Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 6:24 – 7:20

Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria. As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver. — 2 Kings 6:24

Times were just about as hard as they get for those in the city. They were surrounded by their enemy, with no way to leave the fortified city to get more food. They cried out to the king of Israel for help, but there was nothing he could do. The people were in desperate situations — desperate enough to eat their own children (6:26-29).

When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing burlap under his robe next to his skin. — 2 Kings 6:30

The king’s grief turned to anger, as grief often does, and he directed all of his frustrations towards Elisha. He sent one of his men to Elisha’s house to cut off his head, but Elisha would not open the door. So the king went himself.

And the king said, “All this misery is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” – 2 Kings 6:30b

SOMETIMES LEADERSHIP IS HARD.

There are seasons of life when circumstances are almost unbearable and it takes its toll on our leaders. There are seasons of life when there is nothing anyone can do to relieve our pain or rescue us from our circumstances, and we find ourselves blaming God. We get impatient and tire of waiting on God to heal, save, or comfort us. But if we can just hang onto our faith a little longer, we will see God move on our behalf. No matter how difficult things get, we must keep asking God to strengthen our faith in Him.

Elisha replied, “Listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver.”

The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!”

But Elisha replied, “You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!” — 2 Kings 7:1-2

Four men with leprosy who had been sitting at the entrance of the city gates decided to take their chances and surrender to the Aramean army. At twilight they started walking towards the enemy camp, but when they got there it was empty. The enemy was nowhere to be found, for the Lord had caused the army to hear “the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching.” In their panic, they had left all of their supplies and animals, and they had run for their lives.

The four lepers feasted, loaded their arms with the treasures they had found, and traveled back uphill to the city of Samaria to share the good news. The gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace, but the king was skeptical. The news seemed too good to be true. He proceeded with caution, sending scouts to verify what the four men had reported. When they came back with good news, the people of Samaria rushed down to the camp, escaping the city that had become a prison for them. They were finally FREE! The officer who had failed to believe that God could do something as big as what Elisha had foretold was trampled by the people in their desperate rush to find food.

SOMETIMES HOLDING ONTO OUR FAITH IS HARD.

When times get difficult, God wants us to look to Him for rescue; when our circumstances seem impossible to survive, God wants us to trust in Him to be our Savior. God has given us the ability to cling to him during good times and in bad, because faith is a gift from Him. It is not something we have to muster up on our own, it is generously and freely given to us.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. — Ephesians 2:8-10

This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. — 2 Peter 1:1b-2

And this is my prayer for you today. No matter what you are going through, I pray that God will give you more and more grace, that you will experience a supernatural peace, and that your faith in Him will grow as you continue to build on what you know of our God and Savior. May you fully experience FREEDOM in Christ today — freedom from your sinful nature, freedom from your fears and worries, and freedom from the kind of doubt that causes one to walk away from their faith. I pray that each morning you will allow God to create you anew.

Happy 4th of July, friends!