Fri.’s Devo - The Boldness of God’s People

Read: 2 Kings 8:1-9:13; Acts 16:16-40; Psalm 143:1-12; Proverbs 12:26 Elisha told the Shunamite woman to take her son and family and move out of Israel because God had called a famine on the land to punish them. When it was over she came to the king to appeal for her land. She walked into the house of justice just as Gehazi was telling the king “Elisha stories.” He had just finished telling him how he raised the Shunamite’s son back to life. He pointed her out and she repeated the same story. The king gave her all her land and gave her the value of any crops that had been harvested while she was gone. Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram where the king, Ben-hadad was sick. Ben-hadad heard that Elisha was there, so he sent Hazazel with gifts to ask Elisha if he would recover. Elisha said he would recover, and then die. Then he told him that he, Hazazel would do terrible things to the people of Israel because he would be then next king of Aram. In 1 Kings 19:15, God had told Elijah to anoint Hazazel the next king of Aram and Jehu as the next king of Israel, but he never did either of them. Instead, he had anointed Elisha to be the next prophet of Israel and he would follow through with his mission. Hazazel went back and killed the king and became the next king of Aram. Jehoram was the king of Judah, but he had married one of Ahab’s (king of Israel) daughter and did evil. During his reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king. Judah tried to get them back but lost the battle and Edom gained their independence. Libnah also rebelled against Judah. When he died, his son Azaziah became king. Azaziah only ruled in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah who worshipped Baal. Azaziah joined with Joram, the king of Israel to war against King Hazazel of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, a city they had wanted to gain back for a long time. King Joram was wounded in the battle and returned to Jezreel to recover. Elisha sent one of his prophets with a flask of oil to Remote-gilead and find Jehu who was an officer at the battle. He was to call him privately and anoint him king over Israel then flee for his life. (This was the other thing Elijah had been told to do.) His mantle was to destroy the family of Ahab and avenger the murder of God’s prophets and all the Lord’s servants who were killed by Jezebel. Then he told him the gruesome death of Jezebel. When Jehu went back to his fellow officers, he tried to shrug it off but ended up telling him that he had just been anointed king of Israel. They blew the horn and announced that he was king. Johnathan Caan, a Hebrew believer wrote a book called The Paradigm where he showed that the kings of Israel coincided with the Presidents of the United States. Ahab and Jezebel represented Bill and Hillary Clinton. Ahaziah was Bush, Jehoram was Obama and Jehu represents Trump. It paints a very interesting picture. In Acts, one day Luke, Paul and their companions were going to the place of prayer when a young fortune teller started following them yelling that they were the servants of God and had come to tell everyone how to be saved. This was true but the way she was doing it was very loud and demonic. They finally commanded the demon to come out of her. When it did, she was no longer able to tell people’s fortunes and her handlers were very upset. They grabbed Paul and Silas and brought them before the marketplace police. They accused them of teaching the people to practice things illegal in Roman culture. A mob formed so the officials ordered them stripped, beaten and thrown into the inner dungeon with their feet chained in stocks. Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God while the other prisoners listened. An earthquake shook the prison and all the doors flew open and they chains of every prisoner fell off. The jailer woke up and assumed the prisoners had escaped so he drew his sword to kill himself. Paul stopped him and told him they were all there. The jailer was so overwhelmed he asked how he could be saved. They led him into salvation. The jailer brought them home and nursed them, fed them and all in his household were saved. The next day, the police came to release them but Paul told them that they were Roman citizens and demanded an apology before they would leave the city. Lord, may we have the boldness and tenaciousness of Paul and Silas. May we not cower to the threats of the enemy but stand fearlessly for You.