This is a Light Thing
in the Sight of the Lord
Read Time: 9 Minutes
Let us consider what God has done. He has created the heavens and the earth. He set it the heavens and set the stars and planets and meteors in motion to keep us perfectly suspended in our section of space at the right distance from the sun so that we are not too hot or cold. He set the moon in orbit around the earth to enable the tides and influence the weather. It is all put in motion so that life can happen on the earth. Then he made the animals and man. These are awesome displays of God's power and ability. We will set yet more demonstrations of God's ability in the follow records.
The next miracle of Elisha in II Kings is in chapter 3. Here is the setting:
II Kings 3
:1 Now Jehoram
the son of Ahab
began to reign over Israel in Samaria
the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat
king of Judah,
and reigned twelve years.
:2 And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD;
but not like his father,
and like his mother:
for he put away the image of Baal
that his father had made.
:3 Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
which made Israel to sin;
he departed not therefrom.
Once again the leadership in Israel is corrupt. Yet, we will see the grace of God upon the unbelievers as well as the believers.
After Ahab died the King of Moab ceased sending tribute to Israel and decided to attack them instead. So Jehoram king of Israel numbered Israel and sends for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah asking for assistance. Jehoshaphat agrees to join them in battle. They also pick up the King of Edom. Looking at a map of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah Divided you will see that Israel occupies the area west of the Sea of Chinnereth (which is the Sea of Galilee) and south of Israel Judah occupies the area west of the Sea of the Arabah (also called the Salt Sea or the Dead Sea) and east of the Philistine Empire. Down around the south end of the Sea of Arabah is Edom. To the east of the Sea of Arabah is Moab.
These three kings and their armies traveled a circuitous route to Moab through the wilderness of Edom and ended up in a place with no water. This distresses the king of Israel and he exclaims, ?Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!? (vs. 10) Remember Jehoshaphat is with them, he is a Believer and, although not always on the ball, at least he remembers to consult a prophet. (Once again he should have consulted a prophet before going down with Jehoram.)
:11 But Jehoshaphat said,
Is there not here a prophet of
the LORD,
that we may enquire of the LORD
by him?
And one of the king of Israel?s servants answered and
said,
Here is Elisha the son of
Shaphat,
which
poured water on the hands of Elijah.
:12 And Jehoshaphat said,
The word of the LORD
is with him.
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
and the king of Edom
went down to him.
:13 And Elisha said unto the king of Israel,
What have I to do with thee?
get thee to the prophets of thy
father,
and to the prophets of thy mother.
[this is a mocking reply, "What have I to do with you?
Go consult your pagan gods?see if they can help you."]
And the king of Israel said unto him,
Nay: for the LORD
hath called these three kings together,
to deliver them into the hand of
Moab,
:14 And Elisha said,
As the LORD
of hosts liveth,
before whom
I stand,
surely, were it not that I regard
the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah,
I would not look toward thee,
nor see thee.
If it wasn't for Jehoshaphat's faithfulness God's grace would not be extended to them. We have the same impact in our communities and nations. Our stand with God, prayer for our leaders, communities and nations has a great impact.
:15 But now bring me a minstrel.
And it came to pass, when the minstrel played,
that the hand of the LORD
came upon him.
:16 And he said,
Thus saith the LORD,
Make this valley full of ditches.
:17 For thus saith the LORD,
Ye shall
not see wind,
neither shall ye see rain;
yet that
valley shall be filled with water,
that ye may drink,
both ye,
and your cattle,
and your beasts.
:18 And this is but a light thing
in the sight of the LORD:
he will
deliver the Moabites also into your hand.
:19 And ye shall smite every fenced city,
and every
choice city,
and shall
fell every good tree,
and stop
all wells of water,
and mar
every good piece of land with stones.
Oh, I just love the statement: "And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD." We assign such heavy weights to our problems. Some are more grievous than others. We think some are trivial and we shouldn't bother God. We forget that God is our Almighty God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. He calls us precious, we are his masterpiece; He is intensely interested in us. Why would He not be there for every thing, in every situation? He never walks away from us. We choose to walk away from Him. Whatever it is that is troubling us?whether it is an army or an illness or co-worker?it is but a light thing. God has the ability and the willingness to help us; we must let Him. It is but a light thing.
Let us see what God does for Israel, Judah and Edom:
:20 And it came to pass in the morning,
when the meat offering was offered,
that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom,
and the country was filled with water. [it
filled the ditches they dug]
:21 And when all the Moabites heard
that the kings were come up to fight against them,
they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and
upward,
and stood in the border.
:22 And they rose up early in the morning,
and the sun shone upon the water,
and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:
:23 And they said,
This is blood:
the kings
are surely slain,
and they
have smitten one another:
now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.
:24 And when they came to the camp of Israel,
the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites,
so that they fled before them:
but they went forward smiting the Moabites,
even in their country.
God continues on to tell us that His revelation to Elisha came to pass; every fenced and choice city was smitten, every good tree fell, all the wells of water were stopped and the good land was marred according to the Word of the Lord. Moab received the consequences of their attack on God?s people.
Judah, Edom and Israel believed what God had told Elisha. They did what He said and they received the benefit; they witnessed the miracle of the ditches filling with water and the Moabites perceiving it as blood. Had they not dug the ditches and said, ?Oh that is just poppycock, I am not going dig ditches; there is no water here.? They would not have received the promise of God.
God is also capable of blessing individual people as well as nations. I will reiterate; Elisha lives in Israel where most of the people serve pagan gods. People who believe in the one true God are a minority here. God is still going to help His people no matter where they live.
II Kings 4
:1 Now there cried a certain woman
of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha,
saying,
Thy servant my husband is dead;
and thou knowest that thy servant
did fear the LORD:
and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons
to be
bondmen.
:2 And Elisha said unto her,
What shall I do for thee?
tell me, what hast thou in the
house?
And she said,
Thine handmaid hath not any thing
in the house, save a pot of oil.
:3 Then he said,
Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of
all thy neighbours,
even empty vessels;
borrow not a few.
:4 And when thou art come in,
thou shalt shut the door upon thee
and upon
thy sons,
and shalt pour out into all those
vessels,
and thou shalt set aside that which
is full.
Ok, it is time to put yourself in the woman's shoes. You are without a husband, there is no pension, you have children and you owe people money. You no longer have a man to take care of you which is a BIG deal. You are correct in going to the Man of God for help; but listen to what he tells you to do! Well, I guess this is not so bad. You don't have a problem with borrowing empty jugs from all of your friends and neighbors. This is believable. After all you did go to God's prophet and ask for help.
:5 So she went from him,
and shut the door upon her
and upon her sons,
who brought the vessels to
her;
and she poured out.
:6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full,
that she said unto her son,
Bring me yet a vessel.
And he said unto her,
There is not a vessel more.
And the oil stayed.
This is great!! She believed what the Man of God told her and out of her single jug of oil God made oil enough to fill all the vessels she was able to obtain. And when there were no more vessels that was the end of it. It didn?t continue increasing, flowing out onto the floor and causing a mess.
OK, so now what. She has a house full of oil. Now what is she going to do with it?
:7 Then she came and told the man of God.
And he said,
Go, sell the oil,
and pay thy debt,
and live thou
and thy
children
of the rest.
That must have been a considerable amount of oil. She must have also found a great market for it. God took care of her and her sons because she asked. Then when she was told to do something she obeyed. Had she only borrowed a few jugs her needs would not have been met. Elisha had told her to ?borrow not a few.? She did everything she was told to do and she received the results.
She also received the revelation in parts. Sometimes God doesn?t give us all of the information at one time. But when the first part of the revelation is accomplished we are ready to receive more.
This was a light thing in the sight of the Lord.
In order to live the more abundant life I want to know what are we to do? Read His Word, believe His Word, pray and guard His Word in your heart. Speak His Word, teach His Word, give God the glory, praise Him and worship Him truly by the spirit*. When you keep His Word in your mind you will be listening when He talks to you. He says He will take care of us. Let us take Him up on it.
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* See Additional Resources for the book called Speaking
In Tongues A Biblical Perspective