Elisha - Regaining our Spiritual Edge

Does anyone else find yourself spending more and more time looking for things you have lost? I hope I’m not the only one.  It seems like I am always losing my coffee cup in the church.  I’ll walk around with it, set it down to do something, and then forget to pick it up.  I can spend a lot of time searching every room until I find it.  I used to have a bright red coffee cup because at least then I could scan a room quickly to see if that is where I left it.  

A few weeks ago I spent a long time looking for my phone.  At least with a phone you can call it and then listen for it to ring, although I didn’t think of doing that.  I couldn’t find it anywhere in the house and the reason was because I had left it on the patio overnight.  Losing things is frustrating and time consuming and it can also be costly if what we lose has to be replaced.  

Today we are going to finish our series on the prophet Elisha by looking at what has to be one of the most unusual miracles in the Bible.  In this miracle the prophet Elisha helps a young man find something that he lost. The story is found in 2 Kings 6:1-7

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”  And he said, “Go.”

The one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”  “I will,” Elisha replied. And he went with them.

They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. 

“Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”

The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.  “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

The prophet Elisha was now mentoring young prophets and there were so many following him that they had outgrown the place where they were meeting.  They decided to build a new school so go down to the Jordan River to cut poles to use in the building.  As they were working, an iron ax head flew off a handle and was lost in the water.  The young prophet who lost the ax head was just a poor college student, so he cried out to Elisha because he had borrowed the ax and had no money to buy the owner a new one.  Iron was expensive and this was going to be a burden and a problem for the young man.  

Elisha asked the man where he lost the ax head and in that very spot Elisha threw in a stick and the ax head floated to the surface.  Elisha told the young man to reach into the water and take the ax head out.  He did this and the problem was solved.  The lost was found.  … And why is this story in the Bible?  Why is this odd and seemingly insignificant miracle included among other miracles Elisha did like raising a child from the dead, blinding an entire army to hand them over to the enemy, and healing a man of leprosy?  In comparison to those miracles, this one is ridiculous - and not in a good way.

But it is included in the Bible, and this might be just the miracle someone here needs today because it tells us is that God cares about the things we lose.  God cares about the details of our lives.  God cares about our lost keys and phones.  God cares about the tests we take in school and the tests we go through at the doctors.  As a pastor in Lewisburg, I was reminded that God even cares about broken sump pumps.  

The parsonage in Lewisburg sat on top of an underground creek and there was so much groundwater flowing under the house that there were 3 sump pumps in the basement.  After several days of rain, I realized that I hadn’t heard the sump pumps running, which was not a good thing.  I went to the basement and found several inches of water everywhere.  The sump pump that handled most of the water had gotten stuck so I jiggled the post and it started to work.  

When it started working, it cleaned out most of the water quickly and things began to dry, so I didn’t think much more about it.  I went to bed that night and as I listened to it rain, I thought about the sump pump.  I decided I should check it again and see if it was working, and once again, it had stopped.  I jiggled the post again and it started up.  Long story short, I ended up having to set my alarm for every 30 minutes so that I would wake up, go to the basement, and jiggle the post to get the pump working.  

That was a Saturday night and so on Sunday morning I was sitting in the Sunday School class I helped lead and shared about not getting any sleep because I had to jiggle the sump pump all night.  Someone asked me if I had prayed about it.  I thought they were kidding.  I laughed and said why would I pray for a sump pump.  But they were serious.  Why wouldn’t I pray for a sump pump?  Didn’t I think God could do something to help the situation?  Couldn’t God step in and make a sump pump work?  Or maybe I needed to pray and ask God to help me feel rested and refreshed even though I had to get up every 30 minutes.  

They reminded me that God cares about everything in my life.  It doesn’t mean God will fix everything in my life, but God cares about it, and if cares about it then we can ask God for help.  The young man was concerned about losing the ax head and not being able to return it so he cried out to Elisha for help, and Elisha helped him.  He did a ridiculous miracle and made iron float so the man could be saved from a huge debt.  

The first lesson for us from this crazy miracle is this: God cares about the details of our lives.  God cares about our car problems, lost phones, and frustrating jobs.  God cares about our financial struggles, upcoming tests, and disappointments in life.  If it matters to you, it matters to God, which means we can turn to God with any and all of our problems, needs, and concerns.  Nothing is too small and insignificant for God to care about.  Whatever details you are struggling with today, whatever might be stressing you out or causing you problems, can be lifted to God in prayer.  

But let’s also look at this miracle in a symbolic way.  Sometimes what God cares about the most is not when we lose our keys or phones but when we lose our spiritual edge. When we lose our passion, when we lose our interest in spiritual things, and when our faith grows cold - God cares!  

Have you lost your spiritual edge?  Have you stopped praying for what you need and what others need?  Have you stopped trying to listen to God or learn more about God through His word?  Have we stopped caring about whether or not we grow in our relationship with Jesus?  Have we stopped serving and trying to help others because we are too busy or too focused on our own problems?   If any of these are true, then we have lost our spiritual edge - and God cares about what we have lost.

Now the truth is that none of us set out to lose this edge, it usually just happens over a period of time.  We get busy and miss a few Sundays of worship or Sunday School and then tell ourselves we don’t really need to go back.  We stop giving and serving and then tell ourselves that it didn’t really make any difference, so why start up again.  Losing our spiritual edge doesn’t happen overnight, and we never set out to lose it, but it happens and it happens to all of us.    

Pastors can lose their spiritual edge.  Sometimes I can get so busy doing God’s work that I forget to simply take time to be with God.  I can go through a week and suddenly realize that the only time I prayed was when I was in worship or asked to pray at a meeting.  I can easily find myself only reading the Bible for sermons and leading Bible study.  I never start out to lose that edge, but suddenly find it lost.  If that is what you are experiencing today, then this very strange miracle has something to say to you.  I know it is speaking to me.  Here’s what it is saying go us:

When we find ourselves in a place of spiritual need, we can turn to God and get our edge back.  

If your spiritual life needs some passion, joy, meaning, or purpose, God is there to help.  If our faith needs to start growing again, then this miracle shows us what to do.  

Step 1. Be honest about where you lost your edge.  Where and when did we start losing our spiritual passion or interest?  Look back over the past few days, weeks, months, or years and ask yourself, when did I start to lose my spiritual edge.  When did the passion go away?  When did I stop feeling joy?  When did I stop praying or reading God’s word?  When did I stop attending worship and small groups?  Where did I start to leave it behind?  

Elisha asked the young prophet, where do you lose the ax head?  Let’s go to the place where you lost it and see if we can figure out how to find it.  So where did we lose our spiritual edge?  When was it we stopped serving God?  Was it when we started a new job or picked up a new hobby?  Did we stop going to a small group because someone said something we didn’t like?  Did we stop giving when finances got tight?  Did we lose our spiritual edge during the pandemic and we just haven’t gotten it back yet?  If we can find out where we were and what was going on when we lost our edge, then maybe we can figure out how to pick it up again.  

If nothing else, it’s important for us to be honest with God about how and why we allowed our spiritual edge to grow dull.  We can’t blame others for the choices we have made.  We can’t keep making excuses about why we have allowed our love for God to run cold.  If we can figure out what and where and when we began to lose our edge, maybe we can learn how to get it back.    

The second step is this: with God’s help take back what you lost.  The young man cried out to Elisha and when they got to the edge of the river where he lost his ax head, Elisha threw a stick into the water and made the ax head float.  God helped him, but the young man had to step into the water and lift it out.  

Lift it out, Elisha said. The man waded into the water, reached out his hand and took it.  The man couldn’t do it alone, he needed God to raise the ax head to the surface, but then he had to get wet and take back what was lost.  God will help us.  God will do his part, but we have to be willing to get our feet wet and put some work into getting our edge back.  With God’s help we can experience a deeper faith, more passionate worship, and a renewed sense of meaning and purpose in our faith.  God will do His part, God will fight for us and help us, but we have to be willing to do our part and fight for our own spiritual health and well-being. 

Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life says it this way.  Only God can send the spiritual waves, but we need to learn how to surf.  God will help us get our edge back by giving us opportunities to worship, pray, learn, serve, and grow, but we have to be willing to take advantage of those opportunities and do our part.  We need to trust God to help us but then commit to doing what only we can do.

I want to be clear that our faith is NOT just a set of rules and regulations to follow, but the spiritual practices and disciplines we incorporate into our lives can help sharpen our spiritual edge.  Here at Faith Church we talk about three important relationships that form the foundation of our faith: a relationship with God, the church, and the world.  Each of these relationships is strengthened when we focus on 5 rhythms which are not to do lists, but they do provide us opportunities that can help us grow spiritually.  

For example, one of the rhythms that can improve our relationship with God is the rhythm of scripture.  This isn’t just reading the Bible, it’s allowing the Bible to direct our life.  But for the Bible to direct our life, we have to know what it says and to know what it says we have to read it and maybe study it with others.  God can give us opportunities to hear the word in worship, read the word through personal devotions, and study the word with others, but we have to take advantage of those opportunities.  We have to wade into the water and take back what we have lost.   

A rhythm that can strengthen our relationship with the church is generosity and this doesn’t mean we just give a certain amount of money to the church, it means use our time and treasure to further the Kingdom of God.  God will provide the opportunities for us to give and serve, but we have wade into the water and take back what we have lost.  

In the 3 relationship workbooks, that are available in the lobby and online, there is a page of ideas on how to grow in all 15 rhythms.  These are not lists of rules to follow, these are opportunities that can help us get our edge back.  I want to invite you to check them out this week and see if there is something you can do to take back what you have lost.  

In the book of Revelation, Jesus has messages for different churches and to the church in Ephesus he said, You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.  Revelation 2:4-5  

They people have lost their passion and love. They have lost some of their drive to pray and worship and serve God.  I’m sure they didn’t intend to lose their spiritual edge, but it is gone.  Jesus tells them to go back to where they lost it and pick it up again.  Do the things you did at first.  Do what you were doing when you were passionate and strong and growing in your faith.  Wade into the water and take back what you lost.  

God does care about what we have lost and He is most concerned when we start to lose our spiritual edge.  So let’s be honest about where and when and how we lost it.  Let’s remember where we were and what we were doing when we first loved Jesus and then let’s go back to those moments and pick it up.  Step into the water and take back what you lost.  Recommit yourself fully to God and regain your spiritual edge.  

 

Next Steps

Elisha - Regaining Our Spiritual Edge

Read 2 Kings 6:1-7.  

● Why is this miracle included in the Bible?  

● What does it tell us about God?  

● What does it say about us?

God cares about what we have lost.

● In what ways have you lost your spiritual edge?

● What impact is this having on your life?

● When, where, and how did you lose it?

● Ask God for help.

With God’s help, take back what you lost.

● Choose one of the 3 Relationships to grow in:

__________________________________________

● Choose one rhythm in that relationship to focus on:

__________________________________________

● Choose one of the Ideas to Grow from that rhythm to help you regain your spiritual edge:

__________________________________________

● Step into the water and DO IT!

3 Relationship Workbooks can be found in the lobby or online at bellefontefaith.com/3r (see step 2)

Elisha - Ridiculous Provisions

 Again we want to wish a Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there and to all the men who work hard to help provide and care for others.  We honor men today for all that you do and how you strive to be a source of strength, love, and faith for those around you.  It’s not easy being a Dad and trying to live up to all the expectations that others have for you and that you set for yourselves.  None of us feel like we have the time to do all that we want to do and need to do.  None of us feel like we have enough money to keep up with inflation and the costs needed to meet our needs and the needs of our families.  We are all looking for more patience and faith as we try to navigate all the stress and problems of the world.  It’s not easy today but the truth is that these are the same problems and issues that have faced people all through history.

Today, as we continue to look at the ridiculous ways the prophet Elisha ministered to God’s people, we are going to see someone who was in need just like we are.  2 Kings 4:1-2

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”  

Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

We don’t know the name of this woman but some scholars think she may have been the widow of the prophet Obadiah.  Obadiah lived during the time of Elijah and he spoke out against the evil and godlessness of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. While at one point Obadiah was quite wealthy, he spent all his money helping meet the needs of the prophets during his day and when his money was gone, he went out and borrowed more money to make sure the prophets of God were fed.  When he died, he still owed that money and so this may have been his widow who came to Elisha for help.

The situation for the woman is desperate.  She has debt she can not pay back and not much hope of making money.  Women had few options for a paid profession other than the “oldest profession.”  The one sure way she could have made money involved selling her body, and she didn’t want to do that.  If she couldn’t pay off the debt, then her sons would be taken from her to work as slaves to repay the loans.  She is in a difficult situation.  She has no good options and so no hope for herself or her family or her future.  

Maybe you can relate to her situation.  You were just making ends meet before inflation took off and now you aren’t sure how you will pay the bills.  For some it’s either, put gas in the car or food on the table.  Or maybe one problem has led to another and then to another and you are feeling overwhelmed by it all and wondering where do you even start.  Maybe your once steady relationships are now rocky or broken.  You once felt strong but now you just feel weak and tired.  You just don’t see any good options for the future.  Even the light at the end of the tunnel looks more like the headlight of an oncoming train and you can get off the tracks fast enough.  

Anyone feeling this way?  If that is where you are, then please look at how Elisha responded to this woman’s cry for help.  Elisha didn’t ignore her.  He didn’t blow her off or play down her situation as “not that bad”.  He stopped and listened.  He asked her, how can I help you?

In all our struggles. and in the face of the challenges we face today, God is listening and God is asking, how can I help you?  Elisha’s care for this widow and her situation is a reminder that God does care about our situation and He wants to get involved and help us if we will trust Him.  

God is asking, how can I help you, but He also wants us to ask each other this question.  Even in our own struggles, reaching out to help others is important.  In fact, it is often when we focus on the needs of others and how we can help them that we find our own situations improving.  

I once heard a counselor say that anytime someone came to her experiencing depression she asked that person, who are you helping?  Who are you reaching out to?  She knew that it was in helping others that we are helped.  Even in our most difficult and low moments, if we seek to bless others then we will be blessed.  So even in the midst of the great challenges we face today, can we ask those around us “how can I help you?”  The most important thing to remember when we ask this is that we don’t have to have all the answers.  We don’t have to have ANY answers.  We don’t have to solve the situation and make it right, we just need to be available.  

To all the dads out there, the greatest gift you can give to your children doesn’t come from your paycheck and I hate to say this but it’s not going to be any great words of wisdom or faith you might share with them, it’s just being available.  Being available to play a game, or go for a walk, or to listen when they want to talk, or talk when they want to listen, that is the gift children need.  The greatest gift any of us can really give to anyone is to be available and present with others.  

My dad served in the Army as a chaplain when I was young and then transitioned in hospital ministry when I was in elementary school.  He worked long hours and had a long commute every day and so the greatest gift I remember wasn’t any toy he brought home or any words of wisdom he might have shared (sorry Dad).  The greatest gift was his time.  One of my fondest memories is of playing checkers with him at night when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.  It was just an ordinary night, but he was available.  We played checkers and those times when I was able to beat him were just awesome.  Kids, you know what that’s when you beat your parents at a game?  It's great.  And parents, deep down you also know that it’s great.  So dads, and moms, and grandparents, and friends, just make yourself available.  Ask others, how can I help you?  And don’t pressure yourself to have all the answers, just take the time to listen.

Elisha took the time to listen and what he heard was a woman in despair.  She felt defeated.  When asked what she had to work with in life she said, I have nothing at all.  Now we will see in a moment that this wasn’t true.  She did have something, but she was so overwhelmed by her problems that she couldn’t see what she held in her hands.  When we are overwhelmed with problems it’s hard to think that we have anything that can make a difference.  When we are in crisis we often operate from a place of scarcity.  We can’t see that what we hold in our hands just might be all we need.  

We need to stop waiting for what we want or what we think we need, and start working with what we have.  What gifts has God given us that we can use?  What skills and abilities do we have that we can start working with today?  Do you have the gift of time to give to your family, or friends, or church, or neighbors, or community?  Do you have the gift of faith that you can use to pray for those in need?  What do you have in your hands right now that God can use to make a difference in your life and in the life of others?  Elisha helped the woman see what she had in her hands and once she saw it, God did something ridiculous with it to meet her need.  

What the woman had was a jar with a small amount of olive oil.  It wasn’t much, but olive oil was very valuable and versatile.  Olive oil could be used in cooking, it could be used to light lamps, and treat leather to keep it soft.  Olive oil could be used to help sharpen iron, treat wounds, and anoint kings.  It could also be used as an offering to God.  Her small amount of oil was valuable and what she had in her hands could be multiplied by God and used to meet all her needs. 2 Kings 4:3

“Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”  

She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

The widow trusted God and began to pour out her oil.  She poured it until jar, after jar, after jar were filled. When she finished she had many jars of oil and when they were all sold they not only paid off the debt but she had enough left over for her and her family to live.  God is always able to do a lot with the little that we offer Him.

God is able to do a LOT with the LITTLE that we offer Him.  What we have in our hands, or in our homes, or in our bank accounts might not seem like a lot, but in God’s hands it can do more than we ever thought or imagined.  Remember, a little boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish placed his lunch in Jesus’ hands and God fed over 5,000 people and then they picked up 12 baskets of leftovers.  A shepherd boy had 5 stones and a slingshot and yet God used what was in his hands to take down a giant named Goliath and then give Israel a victory over their enemy.  Joshua marched around the city of Jericho with trumpets and lanterns hidden in jars.  It wasn’t much, but God used it to bring down the walls of Jericho.  All Moses had in his hand was a staff, but that staff held out over the water parted the Red Sea.  God is able to do a lot with what little we have in our hands, if we will offer it to Him.  

What is it you have in your hands today?  What do you have that can be offered to God so that He can do a lot with it?  What little do you have that can be used to not only meet your needs but maybe the needs of your family, your neighbors, your church, and community.  All God is asking is for us to offer Him what we have with faith, faith that He will do something ridiculous and amazing with it.  

Offer God what you have and trust him to give you what you need.  Don’t focus on your needs.  Don’t focus on your problems and how overwhelming they seem.  Focus on what’s in your hands, and what’s in your heart, and in faith give it to God.  It may not seem like much, but in God’s hands, what we offer can be multiplied and used to meet our needs and then bless the world.  

Now, if you don’t think that this applies to you, think about this, the widow was told to go and collect empty jars.  The only requirement was that they were to be empty.  They did have to be a certain shape or size. They didn’t have to be made out of something special or come from a certain place. They just had to be empty. If they were empty, God could fill them. If they were empty, God could use them.  

If you are empty God can fill you! If you are empty God can use you! God isn’t looking for any special background or training and God doesn’t need us to look or think or act a certain way.  God just wants us to come to Him empty so that He can fill us up and when He fills us up then what we have is something of great value to offer the world. God wants to use you today to bless the world in ridiculous ways, in ways you never dreamed of or thought possible.  Even in the midst of our burdens, doubts, stress and fear, God wants to fill us and use us.  All He asks is for us to come to Him empty.  

The apostle Paul calls us to come to God as empty vessels and when we do, God’s light and love and power will fill us to overflowing.  2 Corinthians 4:7-9 

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 

We are the empty vessels that God wants to fill with His all surpassing power.  Even when we feel struck down and destroyed, God says, come and let me fill you up.  No matter who we are or what we are going through today, we can come to God and be filled to overflowing if we offer God what we have and trust Him for everything else.  

There is one more important lesson we need to learn from this story.  This woman had a debt that she could not pay herself, so God paid it for her.  This is what God does for all of us with Jesus.  We all have a debt that we can not pay, it’s called sin.  The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.  Our sin separates us from God and the life God gives and there is nothing we can do to make this right.  We can’t pay off this debt, so God sent Jesus to pay it for us.  When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price for our sin.  He died so that we could live with God forever. 

Just as the woman didn’t do anything to make the oil flow, neither do we do anything to make God’s grace and mercy flow.  It’s just there for us.  In Christ Jesus, God forgives us. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that we might be saved through Him.  And it is by grace we are saved through faith. All we have to do is believe. All we have to do is come to God empty and accept His love and mercy. Empty yourselves and ask God to fill you..  Empty ourselves and ask God to forgive you and He will give you life.   

If you have never really come to Jesus empty, truly empty, and if you have never asked Him to forgive you, ask Him today.  If you have never asked God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, ask Him today.  

Ask God the Father to forgive you.  

Accept what Jesus did on the cross as the payment for your sin.  Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you today and then let the power of God use you in some amazing and ridiculous ways. 

Next Steps

Elisha - God’s Ridiculous Provision

Read 2 Kings 4:1-7 and 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

● Where are your feelings crushed, perplexed, persecuted and overwhelmed right now? How does this affect you?

In our problems, God says, how can I help you?  

● How would you answer God? 

● Who can you reach out to this week?  

God is able to do a lot with the little that we offer Him. 

● Why do we focus on what we don’t have instead of what we do have?

● When did God do a lot with just a little in your life?

● What did you learn from this experience?

Offer God what you have and trust Him to give you what you need.

● What do you have in your hands and heart right now that God can use? How can you allow God to use it?

● What things do you need to let go of so that God can fill you up with what matters most?

● How can you empty yourself this week?

Have you ever experienced God’s ridiculous provisions in your life? If so, how and when?  

● Who do you know that might need to hear this story?  

● Share it with them this week.  

Jesus paid the price for our sin on the cross. Our debt has been paid, our sin has been forgiven, and with our faith and trust in Jesus we can experience new life now and forever.  

● Ask God to forgive you.

● Accept Jesus Christ as your savior.

● Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with God’s power.

Elisha - Digging Ditches

 

We are in a series looking at the ridiculous life and faith of the prophet Elisha.  Last week we heard how Elisha burned the plows he had been using on his family farm and killed the oxen who were pulling those plows so that he could leave everything behind and follow Elijah.  Elisha served Elijah for several years and was mentored by him until God took Elijah up to heaven.  It was then that Elisha took over as the prophet in Israel.  

One of the common themes with Elisha’s ministry and miracles is that he often helped meet the needs of God’s people.  To help increase faith among His people, God worked through Elisha to remind them that God could and would care for them if they would just turn and trust in Him.  That message still stands.  God can still care for us in times of need if we will turn and trust Him.  So, let me ask you, is there a need in your life?  

Is there a need that seems beyond your ability to care for?  Are you facing real struggles at work or at home?  Is your marriage in crisis or family relationships strained and you don’t know what more you can do?  Is there a physical need or financial need you are facing right now, and you aren’t sure how you will deal with it?  Maye it is the need you see as you look to the future and wonder what God has for you, or what God wants from you.  Maybe the need is for a lasting sense of hope, or spiritual healing because you feel broken and unworthy.  What needs are you facing today?  

Sometimes those needs become so overwhelming that it seems like they will destroy us, but those needs can turn into a blessing IF they drive us to become more dependent on God.  When we have nowhere else to turn, we often find ourselves turning to God with a desperation that drives us to our knees.  Our greatest need can be our greatest blessing if it moves closer to God and helps us become more dependent on God.  Today your greatest need might become an opportunity for God to bless you and care for you.  

Today we are going to look at a story from 2 Kings 3 where through Elisha, God met a need His people were experiencing.  They needed water.  They weren’t just thirsty, they were in danger of dying because they have no water.  2 Kings 3:9-12

The king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.

“What!” exclaimed the king of Israel. “Has the Lord called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?”

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?”  An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”  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.  

For some background on this story, the 3 kings named here are leading God’s people, but they have not been serving or listening to God.  They have been following their own way and making their own plans without consulting God.  They thought that joining together would help them easily defeat the Moabites, but it wasn’t working.  Not only had they not defeated the Moabites, but they have been marching around in the hot sun with no water.  

While they didn’t ask for Elisha’s help or God’s direction before they made their plans, they do ask for God’s help now.  Does this sound at all familiar?  How many times do we make our own plans without asking for God’s help or direction and then we find ourselves marching around in circles?  We become tired, thirsty, and desperate and then we finally say, maybe I should ask God for help.  

That’s what these kings do. They finally decide to consult God’s prophet and ask for God’s help and the good news for them, and us, is that Elisha helps them.  It is never too late to ask God for help.  While God would always rather be working with us from the beginning, when we are in need and turn to God, God is there.

The kings finally stopped and asked Elisha for help.  They were thinking that he could do something because he was a student of Elijah and one of the miracles Elijah did was to send rain after a severe drought.  After weeks without any rain, Elijah said that rain would come and then a tiny cloud formed on the horizon.  That tiny cloud turned into torrents of rain that saved God’s people.  If Elijah could bring rain, then maybe Elisha could do it too.  So, they sent for Elisha and what they got from him wasn’t a promise of rain but a little bit of sarcasm.  Elisha gave them some attitude.  

Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why do you want to involve me? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.”  

“No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab.”

Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you. But now bring me a harpist.”  While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha.  2 Kings 3:12-15

Can you hear the attitude in Elisha’s response?  He tells them to go call the prophets of their fathers and mothers.  You see, their parents hadn’t followed the Lord, and they weren’t following the Lord now, so he tells them to go and ask someone else for help.  But they reply by saying that it was God who had called them to come together to fight against Moab.  Once again Elisha reminds them that they hadn’t been serving God but that he was.  “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve.”  Elisha served God, they didn’t.  Elisha was not making things easy for them, but he does decide to help them.  

I’m sure the kings were thinking that Elisha would call down rain from heaven to meet their needs, but what Elisha did was call for a harpist.  While this might seem strange, this is a wonderful scene about how the prophets of Israel worked.  

Elisha wants a harpist to come and help him worship God.  The music is to help him connect with God so that he can hear God’s voice and share God’s message.  I never thought about how the prophets heard and spoke God’s word, but it makes sense that it took place during times of worship.

A few weeks ago, a group of us went to see the story of David at Sight and Sound.  There was a scene where David was running for his life and instead of running, hiding, or fighting back, David is told to play his harp.  Saul and his soldiers are trying to capture and kill David, but he is told to play his harp.  As he plays, the spirit of God comes upon Saul and all his soldiers. It says that Saul and the soldiers started to prophesy, they started to speak God’s word and truth, and it all came about during a moment of worship.

Worship is important.  These times we come together are important because when we intentionally place ourselves in the presence of God, God speaks to us.  For many of us, music plays an important role in worship because music can open our ears and hearts and minds in powerful ways.  I’m thankful we have a harpist, and several people who play piano and organ, and guitars and drums, and bells and stringed instruments and horns because all that music helps us draw close to God.  Elisha called for a harpist, and he heard God’s voice and he spoke God’s word.  

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’  For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’  And this is a simple matter in the sight of the Lord; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. 

2 Kings 3:16-18 (NKJV)

I’m sure the kings wanted to hear that God was going to send rain, but what Elisha told them to do was go out into the dry valley and dig ditches.  The troops are tired and thirsty.  They are ready to die, and there is no sign of rain or water coming from anywhere so why dig a ditch.  But Elisha is clear, go and dig some ditches to capture the water that God will send.  The lesson is this: 

God can send the water, but sometimes He wants us to dig the ditches.  

God can send water and God can send it any way he wants, but sometimes He wants us to dig the ditches to catch the water.  Think about it, God could have provided water several different ways.  He could have sent rain so the people could have just set out bowls and cups to capture the water.  Or God could have just opened the dry ground and made a spring of water flow from the rocks.  That’s what God did when Moses asked for water in the dessert.  Why does God tell them to go and dig ditches?  

By asking them to dig ditches, God wanted to see if they were truly trusting in Him.  Going out and digging ditches before any rain came or water was seen was a sign to God that the people were following Him and trusting Him.  Remember, these were not people who had been following God before so by being obedient to God’s call now was a sign that they were turning to God, trusting Him, and following His word.

The call to dig ditches was a call to trust God and it was a sign to God that they were turning to Him for their needs.  God often asked His people to dig ditches, or to take a step of faith into an uncertain and unknown future.  Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat and when he did, it was a sign that he trusted Jesus.  Jesus told a man with a withered hand to stretch it out and as he did the hand was restored.  Jesus told 10 lepers to go show themselves to the priest who was the only one who could pronounce them clean.  It was as they went that they were healed.  Jesus looked at a paralyzed man and said, get up and take your mat and walk, and as he did all the people saw that he was healed.  

Noah built an ark before there was any rain.  Moses held up his staff before any waters of the Red Sea started to part.  Joshua led the army around the city of Jericho for 7 days before the walls came down.  Let me be clear, God is the One who does the miracle, but there are times when God calls us to show our faith and trust in Him before the miracle comes.  Here the call was to dig some ditches to collect the water that would soon come.

What ditches do you need to start digging in your life?  Where do you need to start moving now, or keep moving, because you know that God is starting to do something.  Maybe you need to just keep praying for the hope or healing you need.  Maybe you need to explore new opportunities at school or work because you sense a change is coming.  Maybe you need to keep coming to worship and listening to the music and prayers and scriptures because you sense God wants to speak to you in a new and fresh way.  

If you aren’t sure how to respond or where to act, my encouragement is to start doing something and allow God to speak to you.  God can’t steer a parked car, so get moving.  Faith without works is dead, so get to work and start somewhere, start doing something, and don’t be afraid to start small.  

Real faith believes BIG, but it is also willing to start small.  

How do you get a valley filled with enough water to care for an entire army and its livestock?  You dig a lot of ditches.  And how do you dig a lot of ditches?  You take one shovel and stick it in the ground.  That’s it.  You start small, but the problem many of us have is that we not only start small, we think small.  God wants us to start small but then think and dream and believe BIG.  God told the kings that it was simple to provide them with water, and He would do that, but they needed to think and trust God for bigger things.  God would give them water AND God would give them the victory over the Moabites.  And it was all going to start with them moving one shovel full of dirt.  

Every big dream starts with a small step.  A friend of mine was struggling with credit card debt several years ago, we talked about how to consolidate the bills and start paying it off.  It started with one phone call and that first payment.  This week I heard that there is just one payment left and the loan is paid off.  We can’t be afraid to believe God for the big things but then start with one small step.  

God has big things in store for Faith Church.  We have said many times that God has blessed us to be a blessing and we believe that we can be a blessing to other churches.  God has blessed us with some best practices, ideas, and resources to share with other churches to help them grow.  Over the past few weeks, we have been able to make connections with other churches that are interested in hearing more.  These are small steps, but we are taking them believing that in God’s time and according to God’s plan, Faith Church can do some big things.  We are believing BIG and trusting that God can use us to help fill this valley with living water.  We believe and trust God for BIG things but take small steps.

Whether it is in your life or family, or in our life and family of the church, God has big things planned and God is asking us if we will be faithful and just go out and dig one ditch, or one more ditch.  Take one small step toward the BIG blessing God has for you.  Take one small step and allow God to meet your greatest need.

 

Next Steps

Elisha - Digging Ditches

Read 2 Kings 3:9-20

Our greatest need can become our greatest blessing if it drives us to depend on God.

● When has a great need helped you grow closer to God?  How did it become a blessing?

● What great need are you facing today?  How can it help you grow closer to God and increase your faith?

God can send the water but sometimes He wants you to dig the ditches. 

● List some examples of when God asked people to step out in faith before He met their need or performed a miracle.  When did Jesus do this?  

● Where is God asking you to take a step of faith today?

● What ditches is God asking you to dig so that He can meet your needs and fulfill your dream?  

● What is needed for you to finally break ground?

Real faith is willing to believe BIG but start small.

● What BIG dream do you have for your life?

● What dream do you have that only God can accomplish?

● Why do we limit your dreams?

● Why do we limit our dreams for the church?

● What one small step of faith can you take so that God can help do a great work in your life?

● What BIG thing has God done in your past (how has He shown His faithfulness to you) and how can this help you keep taking small steps forward?    

Elisha - The Call

 Today we are starting a new message series where we will look at the amazing life and faith of the prophet Elisha, who is not to be confused with the great prophet Elijah.  Elijah was perhaps the greatest prophet in Israel’s history.  At a time when many of God’s people had turned to worship the false god Baal, Elijah stood strong and he performed miracles that proved Yahweh was the one and only true God.  At one point, Elijah thought he was the last faithful leader among God’s people and he was feeling very low and isolated, but God told him that he was not alone and that he needed to go and anoint 2 kings who would lead God’s people as a nation and then to select Elisha to be the next prophet.  Today we are going to look at the meeting when God called Elisha.  

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha, son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.  1 Kings 19:19-21

Elisha was just an ordinary man.  He wasn’t a priest or religious leader, he was a farmer.  From what we know, he didn’t have any special schooling or knowledge about God, he was literally a laborer on the family farm pushing a plow behind a pair of oxen.  Not a great job.  Elisha spent his days looking at the rear end of two oxen.  Think what it must have smelled like, and how careful he had to be about where he placed his feet.  And Elisha did this season after season, year after year.  He probably had been doing it from the time he could handle the plow - many years.  It was monotonous work.  Same job, same field, different year.  

Have you ever felt that way at your job?  Maybe the view isn’t great, maybe you feel like your job stinks, and you have to watch how you navigate through the day.  Maybe you are just tired of doing the same thing day after day, year after year.  Maybe your life has grown monotonous and you are thinking that there is no way God would call someone like you.  Well if that is what you think, think again.  God IS calling you and God CAN use you.  And just like Elisha, God might be preparing you today for His call that will come tomorrow.  It is often the daily ordinary routines of life and work that actually prepare us for what God wants from us.  While we might not see it here, God was using Elisha’s work in the fields to prepare him for the call that was coming.    

Again, what we see Elisha doing is plowing the fields.  He is working hard at the job that needs to be done.  He was taking care of the family business and helping care for his community.  In his life and work, no job was too small and no task was beneath him.  Elisha was being faithful in the little things.  Elisha was being faithful to his family.  He was being faithful to his community that ate the produce from the fields.  It wasn’t a fun job, it was tedious and monotonous and smelled bad, but Elisha was faithfully doing the work.

The first lesson we learn from Elisha is that if we want to be ready when God calls us, we have to be faithful in the little things.  Sometimes our work does seem monotonous, it’s the same goals, the same quotas, the same lesson plans, the same schedule day after day, week after week, year after year.  But being faithful to the details of our work shows our commitment, and God is looking for that commitment.  And raising a family can be tedious.  It’s the same thing week after week.  Laundry, meals, shopping, cooking, cleaning, yard work.  And then we hit repeat and do it all again and again. But being faithful in the little things shows God we are willing to be faithful in all things.  In fact, if we can’t be faithful in the little things God gives us - we aren’t going to be faithful when God calls us to step out to do something big.

For three years I was the assistant manager of movie theaters.  It was an OK job, but it could get tedious.  While the movies changed every few weeks, nothing else did.  We popped the popcorn.  We counted cups and boxes of candy every morning and every night for inventory.  We sold tickets and then we immediately ripped them in half.  We sold a lot of popcorn before the movie and then swept up a lot of that same popcorn after the movie.  You would think with the price of popcorn at the movies people would be more careful about spilling it, but there was always a lot on the floor.  Day after day, week after week, it was the same thing.  

After three years I began to hear God call me to something different.  I left the theater and eventually ended up in seminary and then as a pastor of a church.  During my almost 30 years as a pastor, I have often looked back on those 3 years as an assistant manager and the lessons I learned.  You see, it was working that tedious job that gave me experience working with the public.  I learned good financial practices, and how to hire and manage a staff.  Being faithful in all those little things at a movie theater helped me when God called me to something new.  

Maybe the most important lesson I learned was that for God to fully use me, I had to be willing to be faithful in the little things right where I was.  In whatever place you find yourself today, remain faithful in the little things you are doing because those things have meaning and purpose.  God is using those things today to prepare you for tomorrow.  

That tomorrow came for Elisha when Elijah showed up and placed his cloak around him.  This might seem odd to us, but it was a very powerful and symbolic moment for Elisha.  If you think about a cloak, it is really just a covering.  So what was covering Elijah was now going to cover Elisha.  The call and power of God that had covered Elijah for many years was now going to be given to Elisha.  By placing his cloak around Elisha, Elijah was telling him that God was calling him to be a prophet and that God’s power and authority would now be covering him.

Look at Elisha’s response.  Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

Notice what Elisha doesn’t do: he doesn’t stop to pray about it.  He doesn’t make a list of pros and cons and then decide which path he should take.  He doesn’t go and ask his friends for their advice, or wait to see if a better offer comes his way.  He also doesn’t ask Elijah, or God, what following him and being the prophet of God was going to mean.  He just went.  He left his oxen, kissed his family goodbye and ran after Elijah.  And the lesson for us is this:

we don’t have to understand fully to obey immediately.  

When we hear God calling us to step out in faith, we don’t have to understand everything and have all the plans worked out before we obey.  This doesn’t mean we don’t take time to stop and pray about what we hear God saying, or make a list of pros and cons about what impact following God will have for us and our families.  And it might be good for us to seek the advice and wisdom of others and ask God some questions about what we will have to do as we follow His voice.  All of those are important things to think about and do, but many times God doesn’t give us all the details before he asks us to follow Him.  We don’t always get all the answers before God says, move.  

The truth is that it is probably a good thing that God doesn’t give us all the details at the beginning because if we knew all that was going to happen as we followed God, we might not follow at all.  If I had known that leaving the movie theater and following God’s call was going to require me to be a local pastor in Central PA, I probably would have stayed at the theater.  I didn't want to be a local pastor.  I was very clear when I started seminary that I didn’t want to be a pastor in a local church.  Maybe a missionary, a chaplain, teacher, or serving in some non-profit, but the local church?  Never.  It took God 2 years before I was willing to accept that call.

And when I started seminary I didn’t know anyone living in PA, so it didn’t make sense that I would go there, but by the time I graduated from Duke, I had family living in PA and actually felt a sense of call to serve in this area.  God didn’t tell me all of this at the start, I learned it on the way.  We are not going to fully understand God’s call at the beginning, but that doesn’t mean we can’t obey when we hear God’s voice calling us.  

In the gospels there is a great story about Jesus walking on the water and coming up to the boat that the disciples were in.  Peter was in awe of what he saw and said, Jesus, if that is you, tell me to come to you on the water.  And Jesus replied with just one word.  Come.  Peter didn’t stop and say, OK, but first tell me how this is going to work.  Am I going to be floating on the water or are you going to make the water solid ground?  Do I have to say something special before I get out of the boat?  Do I have to hold my breath?  Pray a certain prayer?  Peter didn’t ask for information, he simply obeyed the command and got out of the boat.  Sometimes God’s call might just be one word and to obey that one word might not make any sense, but are we willing to follow it anyway?  

Maybe you are in a difficult marriage today and the one word God is saying to you is STAY.  You have heard that word but have a whole list of questions about how and why and how long, but all God is saying is, STAY.  Or maybe you heard God talking about FREEDOM in the last series and you are still trying to get answers to all your questions when God is just asking you to take one step in order to get healthy.  Or maybe you have been part of Faith Church for a while now, maybe years, and you are hearing God say, COMMIT.  And you are looking for answers on what and when and when and how you can possibly add one more thing to your calendar, but God is still just saying, commit.  

Is there a word, a command, a call that you have been hearing lately that you know is God, but you are still asking a lot of questions and looking for all the details.  During an extended prayer time at our annual conference this past week we were encouraged to just focus on a one word, or a few words and the word that I heard God speak was the same word Peter heard.  COME.  I pictured all the times during Jesus’ life when He called people to come to Him.  From the manger people heard God say, come.  When Jesus was a young boy He heard God call Him to come to the temple.  Jesus heard God call Him to come to the Jordan River to be baptized.  Jesus said to come to fishermen and tax collectors.  He said come to religious leaders and zealots.  He said come to those who were burdened and weary, those who were outcast and alone.  From the cross Jesus said, come to the thief at his right hand and in the resurrection he says to the world, come.  While we look for all the answers and want all the details about what it means for us to follow God’s call, sometimes there are no details, God just says come.  Come to me and then together we will walk into the future.  You don’t have to have it all figured out to obey, you just have to take the first step.  

Elisha didn’t have it all figured out, but he was willing to obey and what he does next is truly amazing.  This is ridiculous faith!

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

Elisha killed the cows and burned the plows.  He closes the door on every returning to his old life because he is 100% committed to the new life.  He doesn’t even want the temptation of turning away from God, so he closed that door.  He is all in.  He has no plan B.  

When I heard God call me to something new, I left my job at the movie theater and not knowing what else to do, I went to seminary.  I took all the money I had and used it for the first year of school.  I didn’t know where the money would come for year 2 and 3, and I couldn’t drop out of school because I didn’t have any money left.  I had to keep going.  There was no turning back.  

Too many times it is holding on to our security that keeps us from our destiny.  We hold on to plan B because we don’t trust God to come through for us with plan A.  But from Elisha we learn that: those God uses the most are the ones who hold on to the least.  

When Jesus called the disciples to follow Him, they all had to leave something behind.  Peter, Andrew, James and John were successful fishermen.  They had a business and were good at what they did, but when Jesus called them to follow Him and start fishing for people, it says they immediately dropped their nets and went.  One of Jesus' disciples, Matthew, was a tax collector when Jesus called him.  Tax collectors got a contract from the Roman government to collect the taxes and if you ever left your tax booth, you were leaving everything behind.  Matthew left everything behind.  

Elisha left everything behind.  There was no turning back.  He killed the cows and burned the plows.  While I am not telling you to sell all you have to follow Jesus, we all hold onto things that keep us from more faithfully following God.  Maybe we are holding on to our reputation and if we were more active in our faith or in the life of the church someone might think we are some kind of radical religious zealot, so we hold back.  

Maybe we are holding on to our money because we think we are going to need it for a rainy day so we can’t be more generous in our giving to God and others.  So we say no to God and fail to be part of the great things God wants to do.  Or maybe we are hoarding all of our time and using it for our own pleasure and aren’t willing to use any of it for the worship of God or the service of others.  

What are those things we need to let go of so we can follow God’s call?  Elisha let it all go and he never looked back.  That is a pretty ridiculous faith, and it was because he was willing to commit himself fully to God that God used him fully, and in some pretty powerful ways among his people and in his generation.  

Elisha was an ordinary man who shows us what a ridiculous faith looks like.  This can be our faith.  We can be faithful in the little things.  We don’t need all the answers to take one step of faith and we can open our hands and let go of those things that are holding us back.  We can do this - and we can do this today.  

Next Steps

Read 1 Kings 19:19-21.

Be faithful in the little things.

● How was God preparing Elisha before he was called?

● How is God using your daily routines to prepare you for His call?  

● Where do you need to remain faithful in the little things?  

● Ask God for the patience and persistence you need to keep going.

You don’t have to understand fully to follow immediately.

● Where is God asking you to follow Him?

● What is holding you back?

● How can you take one step forward - even without having all the answers?

Read Matthew 14:22-33

● What one word invitation did Jesus give to Peter?

● How did Peter respond?  

● What one word invitation might God have for you?

● How can you take one faithful step toward Jesus?

Those God uses most are the ones who hold on to the least.

● Elisha killed the cows and burned the plows.  How did this show his 100% commitment to God?  

● What security do you hold on to?  How might this be keeping you from your divine destiny?  

● What cows and plows do you need to destroy in your own life?  How can you start doing that this week?