Elisha the Bears, a Poor Widow and a Little Flask of Oil (2Kings3 &4)

 Elisha left Jericho and was on the road to Bethel. A bunch of young men began taunting him. Elisha knew he was in a bit of trouble because there were 42 of them and they kept getting more aggressive with their verbal attacks. Elisha also knew that even though it was 42 against 1, that he had God on his side. As the young men kept taunting and mocking him saying, "Go back you baldy! Go away you baldhead!" Elisha said to them. "In the name of the living God of Israel, curse you!" Just then two large bears came out of the woods and attacked the young men.

 We should always remember that if we are on God's side, He is on our's.

 Meanwhile, since King Ahab had died, his son Joram had become king of Israel. The country of Moab had always given a yearly tribute of 100,000 lambs and the wool of 1000,000 rams, but since Ahab died, they stopped giving. This made Joram very upset, so he got together King Jehosaphat of Judah and the king of Edom to join him in battle with Moab. However, they ran out of water on the way there, and the land was very dry and barren. "What have you gotten us into Joram?" the king of Edom asked. "Now we are all sitting ducks for the Moabites to come and wipe us out!"
 The kings decided to call on Elisha. Elisha told them that by this time tomorrow, this dry valley will be filled with pools of water, even though there will be no rain. He also told them that they will defeat the Moabites. And sure enough, the next day there were pools of water everywhere.
 The Moabite army that was positioned on a hillside, looked down into the valley. The sun was shining just right on the pools of water and it made them look like pools of blood! "The three armies must have attacked and killed each other!" They said to themselves. Then they ran down into the valley to gather up the items of value that were left. But upon reaching the valley, they were surprised by the three armies and quickly defeated. Just as Elisha had prophesied.

 One day a widow of one of Elisha's fellow prophets approached Elisha. "My husband has died. He was a man of God as you are, but now I am broke and a creditor has now come and threatened to take my two sons as slaves."
 "Tell me, What do you have in the house?" Elisha asked.

 "Nothing except a small flask of oil." She replied.
 Elisha then said, "Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then you and your sons go into the house, shut the door behind you and begin filling the jars from your small flask, putting the jars aside as you fill them."
 So her sons gathered as many empty jars as they could from all over the neighborhood. The widow filled them until every last jar that was brought to her was filled to the brim. "Bring me another jar." The widow said. But the sons told her that there were not any more jars. And then the oil stopped flowing.
 The widow excitedly told Elisha what had happened. Elisha responded. "Okay, now go and sell all the oil, pay off your debts and there will still be enough left over to support you and your sons.

  Isn't God amazing! God can do more with the little bit that we have than we could have ever thought! If the sons would have only collected two jars, then the oil would have stopped flowing after the two jars were filled. Come before God with open hands and open hearts. Not open hands with hopes of getting something from God, but in a posture of surrendering what we have to a God that can do amazing things!

Jezebel and King Ahab.... Their Final Chapters (1 Kings:21 and 22)

  For the next three years their were several wars between Aram and Israel. King Ahab and the Israelite army were victorious, however The Armameans continued to occupy some of the Israelite territory. Meanwhile, King Ahab took notice of a vineyard that was right next to his palace. The king thought how nice it would be to turn in into a vegetable garden. The king approached Naboth, the owner of the vineyard, one day and asked him if he could buy the vineyard. Naboth replied, "The Lord forbid that I should ever sell this property to anyone. My ancestors have passed it down
thorough generations." So Ahab left in a huff. He was angry and sullen. When He got home, he didn't eat dinner and laid on his bed with face to the wall. Jezebel asked Ahab why he was acting like a spoiled kid. "I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard next door, and he refused." Ahab pouted.
 "Aren't you the king?" asked Jezebel. "Get up and eat! Don't worry about a thing. I will get that vineyard for you!"

 So Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to all the big shots in the city. In the letters, she commanded them to call all the people together to honor Naboth. Give Naboth a special seat up front, then hire some sleazy characters to tell a bunch of lies about him. She knew that the people would be so upset, that they would take him out of town and stone him to death....... and that is just what happened. Then the big shots sent a message to Jezabel telling her that Naboth was dead.
 When Jezabel heard the news, she said to Ahab. "You know that vineyard that you were whining about? You can go take it now. Naboth is dead!"

 God told the prophet Elijah what Ahab and Jezebel had been up to, and by the time Ahab went out to the vineyard to take possession of it, Elijah was already there with a message for Ahab from God. "Isn't killing Naboth bad enough? Must you rob him too?" Elijah continued. "The Lord says this is the last straw! Now your entire family will be destroyed."

 No one sold himself so completely to evil in the Lord's sight as Ahab, for his wife, Jezebel, influenced him. Ahab was guilty of evil even though his wife was behind all the wickedness. God wants to be the influencer in our lives. If we let others lead us astray.... that is on us. We are guilty. Don't point fingers at anyone else. We are responsible for our own actions.

 For three years there was peace in Israel. Ahab was still looking over his shoulder wondering if God was going to destroy him. But none the less, he approached king Jehosaphat of Judah and pitched him the idea of attacking Aram. "Sure my brother!" Jehosaphat replied, "But let us ask the Lord first."

 Well Ahab, instead of inquiring of the Lord, summoned 400 of his prophets and asked them if attacking Aram was a good idea. "Go right ahead! You will celebrate a glorious victory!" they said. But Jehosaphat wanted a prophet of the Lord to chime in, so he brought Micaiah into the conversation.  The prophet Micaiah told the two kings that the 400 prophets were just telling the kings what they wanted to hear, and that they were completely wrong about a glorious victory. Ahab was so mad. He told the guards, "Lock this man up until I return from battle in victory."

 Ahab thought he could outsmart God. He knew that the Arameans only wanted to kill him (the king of Israel) so he told Jehosaphat to wear his royal robe into battle. Ahab thought that the Arameans would kill Jehosaphat, thinking that they had killed him. When the battle began, the Arameans spotted the king wearing the royal robe and moved in on him to get a clear shot. But the closer they got, the clearer it became that it was not Ahab.... so the captain prevented his men from shooting arrows at Jehosaphat. But one soldier shot an arrow randomly into the air. It carried into the center of a group of Israelite soldiers, found a gap in Ahab's armor and killed him. God sees all, knows all and is control of all things. We can't run from Him. We can't hide from Him. And we can't fool Him.

Elijah and the Contest on Mount Carmel (1Kings 18)

  The drought in Israel was in it's third year. People were starving and dying of thirst. God told Elijah, "The time for the drought is nearing it's end. Go and present yourself to King Ahab." God was the one who told Elijah to go into hiding, now He was telling him to stand before the king. God's timing is always perfect. There are times that He wants us to be silent and other times that He wants us to speak up. Pray and listen for God's leading.

  Meanwhile, in the midst of the drought, King Ahab was more concerned about his horses and donkeys than he was about the starving people in his kingdom. He called Obadiah, his right hand man, to help him scour the countryside to find food for his horses and mules. Remember Obadiah from last time? He is a loyal follower of the true God of Israel placed in King Ahab's service. Obadiah hid 100 prophets in caves when the queen, Jezebel, was trying to have them all killed. Sometimes God places us in ungodly places so that we can be a light in the darkness.

  So, as Obadiah was out looking for horse food, Elijah was headed to the palace. They ran into each other along the way. Obadiah was shocked to see Elijah because King Ahab had been searching for him since the drought began. "Is, is that really you Elijah?" Obadiah asked.
  "Yes, it is." Elijah answered. "Now go tell your master that I am here."
 Obadiah was a little afraid to relay the message to King Ahab, for fear that the Holy Spirit would move Elijah into hiding again. But with some reassurance from Elijah, Obadiah went and told the king that Elijah had come and King Ahab went out to meet him. "
  So Israel's great troublemaker has returned I see!" Ahab snarled. The king was referring to the drought. Ahab either couldn't see or didn't want to see that his worship of false idols is what brought on the drought.
 As believers in Jesus, sometimes we bear the brunt of accusations. We get blamed for things that are clearly beyond our control. How do we respond? Don't argue or fight. Go to God and point others to Him.

 Elijah replied to the king. "I have made no trouble for Israel. God is responding with His mighty power to you, and your family because you have chosen to worship Baal instead of Him. Now go and bring the 450 prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel, and you may as well bring the other 400 prophets of Asherah as well. Then summon all the people of Israel. It is time for a contest of the gods!" Elijah didn't come up with this contest on his own. We see later in verse 36 when Elijah says that he has done this at God's command.

 So Ahab gathered all the people of Israel. He brought the 850 prophets to Mount Carmel. Then Elijah began to speak to the people of Israel. "How long will you waver between two gods. You cannot be loyal to both! (Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 6:24) Today is the day that you will choose one or the other. If Baal is god.... choose him, but if the one true God of Israel is God.... then worship only Him!"
 Then, at God's command. Elijah began to direct the set-up for the contest. "Bring me two bulls and some wood. The prophets of Baal get first choice. Let them choose a bull, prepare it and lay it on the wood on their altar." Elijah continued. "I will prepare the other bull on the other altar. Then call on the name of your god. I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the one true God." And all the people agreed.

 So the prophets of Baal prepared the bull and began to call on the name of Baal all morning, shouting, "Oh Baal answer us!" But there was no answer. They began to dance wildly and chant around the altar they had made..... but still not a hint of a reply.
   By afternoon Elijah started to have fun with the situation and began to taunt the prophets. "Maybe your god is away on a business trip, or perhaps he is sleeping. Maybe he is in the bathroom or deep in thought. I think you have to call a little louder!" So they shouted louder and even began to cut themselves, thinking that would get Baal's attention.... but still nothing.

  Sometimes we think that things of this world will satisfy our hearts. We try harder and harder to get them, and sometimes when we do get them, they don't satisfy. Giving all our attention and efforts to something and putting God second is a modern idol. It could be money, popularity, power, attention or material things. They eventually leave us feeling empty. But there is a desire in our hearts that can only be filled by a relationship with the one true God.

Next time we will see if Baal ever answers and the extravagant measures Elijah takes on the other altar.