Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / February 11 - 2 Kings 6

Transcript

February 11 - 2 Kings 6 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello, friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday.
• 0:15
  It's the 11th of February. And good on you for tapping play
• 0:19
  and saying, Sean, come on into my day.
• 0:21
  Why not read another chapter of the Bible?
• 0:24
  Let's do that together. Yes, that's what we're doing.
• 0:26
  And at the moment we are working our way through the Book of
• 0:30
  Second Kings. And I've got to say, at the
• 0:32
  moment, there's not a whole lot to do with the kings, is there?
• 0:36
  It's kind of like the author has pressed pause, telling us the
• 0:39
  rise and fall of this king and that king generation after
• 0:43
  generation. And now they are, well,
• 0:46
  essentially putting together a resume for Elijah.
• 0:50
  Elijah, well, he had that mountaintop experience quite
• 0:53
  literally on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal.
• 0:56
  Yes, glorious moment. He is clearly the man of God.
• 1:00
  But now his replacement, Elijah, well, he needs his pedigree
• 1:04
  built up. And so that is what the author
• 1:06
  is doing in this part of the book.
• 1:08
  So we are going to hear all about the incredible things that
• 1:11
  God does through Elijah. So while I'm sure if you got
• 1:15
  your hands on that book that's often referred to about the
• 1:17
  history of the kings of that time, it would not include this
• 1:20
  story to the same detail. This book is a theological book
• 1:24
  talking about God's presence and those kings and of course, his
• 1:29
  presence as lived out by those prophets.
• 1:31
  So join me friends as we read together Second Kings chapter 6.
• 1:45
  One day the group of prophets came to Elijah and told him, As
• 1:49
  you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small.
• 1:53
  Let's go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of
• 1:56
  logs. There we can build a new place
• 1:59
  for us to meet. All right, he told them, Go
• 2:03
  ahead, please come with us, someone suggested.
• 2:07
  I will, he said. So he went with them.
• 2:11
  When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees.
• 2:15
  But as one of them was cutting a tree, his axe head fell into the
• 2:19
  river. Oh Sir, he cried.
• 2:22
  It was a borrowed axe. Where did it fall?
• 2:25
  The man of God asked when he showed him the place.
• 2:29
  Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot.
• 2:34
  Then the axe head floated to the surface.
• 2:38
  Grab it, Elisha said, and the man reached out and grabbed it.
• 2:44
  When the king of Iran was at war with Israel, he would confer
• 2:47
  with his officers and say, we will mobilise our forces at such
• 2:52
  and such a place. But immediately Elisha, the man
• 2:56
  of God, would warn the king of Israel.
• 2:58
  Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to
• 3:02
  mobilise their troops there. So the king of Israel would send
• 3:06
  word to the place indicated by the man of God.
• 3:08
  Time and time again, Elisha warned the king so that he would
• 3:12
  be on the alert there. The king of Iran became very
• 3:16
  upset over this. He called his officers together
• 3:18
  and demanded which of you is the traitor who has been informing
• 3:23
  the king of Israel of my plans? It's not us, my Lord the king,
• 3:28
  one of the officers replied. Elisha, the prophet in Israel,
• 3:32
  tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the
• 3:35
  privacy of your bedroom. Go and find out where he is.
• 3:40
  The king commanded so I can send troops to seize him.
• 3:44
  And the report came back. Elisha is at Dotham.
• 3:50
  So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many
• 3:53
  Chariots and horses to surround the city.
• 3:57
  When the servant of the man of God got up early the next
• 3:59
  morning and went outside, there were troops, horses and Chariots
• 4:04
  everywhere. Oh Sir, what do we do now?
• 4:08
  The young man cried to Elisha. Don't be afraid, Elisha told
• 4:12
  him, for there are more on our side than on theirs.
• 4:17
  Then Elisha prayed, O Lord, open his eyes and let him see.
• 4:23
  The Lord opened the young man's eyes and when he looked up, he
• 4:27
  saw the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and
• 4:31
  Chariots of fire. As the Aramean army advanced
• 4:35
  toward him, Elisha prayed, Oh Lord, please make them blind.
• 4:42
  So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.
• 4:46
  Then Elisha went out and told them, You have come the wrong
• 4:50
  way, this isn't the right city. Follow me and I will take you to
• 4:54
  the man you were looking for. And he led them to the city of
• 4:58
  Sumeria. As soon as they entered Sumeria,
• 5:01
  Elisha prayed, O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see,
• 5:08
  said the Lord. Opened their eyes and they
• 5:10
  discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.
• 5:13
  When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, My
• 5:17
  father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?
• 5:21
  Of course not, Elisha replied. Do we kill prisoners of war,
• 5:26
  give them food and drink, and send them home again to their
• 5:29
  master? So the king made a great feast
• 5:33
  for them and then sent them home to their master.
• 5:36
  After that, the Aramean Raiders stayed away from the land of
• 5:40
  Israel. Some time later, however, King
• 5:45
  Ben Haddad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged
• 5:49
  Samaria. As a result, there was a great
• 5:52
  famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a
• 5:57
  donkey's head sold for 80 pieces of silver, and a cup of dove's
• 6:02
  dung sold for five pieces of silver.
• 6:05
  One day, as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of
• 6:08
  the city, a woman called to him. Please help me, my Lord, the
• 6:12
  king, he answered, If the Lord doesn't help you, what can I do?
• 6:18
  I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from
• 6:21
  the press to give you. But then the king asked, What is
• 6:25
  the matter? She replied, This woman said to
• 6:29
  me, come on, let's eat your son today, and then we will eat my
• 6:34
  son tomorrow. So we cooked my son and ate him.
• 6:39
  And the next day I said to her, Kill your son so we can eat him.
• 6:44
  But she has hidden her son. When the king heard this, he
• 6:48
  tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the
• 6:52
  wall, the people could see that he was wearing burlap under his
• 6:56
  robe next to his skin. May God strike me and even kill
• 7:00
  me if I don't separate Elisha's head from his shoulders this
• 7:04
  very day, the king vowed. Elisha was sitting in his house
• 7:08
  with the elders of Israel when the king sent a messenger to
• 7:12
  summon him. But before the messenger
• 7:14
  arrived, Elisha said to the elders, A murderer has sent a
• 7:19
  man to cut off my head. When he arrives, shut the door
• 7:23
  and keep him out, We will soon hear his master's steps
• 7:27
  following him. While Elisha was still saying
• 7:30
  this, the messenger arrived, and the king said All this misery is
• 7:35
  from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord
• 7:38
  any longer? Our Father, sometimes as your
• 7:52
  children, the things that we need more than anything else are
• 7:57
  faith and peace. Our Lord, the faith that you
• 8:02
  have our long term plan and our destiny and our well being in
• 8:09
  the palm of your hands, and you know full well how to care for
• 8:12
  us. And then from that faith, Lord,
• 8:15
  that your peace can grow in US. Peace that doesn't make any
• 8:18
  sense on the human perspective, but peace that is the gift of
• 8:24
  resting in You and in Your Spirit.
• 8:29
  So Father, give us that faith. Grow your faith in us so that we
• 8:35
  can truly rest in You. And even when things seem dire,
• 8:40
  that we can know that this is all in Your hands and that You
• 8:46
  will in the end bring about wholeness and healing, no matter
• 8:50
  what trial it is that we go through.
• 8:54
  So we just lift up our lives and we give them to you, knowing
• 8:58
  that you are our good, good Father and that you love us, and
• 9:03
  that one day, before we know it, we will be there in your embrace
• 9:08
  for eternity. And so we thank you and we
• 9:12
  praise you, and we pray all of this in the name of Jesus, Amen.