. So, if you look at each of these, you can totally see the power of God working through Elisha. The point that I would like to make today is that God is all-powerful. I mean, I know we've heard this a million times before, but do we really understand it? God gave a widow a means to survive, gave a woman a son AND didn't let him die, cleansed a dinner so the "sons of the prophets" wouldn't die, healed a captain of Syria from leprosy, and made an iron axe head float to the top of a lake! On top of all that, when the Syrians were laying siege to Israel, Elisha's servant freaked out because of all the soldiers he saw. Elisha asked God to open his eyes and his servant saw horses and chariots of fire surrounding all of the Syrians. This gave his servant hope that Israel was going to make it.

   What do we see in tough situations? Do we see all the bad, or do we see the good? I feel that there are times that we do need to see both, but we DEFINITELY shouldn't dwell on the bad. That brings us down, but it also does not lift up Christ. If we are trying to put Christ first in every situation, do we  get knocked down and never get back up? How does that reflect Christ? Now, there are times that God challenges us...and it's definitely not always easy, I mean, I experienced that in high school season! What should spur us on to living out Christ is the hope that others will see us and really think, "What do they have that I don't?" Being a godly example to our friends, teammates, or even family members brings this question up. When Elisha asked God to open up his servant's eyes, and he saw all the soldiers of the Lord, do you think that servant had more than enough reason to believe that they were going to win? I think we need realize that God is on our side...as long as we are doing what he has called us to do.