Sat.’s Devo - God’s Perfect Timing and Plans

Read: 2 Kings 8:1-9:13; Acts 16:16-40; Psalm 143:1-12; Proverbs 17:26 Elisha told the woman who he stayed with in Shunem that a famine was coming so she needed to move to another country where she would have food. She moved to the land of the Philistines until the famine was over. When it was, she came home and went to the king to petition to have her land back. God is the great planner. He put it in the king’s heart to want to hear stories of Elisha so he called for Elisha’s assistant, Gehazi. Gehazi began telling him the stories and was at the part about the lady from Shunem and how Elisha raised her son back to life. Right then, she walked into the courtroom to ask for her land back. Gehazi pointed out that she was the lady in his story. The king gave her her land back and all the worth of what it had produced while she was gone. Talk about restoration with rewards! Elisha went to visit with the king of Aram, Benhadad who was sick. He took a gift and a message for him that he would recover from his disease. Benhadad had sent his army officer with 40 camels loaded down with gifts for Elisha. The officer, Hazael and Elisha met on the road and exchanged their gifts. Elisha told him that Benhadad would recover but he would also die. Sounds like a riddle. Then he stared at Hazael until he was uncomfortable. Elisha was getting a message from God about Hazael. He told him he would be the next king and he would be ruthless to the people of Israel. He would burn down their cities, kill their young men and children and rip open their pregnant women. Hazael returned to Benhadad and told him he would recover. He left out the rest but suffocated him in his bed the next morning and became the king of Aram. Jehoram became the king of Judah and he was an evil king who was as wicked as Israel’s king, Ahab because he had married one of Ahab’s daughters. Edom rebelled against Judah and crowned their own king so Jehoram attacked Edom’s town of Zair. They attacked at night, but Jehoram’s army deserted him and fled home. Edom gained their independence. When Jehoram died, his son, Ahaziah became the king. He only ruled for a year. He was evil because he was related to Ahab by marriage. He allied with Joram the son of Ahab against Hazael of Aram. Joram was wounded in battle and returned to Jezreel to recover. King Ahaziah came to visit him to see how he was doing. Elisha was told to do what Elijah had been told to do at the end of his life and that was to anoint Jehu king of Israel. He went to Remote-gilead to find him. When he did, he was meeting with other army officers. Elisha called him out secretly and anointed him with oil. He told him he was to destroy the family of Ahab to avenge Jezebel’s murdering of God’s prophets. Then Elisha ran out the door. When the other officers asked Jehu what he had said to him, he finally confessed that he had anointed him the next king. News spread and they blew the ram’s horn and announced that Jehu was king. In Acts, a woman who had the ability to tell the future was doing it by an evil spirit not God’s. What she said was the truth but the source was evil. Paul called the spirit out of her and she was no longer able to predict the future. This really upset her handlers who made much money off her. They grabbed Paul and Silas and drug them before the authorities and accused them of teaching customs that were illegal for Romans to practice. (How politically correct they sounded!) The crowd was hostile, so they had Paul and Silas beat and thrown into maximum security. with their feet clamped into stocks. Silas and Paul sang praises to God all night while the other prisoners listened. Around midnight there was an earthquake. All the doors of the prison flew open and everyone’s chains fell off. The jailer woke up and saw what had happened and assumed that all the prisoners had escaped. He knew he would be tortured and killed for letting it happen. He was about to kill himself when Paul called out that they were all here so he didn’t need to worry. The jailer called for lights to see for himself. All were there so he fell down before Paul and Silas and asked them how he could be saved. They walked him through salvation and he and his whole household was saved. He cared for Paul and Silas and fed them. The next day, the city officers sent the police to tell the jailer to let them go, so he didn’t get in trouble and Paul and Silas were free to leave. Paul was not buying it because they had been unfairly treated. He knew his rights and he was a Roman citizen. He should have never been beaten or thrown in jail. The officers were afraid and apologized. They begged them to leave the city. Now, Paul was ready to leave. I love the audacity and boldness of Paul. He was a humble servant of the Lord but he didn’t put up with the antics of Satan or man. He stood his ground on who he was in God’s kingdom. Lord, may we be bold like Paul and not cower from the enemy but stand in Christ proclaiming our god-given rights.