Beloved: Grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome to another week of the month of December 2023. My prayer is that God will make you and your home truly glad in every way this new week and throughout the remaining days of this year. Amen.
Now one of the ways to continually experience true happiness from God’s hand is to always treat whatever He says to us with respect, even when what He says to us does not make sense to us. The bible tells us that God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom and His weakness stronger than man’s strength (1Cor 1:25). Therefore, even if our minds cannot handle what He is saying to us about Himself or about our lives, our wisdom will be to just accept it and act accordingly.
Unfortunately, because of a lack of understanding of this, many scoff at whatever God tells them that their brains cannot handle. Therefore, they are unable to reap the benefits of being obedient to His word. Not only that, they may even lose their lives or some other things that are important to them as a result of their scoffing.
For example, we have in 2Kings, chapters 6 and 7, the story of an officer of a king of Israel that scoffed at the word of the Lord and what happened to him as a result of his scoffing. As the account goes, there had been a severe famine in the land of Israel that led people to begin to kill their own children for food. And it was at that point that the king remembered that there was Prophet Elisha in the land and that such a thing should not be happening under his watch. That, of course, is typical of the way many of our government leaders, especially in this country, function. They are reactionary leaders. So, unless the problems of many become their personal problems, unless the problems of many come to their doorsteps, they will not show any serious concern for the welfare of their people.
Well, when the king eventually woke up from his sleep and sent messengers to Prophet Elisha, God spoke through him to the land, saying, “Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”” (2Kings 7:1NIV) By today’s standard, a shekel is about two hundred and twelve naira and a seah of measurement can take about seven and a half litres of water. So, it is like saying that two bowls (kongos) of flour will not cost more than two hundred and fifty naira.
Does that not sound outrageous and impossible? It does! But during that period, God said through His prophet, Elisha, that He would bring about a situation in less than a day that would so bring the prices of food items down in Samaria that hunger would disappear from the city. And whether the king believed this or not, we would not know. That was because he did not say anything. He just kept his peace to see how what God had said would come to pass.
But there was a very close officer of this king that could not help but scoff at what the Lord had said. Why? He thought of it something irresponsible to say. According to him, even if the windows of heaven were opened and food started falling down from there like rain, what God had said could not happen. Why did he speak like that? He spoke like that because what the Lord had said did not make any financial sense to him. So, he made a joke out of it. And because he made a joke out of it, his scoffing was judged by the Lord through Elisha. He was told that he would be allowed to see the beautiful thing God had planned to do for His people but his mouth would not be allowed to taste it. And that was exactly how things went for him. (Cf. 2Kings 7)
Now I have interacted in recent times with people who believe that regardless of what God does for our country, things cannot go back to the way they were years ago. That means such people, even if they are Christians, don’t believe in the prayers we are offering for the nation. That is the reason for their scoffing. But we have seen that it is a dangerous thing to scoff at the Lord’s word, whether about Himself, about us, about others or about anything. Even if you don’t believe what He is saying, keep your unbelief to yourself. Don’t spread it or make a joke out of His word. That is because those who scoff at God’s word are unconsciously placing themselves under His judgment (Ps 1:1; 2Pet 3:3-9). And if they should meet someone like Prophet Elisha or Apostle Peter, who will effect that judgment, they may not live to tell the story. So, watch yourself. And may the good Lord keep your heart humble before Him all the time. Amen.
Have a lovely week.
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