"From Weird to Wonderful"
She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs. (2 Kings 4:37 NLT)
Reading about the ministry of Elisha is just weird. He seems more like a magician than a prophet of God. Never ending olive oil, poisonous soup turned harmless by some flower, parting the river with a tap of his staff, promising the birth of a child for a couple, raising the child from the dead when he died are all things that Elisha did as a prophet. As I'm reading I'm thinking, "What will he do next?"
I'm sure this sounds cynical but it just doesn't sound like what I think of when I think of a prophet. All I can think about is, does he do birthday parties?
Most Old Testament prophets were given the ability to do the spectacular. They were able to perform miracles for the good of the people & the glory of God. God used Moses to part the Red Sea as well as strike a rock to provide water for the people. So I guess Elisha's activities for God are not that out of place.
With a more thoughtful reading of his life we actually see how God used him in amazing ways to provide for his people & how God provided for him. The land was experiencing a famine & everything God used him to do was for the provision of his people. Instead of throwing out a whole pot of soup, God used him to take the poison out so that they would have something to eat. God used him to multiply the widow's olive oil so that she could pay off her debts, keep her sons, & even live off the excess! What an amazing God! I wish God would use my life in this way. The life of Elisha goes from weird to wonderful. I start to envy how God used him & hope God can use me this way. Not just to meet people's spiritual needs by giving them the gospel but to have a keen awareness of the physical needs of those around me. And to take those needs to God for him to meet them.
God even provides for the prophet. A lady & her husband build him a room & give him an open invitation to stay & eat anytime he wants.
What a faithful God we serve. He provides what we need, when we need it. He has blessed us so that we can be a blessing. How have we been empowered by God to meet the physical & spiritual needs of those around us?
What needs do we have that we haven't brought to him? How can we make them known to him & trust him to meet them in his way & his time?
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