Friday, November 9, 2012

2 Kings 13

Lord God, I have a couple of superficial responses to this chapter: all of these J names are confusing (and remind me of a pop-culture family with more than a dozen and half kids); Aram, Arameans, Aramaic the language of the New Testament – I hadn’t recognized how long-standing and prevalent their influence/rivalry was on Israel and Judah – nor how much Israel’s sinfulness welcomed the enemy……the sins of leadership which led the people astray, the seemingly small things which yielded huge consequences. It’s interesting to me that Your holy words are preserved in the language of the enemy. Is that so all would have a chance to know – the captive and the captors alike?

The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

On a more serious note, Lord, even though Elisha’s directions seem a bit capricious, he is almost always referred to as “the man of God” in Your Word, by You. Underscoring that Elisha does speak and act on Your behalf, he does bear Your anointing, he does obey and honor Your Name. What a privilege to be called “the man/woman of God.” Holy Spirit, please help me to follow that hard after You, to walk worthy of the anointing, to present myself as “one of God,” to the praise of Your very great Name. Help me to keep doing what You told me to do until You tell me otherwise (to not grow weary in well-doing or ground-striking or faithfully presenting myself to You), that the destruction of the enemy may be thorough because the defeat is complete. Keep me from mediocrity in obedience that excellence may mark the triumph, for You are worthy, O Lord, my God and my Warrior-Lord. And help me to strive for that virtue of superbness in the times of suffering. I appreciate that Elisha who had twice the anointing as Elijah is suffering from the illness which kills him without whining about how Elijah got to leave this world and how the people keep coming to him for help. He walks the narrow road in his personal disciplines. Thank You for this example and for Your enabling others (me, included) to walk in that noble and godly fashion.

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