2 Kings 7:1-12, 13-14&17-18.
[1]Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
[2]Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
[3]And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?
[4]If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
[5]And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
[6]For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
[7]Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
[8]And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.
[9]Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king\’s household.
[10]So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.
[11]And he called the porters; and they told it to the king\’s house within.
[12]And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
[13]And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.
[14]They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.
[17]And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
[18]And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.
There come a time in your life where things becomes very critical that you may not know exactly what to do to help your self out of it and you may also not Know anybody who may profer the best solution to the situations at hand.
In the city of Samaria in the Bible time, the people were faced with the worse situations of their lives that even their king and his cabinet could not profer solutions to their naging situations. At that time it wasn\’t only the deverstating famine that was their truma but the Syrians also added to their pains by laying a seige against them.
Then the king of Syrian, Benhadad gathered his host of armies besieged Samaria making life very unbearable and the famine was sieve in the city of Samaria. Women are not left out in trying to co-op in the face of adversity to the point of taken counsel together and agreed to eat up their sons in turn. It was that bad that the people ran to their king for help and their king was equally helpless, he had to seek help from the servant of God, prophet Elisha.
When you are enmeshed with problems and you do not know what to do, you just have to put your overwhelming situation aside and find a way of facing it head-on. By taking a holy Risk. You may ask is there any Risk that\’s holy? Yes! You may experience a kind of anger prompted by your situation in life that solution for it is inspired within you which I title DIVINE RISK!!.
According to our Reading today, we read about the account of four lepers who decided to take their lives in their hands shuning their disadvantages in life and face their challenges head-on with the believe that moving on in life is more important than remaining in one place without doing anything.
Divine Risk is a risk taken borne out of a well thought out decision to survive all odds in other to help mankind and also to glorify God at the end. The four leprous men according to the Bible were men who suffered humiliation already by the society. They were Socially distanced as we are practicing now, social Distancing since the onset of COVID-19. They are considered outcast due to their health condition and are not allowed to leave amongst their brethren. They were people of low means not depending on anything or anybody. They were thrown out of the city and abandoned outside the city gate to die of their misfortune without care They were forsaken by their family members who ought to be considerate enough to cater for their needs due to their illment yet those ones did not give a hooth. They were abandoned by the government who should have provided for their social security which their citizenship would have entitled them to enjoy yet nothing like that.
But there was something so special about them, and that God Almighty was merciful to them and was able to sustained and kept them till the point they decided to take a step on their own.
The scripture says in Revelation 3:5 \”All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine\”.
These condemned men of the society still have something going for them which is more important than what the whole world think about them. They are determined people who are aware of their situations but refused to be known and addressed by their problems. They are willing to put aside their personal difficulties and agreed to come together to pursue one front. They were not afraid to take a step geared towards finding solution for their needs even when their lives were at stake. In verse 4 of our Reading they said \”If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die\”.
They were kind hearted people who refused to pay society back their curelty rather with love despite the fact that the society turned their back on them in time of need. They remembered their suffering brethren and were ready to lessen their suffering by making them share in the good tidings as was narrated by verses 9-12.
9]Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king\’s household.
[10]So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.
[11]And he called the porters; and they told it to the king\’s house within.
[12]And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
\”Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof\”. (2king 7:1-2).
During the crises, the man of God was calling the people to hear the word of the LORD. In time of crises what you need more to survive is the WORD OF THE LORD. Do not allow the word of men to rub you off your testimony. There are people who are pessimistic, they don\’t believe in a change that is not scientifically proven or systematically proffered. While The prophet of God was declaring the word of God the economic advicer to the government who thought there was no economical proof of an immediate turn around of an economic that was witnessing a coronic recession should have witness a revamped economy within such a speed without economic experts establishing series of experimental appraisal. That was why he wasn\’t alive to be part of the turn around.
Matthew 7:24 Jesus said to His Disciples \”Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock\”
When you face with difficulties, action word [Doing] is what will help you more than sympathy [Hearing] and when you Hear and Do you\’re liken to A WISE MAN WHICH BUILT HIS HOUSE UPON A ROCK.
The four lepers listened to each other\’s opinion took decisions and decided to take a bold step which lead to their victory.
\”To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne\”. (Revelation 3:21).
In time of hopelessness, you must push beyond your borders. Take your eyes of your limitations and learn to trust your instincts because God resides within you, His Spirit may wisper to you word(s) of encouragement and idea(s) to your solution. You have to HEAR and DO.
Thanks for Reading and Remain Blessed.
✍️ BlessingOnugha❤️.