Time with Jesus - Thursday, 20
December 2012
Hi all,
Today’s meditation deals with what happened to the
people of Samaria in 2 Kings 7. It tells the story of how the King’s officer
died for calling Elisha and, by Implication, God, a liar. This officer died as
Elisha prophesied. The story relates with God and the statement that God cannot
lie. It concludes asking if you or I are liars.
Blessings,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Thursday, 20 December 2012
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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TOUCH
NOT GOD’S ANOINTED
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Matthew’s Gospel tells us, “With God, all things are possible!” Matt 19:26 NLT. God can do anything. This is an overwhelming
truth. The fact is if there was anything God couldn’t do, He would not be
God. Having stated that, how do we deal with the statement in Hebrews, 18
So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible
for God to lie. Therefore, we who have
fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that
lies before us. Hebrews 6:18 NLT
Let me start by stating that I have not found a contradiction in God’s
Word. The answer has to do with the nature of God Himself. Within the overall
ability of God, He is able to lie and He is able to break covenant. If this
was not true, He could not be God. But God, in His infinite wisdom, has
decided how He would be to all His creation. He has defined that which he
will never do. He will never lie and He will never break covenant. Not
because He is unable to do it but because He has made an unbreakable decision
with Himself not to do so.
An easy way to understand this stems from my own personal experience.
I stopped smoking in 1981. I decided that I would never smoke again. It
doesn’t mean that I am unable to do so. It means my decision not to smoke
again is unbreakable. There is however, one enormous difference between God
and me. I do not have His moral perfection. He will not break His Word.
Because of my moral imperfection, I could.
Another way to look at it is to say that God cannot forget my sins. If
He could forget, He could not be God. But God has perfect control over His
memory. He can choose not to remember. In Jeremiah 31:34 God tells His
people. “I will remember their sin no more."
For our purposes, for Him to not remember our sins, is the same as Him
forgetting them!
This introduces today’s meditation. Elisha brought a word from God to
the King of Israel, concerning the provision of food for his people. The
king’s officer did not believe Elisha. This is where we need to be careful.
Telling Elisha it could not happen implied Elisha was lying. He was accusing
Elisha of being a Lying Prophet. But Elisha had brought a genuine message
from the Lord. Thus the Officer was indirectly calling God a liar! Elisha
then spoke to the Officer and brought him a further word from the Lord. The
officer would see God deliver the people from the Arameans. But he would die
before he had a chance to eat any of it. It came to pass exactly as Elisha
had said.
We need to bear in mind at all times that accusing God of being a liar
is blasphemy. The penalty for blasphemy is death. This was very much the case
in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, in Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira
died for telling lies to Peter about the sale price of their land. He said
they were “lying to the Holy Spirit”. In Rev. 21:8 we are told "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers,
the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars--their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.” Being truthful is
not optional. It is a requirement of God. Rev 21:8 is a warning to Christians
as much as it is to unbelievers. Sadly we find today many Christians are
liars. Ananias, Sapphira and the King of Israel’s officer showed the danger
of lying to or about God. Am I a liar? Are you?
Jim
& Phyllida Strickland
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2 The servant on whose arm the king was leaning answered
the man of God, "Could this happen even if
the LORD poured rain through windows in the sky?" Elisha replied,
"You will see it with your own eyes, but you won't eat any of it."
2 Kings 7:2 GW
22 Jesus said to them "Have
faith in God!
Mark 11:22 GW
6 But without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He
is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6 MKJV
26 But Jesus looked on them and said to them, With men
this is impossible, but with God all things are
possible.
Matthew 19:26 MKJV
2 When I came to save you, why didn't anyone welcome
me? When I called out to you, why didn't anyone answer me? Wasn't my arm powerful enough to set you free? Wasn't I
strong enough to save you? I dry up the sea with a single command. I
turn rivers into a desert. Then fish rot because they do not have any water.
They die because they are thirsty.
Isaiah 50:2 NIrV
8 "My thoughts are
nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And My ways are far beyond
anything you could imagine. 9 For
just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than
your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food
in My Temple. If you do," says the LORD of
Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour
out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put
Me to the test!
Malachi 3:10 NLT
1 Behold, the LORD's hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
Isaiah 59:1 ESV
11 And Asa cried to the LORD his God, "O LORD, there is none like you to help, between
the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you,
and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our
God; let not man prevail against you."
2 Chronicles 14:11 ESV
9 In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely
only on God, who raises the dead.
2 Corinthians 1:9 NLT
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Be very, very careful
when you’re speaking to God’s man.
Nothing is impossible for
God and so He can,
Bring about a judgement
on the foolish words you’ve said.
And it is very simple for
God to strike you dead!
That is just what
happened in our reading for today.
Elisha brought a message;
“Hear what God does say.
By this time tomorrow the
flour and the wheat
Will be such that the
people will again begin to eat.”
The Aramean army was all
around the town.
Samaria was starving; the
walls could be torn down.
That was when Elisha
brought that message from the Lord.
Food would be abundant at
a price men could afford.
The officer who heard
him, questioned what the Lord had said.
“This could never happen though rain poured upon
the head,
Through the very windows
of God’s heaven in the sky.”
Meaning that Elisha’s
words were empty and a lie!
“With your eyes you’ll see it” Elisha
then declared.
“But you will not eat it!” The man
would not be spared.
That night the Arameans
turned around and fled.
“The Hittites and Egyptians are attacking us!” they said.
The sound of a great army
they thought that they could hear,
Came from God Almighty
and they ran away in fear.
You can read the story in
the Second Book of Kings.
Look at chapter seven;
see how God arranged these things.
The Aramean army had left
all their goods behind.
Everything was left for
the Samaritans to find.
The King said to that
officer “Go and control the gate”.
The people were so hungry
that they could hardly wait.
And so they stormed the
gateway with one great mighty rush.
That officer fell over
and was trampled in the crush.
It was the fulfilment of
what the Lord had said.
Food was in abundance and
that officer was dead!
So be very careful; don’t
question what God says.
He can discipline you in
a hundred thousand ways.
Criticise His prophet and
God could deal with you,
In a way you’d rather
that He didn’t ever do.
Touch not God’s anointed,
for you are touching God;
You could be the victim
of His death inflicting rod!
Jim Strickland
Written
20th December 2012
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