2 Kings 6:1-7:20, Acts 15:36-16:15, Psalm 142:1-7, Proverbs 17:24-25
Today is the 24th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I am Brian, it is a joy and an honor and a privilege to be here with you today as we do what is customary: take the next step forward in the scriptures as we continue our journey together and so, that’s what we’ve come to do that’s what we will do. Which will take us back into the Book of 2 Kings and back into the story of the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Judah and well, right now, the prophet Elisha and his story is intermingled. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week, 2 Kings 6 and 7.
Commentary:
Okay, so in our reading as we’re moving through 2 Kings what we’re seeing a lot of, especially what we’re seeing in today’s reading, is the prophet Elisha but in a lot of ways Elisha’s with the Hebrew people but a lot of the commentary, a lot of the things that are happening are with the Syrian King. So, the Syrian King, he keeps making plans for how they’re gonna invade and ambush some of the Hebrew people and what they’re gonna do and Elisha keeps warning the king about it, right. And, the Syrians finally figure out that there’s a prophet in the land of Israel that’s telling everything and that the king probably couldn’t even say anything in his own bedroom without Elisha knowing about it and being able to report it and so of course, they decide, well, then we need to capture this guy. Which is what they do, they go to the city Dothan and surround it and that’s when a famous passage of scripture “There are more with us then are with them” that’s where that scripture comes from. Because the city is surrounded by Syrians but the Heavenly armies are greater and Elisha prays that his servant would be able to witness and experience that which he does. Then God strikes the Syrian army blind and Elisha goes out and he’s like you’re at the wrong place, this isn’t where he is so let me take you to him and they go back to the capital city of Samaria. It’s a intriguing story because they’re inside the walls of the capital city of Samaria, there enemy, when they wake up, like when they come to and realize what’s going on they realize they’ve been marched into the capital city and they are, well, they’re surrounded. But in the end, they weren’t captured more and they’re set free and that brings some peace for a minute. But the Syrian’s do come back even in today’s reading and just so we’re all in the same page they’re not gonna stop coming back. Ah, they’ll eventually win. Eventually they will defeat the ten tribes of Israel but we’re not there yet. And so, they do come back and they surround Samaria and that’s kind of, well, that’s a war tactic to starve a city into submission. To starve it into surrender and things have gotten pretty bad inside Samaria with the blockade and people are eating each other inside the city, that’s how bad it’s gotten. The King of Israel is determined he’s going to kill Elisha, he blames God for all of this and he’s gonna kill Elisha. And that’s when God speaks through Elisha. Tomorrow, this whole, like, it’s gonna be night and day. Things will be so different in the next 24 hours that you won’t even be able to recognize it. Like you can’t even find food unless you’re like eating a donkey’s head or pigeon droppings or other people. But by this time tomorrow flour will sell for next to nothing. That’s indeed hard to believe but it’s indeed what happens and we get the news through the leprous people who are outside the city wall going “if we go inside we’ll die, if we stay here we’ll die, if we go over to the Syrians we might die we might live” so they determine going and asking for mercy from a…from the Syrians is there best option, every other option is death and going to the Syrians may mean death too but it’s the only option that has possibility of life. And so, they go and the army has fled which is how flour sells for next to nothing in Samaria. But it’s super interesting when these guys get to these empty tents and there like going from tent to tent eating food, grabbing treasure, hiding things, thinking about it, they realize what’s going on back in the city and they say to each other “this isn’t right, today is a day to celebrate and we haven’t told anyone else what has happened.” The metaphors abound there if we want to look at our own Christian journey. We can find people who are besieged who are absolutely surrounded and are being starved out, are being forced into scenario’s that they would have never have chosen doing things they would have never chosen to do to survive. They’re besieged in mind and body and spirit when everything that they need is available. “This isn’t right” the leper said “today is a day to celebrate and we haven’t told anyone else what has happened.” Let’s carry that along with us today and see how that might stick, see how that might apply.
Prayer:
And so Holy Spirit come into this we have been set free and we’ve been able to feast while others are starving and sometimes we don’t pay attention to that. Sometimes we’re too self-absorbed to the things that aren’t right in our lives when You’ve given us what we need and You have sustained us and so often we’re hording that when we should be sharing it. And so, come Holy Spirit and show us how to live true. How to live in Your kingdom, how to live for You, about Your work in this world we pray. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And what is going on around here is that we’re gearing up and preparing for our own little community Global Campfire holiday that happens every 7th day of July. And it’s a little internal holiday that we have among the community and we call it the Long Walk and it really is kind of self-explanatory. Every July 7th, everyone who can, we take this day, set it aside, almost consecrate it, almost really draw a circle around it and say okay this day is a day that I’m gonna be doing something that I should do more often but I’m gonna be involved on the 7th of July, I’m gonna go for a Long Walk with God the one who loves me more than anyone and the one that I am constantly struggling to have time with or even know how to have a context for that. What we do is we just go across town, drive a couple hours if you want or just go down the street to the local park wherever you can think of that feels beautiful and calm. A place where there is nature it’s remarkable, it’s astounding how powerful just being in nature for a little while can be if you’re not pre-occupied with something else. Just kind of walkin along and become aware of the birds, become aware of the squirrels, become aware of the rustling of the leaves in the trees. Become aware of the babbling brook, become aware of what is going on around you, this is almost like practice of becoming aware of the presence of the Lord all around us at all times. It’s incredible when you get still enough and then nature emerges, like all of this life that is exploding all around us and the animals and the plants all around us. And we just, it’s like the background to our foreground, we’re never even paying attention, hardly ever. But if we take some time to actually pay attention and become aware it’s incredible how life giving that is and how much life there is that we’re not even paying attention to. And so, we kind get into that posture and let’s go for a Long Walk, however long. Some people have walked 20 miles, some people have walked 20 steps. Do what you can do, go somewhere beautiful, be with God, it’s the middle of the year and we have been through a lot in the last year and a half in the world. And we’re just trying to navigate out and figure it out and keep moving but so often we’re kind of just getting sucked right back into the crazy pace of it all. When this is a day to slow it down and pay attention to what’s really going on. Speak to God, everything that needs to be said and actually have time for that. And actually, have time to be silent and listen to things that He may have been trying to say all year but we’ve just been just too busy. It’s kind of the essence of the Long Walk, go somewhere beautiful and go for a Long Walk with the one who loves you more than anything. And a, maybe you probably have your phone or something with you. The trick is to not be checking it every 5 minutes. The trick is to just have it with you but wherever you find really beautiful maybe take a picture or a little video and then come post that back to the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page. We’ll have a post there for the Long Walk 2021 and yeah, you can just post your pictures and comments into that post and that is a treat. It’s a treat, it’s like a mini-vacation all around the world as we look at beautiful places all over the world where our brothers and sisters have been that day walking with God just like we have and it’s a fantastic experience. So, plan for that, there is a resource called Heart: A Contemplative Journey, which you can get from anywhere that you can download your music like the iTunes store, the Google Play store. Just search for Heart and my name, Brian Hardin and you should find it and you can download it from there. It is a really the perfect accompaniment to the Long Walk. It is a fantastic journey of prayer and music just washing into those prayers and allowing us to focus our hearts and open our hearts to the different emotions of our hearts that we’ve been feeling and that just really opens us to God for this Long Walk and so, that’s a resource that’s available. So, check that out.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.