Join us as we read the scriptures and a daily devotion written by Don Crisp. We pray these messages will bless us all at this time.
Wed 12th August – 2 Kings chapter 1:9-12:
Categories: Don’s Daily Devotions
Wed 12th August – Read 2 Kings chapter 1:9-12:
V9: The king sends a strong force of 50 men with their captain to bring Elijah to him – in effect, to arrest him. The captain calls him ” a man of God”, but clearly has no real regard for either Elijah or his God, it is simply an empty formula to him. How many may still think – and speak – of God in such a way.
V10: Elijah says if he is truly a man of God, the Lord will show it by sending fire to consume these who have come to seize him – and He does. We read verses like this, and find it difficult to take in such an immediate and extreme judgement. How are we to react? Surely, to realise it is nothing compared to the judgement to come upon all mankind. We must not sanitise or ” hide from ” Scripture’s revelation of the wrath against sin – but realise it is only of God’s mercy that that judgement tarries ( See Lamentations 3:22-23.)
V11-12: Exactly the same is repeated with another company and their captain. Notice this one emphasises the King’s order – the ungodly order of an ungodly king, to whom they give unquestioning allegiance, as if he can ” control” God’s will and God’s servant. Again, God does not always – or usually – act in such immediate temporal judgement – He is Sovereign in all things – but such a record emphasises how solemn a thing it is when people set themselves up to resist and oppose His will, and obey human authority when it seeks to compel what is against His will.