Sun.’s Devo - Our Sovereign God

Read: 2 Kings 8:1-9:13; Acts 16:16-40; Psalm 143:1=12; Proverbs 17:26 Elisha had warned the woman who housed him that there was going to be a famine in Israel for 7 years and she needed to move away. She obeyed and moved to the land of the Philistines. When the famine was over she came back to Israel and went to see the king about restoring her land back. The king had asked Gehazi to tell him some “Elijah stories” and he was telling him about the woman with the son he brought back to life when she walked in to make her appeal. He said, this is the woman. She gave her story and it confirmed what Gehazi had just said. The king not only restored her land but gave her the value of all the crops that had been harvested from her land while she was gone. (Talk about restoration!) *** It was time to finish Elijah’s unfinished business of 1Kings 19:15 to anoint Hazael the king of Aram. The reigning king was Ben-hadad who became sick and sent Hazael to ask Elisha if he would recover. Elisha said he would recover from the illness but he would also die. Then he stared at Hazael until it became uncomfortable for Hazael. Elisha had been shown the future of his life. He would bring God’s judgment on Aram but it would be violent and bloody. He told him that he would be the next king of Aram. *** When Hazael got back to Ben-hadad he told him that the prophet had said that he would recover. The next day, he murdered him and became the next king of Aram. *** The last unfinished business of Elijah”s was to anoint Jehu the king of Israel. This would be Elisha’s next assignment. When God told Elijah to anoint him the king, Ahab was king. Joram was never suppose to be the king. He usurped the timeline and if you understand that the kings of Israel coincide with the presidents of the United States then Joram would have been Obama. He should have never been our President for so many reasons. But, Elijah didn’t anoint him to be king so Joram became king. *** Meanwhile, Jehoram became king of Judah after Jehoshaphat. He was evil like the kings of Israel and worshipped idols. The Edomites, who had been subject to them, rebelled and appointed their own king. Jehoram took his army to attack Edom but his own army deserted him, so Edom gained their independence. His son, Ahaziah became king of Judah. *** Elisha sent a prophet to Ramoth-gilead to anoint Jehu king of Israel. Jehu was a son of Jehoshaphat (Judah’s king). He would have been Ahaziah’s uncle. At the time, Jehu was an army officer for Judah. He called Jehu into a private room and poured the oil Elisha had given him on his head and said that God was anointing him king over Israel. He was to destroy the family of Ahab to avenge the murder of His prophets that Jezebel had murdered. The entire family of Ahab was to be wiped out and destroyed. The dogs would lick her blood where they licked her husband’s blood - on the land they had stolen from Naboth. Then the prophet ran out the door. *** When Jehu went back into the room with his fellow officers, they asked him what the prophet had said. He finally told them that he had anointed him king of Israel so they blew the ram’s horn and shouted that he was king. *** In Acts, Luke and Paul and other believers went to the place they met for prayer. A sorceress met then and kept shouting that they were servant of the Most High God and had come to tell how to be saved. She did this for days until finally Paul turned and rebuked the fortune-telling demon out of her. It came out instantly and she could no longer make money by telling the future. Her handlers were so upset they dragged Paul and Silast before the authorities saying that they were teaching customs that were illegal to Romans. They were beaten and thrown into prison and their feet put in stocks. *** Around midnight Paul and Silas were praising the Lord in song when shook the ground and all the prison door flew open. The jailer woke up thinking all his prisoners had escaped. He went to kill himself when Paul stopped him and told him they were all there. *** The jailor ran down to the dungeon and fell before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and asked how he could be saved. (I wonder if he had heard the sorceress proclaiming that day after day.) *** Paul told him to believe in the Lord Jesus and he would be saved and all in his house would be saved also. He took them home with him to tell his family about Jesus. They believed. They cared for their wounds and fed them. *** The next day, the police came and told the jailor he could set them free but Paul objected because they had broken the law. He was a Roman citizen and shouldn’t have been beaten. He was standing up for his rights. The city officials went to the jail and personally apologized and asked them to please leave their town. They went back to the group of believers and gave them the good news of their release and then left town. *** Lord, may we be quick to obey and fulfill our destiny. Let us complete all you have called us to do.