Story from 2 Kings chapter 3

This incident happened during the time of Israel and Judah. Ahab's son, Joram began to rule over Israel, and King Jehoshaphat ruled over Judah. One day, the king of Moab rebelled against Joram and he went to war with the nation of Israel. King Joram asked Jehoshaphat's help, as these two kings marched towards the nation of Moab, the king of Edom also joined them.

The three kings of the nations of Israel, Judah and Edom were marching against the fortified cities of Moab. As they went along, they had to take a longer route and after walking for 7 days, they emptied all their supplies, especially water. They had no water to drink, they and their animals were very thirsty. They now wanted to inquire of the Lord, suddenly, they remembered that Elisha, the prophet belongs to that part of the nation. The three kings go to the prophet and ask him for a sign...

Elisha, out of respect for the king Jehoshaphat, foretells the future to the three kings. He invites a person to play a harp, and as the harp was being played, he prophesied about Moab.

The exact story is mentioned in 2 Kings chapter 3: 1-27. The prophet Elisha tells that the Lord will do two miracles:
1. The valley what they see after Edom will be filled with water, but there will be no rain or wind...
2. The moabites will be utterly defeated.

Both these instances looked impossible for the three kings, but they had to put their trust in the Lord's doing. They had no other chance.

They returned to their tents; and the next morning, the first miracle started taking place.
Water came from  nowhere and started filling the valley of Edom. It was indeed surprising for all of them to see that without rain and wind, the water just filled the valley of Edom.

As this was happening on one side, the Moabites rose up early in the morning and watched the water and the sun rays sparkling over the waters. As per their knowledge, there was no water the night before and no rain or wind happened in the night, so there is no chance of water logging in the valley of Edom.

They thought among themselves that the three kings of Israel, Judah and Edom fought against each other and it is the blood of the army of these three kings. Assuming such a turn of events, they ran to see it with their own eyes, without taking any arms or horses along with them.

This was the right opportunity for the three kings, they slaughtered the Moabites and won victory over the enemy. The credit belongs to the Lord who performed a miracle and gave the three kings victory.

From this event, we can learn that 'nothing is impossible with God.'

He who created the heavens and the earth with his word, can create anything. All creation listens and obeys to His command. It is only us that are disobedient to His will.

We need to focus on God and His word and place our faith in Him.

Flowing against the current

Sparkling as it crashes against boulders along its banks, the river swiftly cascades toward the sea. The current grabs, pushes, and tugs at leaves and logs, carrying them along for the ride.
Here and there a sportsman is spotted in a kayak or a canoe, going with the flow. Gravity pulls the water, and the river pulls the rest.... downward.

Suddenly, a silver missile breaks the surface and darts upstream, and then another. Oblivious to the swirling opposition, the shining salmon swim against the stream. They must go upstream, and nothing will stop them from reaching their destination.

The current of society's river is flowing fast and furious, pulling downward everything in its way. It would be easy to float along with the current. But God calls us to swim against the flow. It will not be easy and we may be along, but it will be the right thing to do.

We need to be cautious not to flow with the current, but be strong and go upstream. Remember, only dead fish flow with the current. Anything, that has life, will go against the current!!!

Miracle in Mark - our reaction

In the book of Mark, 2nd chapter, this event is recorded.

It starts like this "Several days later, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and the news of his arrival spread quickly through the city. Soon the house where he was staying was so paced with visitors that there wasn't room for a single person more, not even outside the door. And Jesus preached the Word to them. Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They couldn't get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head and lowered the sick man on his stretcher, right down in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw how strongly they believed that he would help, he said to the sick man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." ... .and this goes on and Jesus heals the paralyzed man and he goes home walking.

In this passage, I would like to highlight one point, though there might be several important points, for this blog post, I'd like to post only one thought.

The men were deeply concerned about their friend and wanted to see him helped. They had the faith to believe that Jesus could and would meet his need. They did not simply 'pray about it', but they put some feet to their prayers and they did not permit the difficult circumstances to discourage them. they worked together and dared to do something different, and Jesus rewarded their efforts.  How easy it would have been for them to say, "Well, there is no sense trying to get to Jesus today?" Maybe we can come back sometime tomorrow.". But they persisted and their faith also stood the test.

When we recognize someone's need, do we act?
Many people have physical and spiritual needs we can meet, either  by ourselves or with others who are also concerned.
Human need moved these four men, let it also move you to compassionate action.