We're going to be thinking about
2 Kings chapter 4 and verse 38 to 41. 2 Kings chapter 4, verse
38 to 41. Now, the last time that we met
Elisha. Elisha was God's prophet to the
Jews many, many years ago in the Old Testament, and he was
a man of God whom God was pleased to use to speak to the people. This was at a time when the northern
and the southern kingdoms of Israel had separated but Elisha
principally was a creature amongst those tribes of the northern
tribes, Israel as it was then called as opposed to Judah. But
he was God's servant to the people at that time and the people knew
that the Lord was with Elisha. Now when we last encountered
him, I wonder if you can remember, but he was with the Shunammite
lady, and he had just raised her son to life. The lady lost
her son, just an infant boy, and she went to the Lord's representatives,
she went to the Lord effectively, she went to Elisha, but she really
went to Elisha's God, and there she laid her need before the
Lord. I wonder if anyone can remember
what was happening the day that that little boy died. What was
going on in Israel the day that that little boy died? Does anyone
remember? Okay, it was the time of harvest
because the little boy had gone out into the fields with his
father. So it was the time of harvest
and it was a good harvest. Now, as we come to this part
of the story, we discover that it's a time of famine. So that
tells us that a period of time has elapsed from that time when
he was with the Shunammite lady and until now. But it also tells us something
else. It says that while there was
a death in the land, there had been a time of plenty. So we
are going to read about this time of death, or this time of
famine. And we read about it in verse
38. So let us read together in 2
Kings 4, verse 38. It says there, and Elisha came
again to Gilgal, and there was a death or a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were
sitting before him, and he said unto his servant, that may have
been Gehazi, but perhaps not. He said unto his servant, set
on the great pot, and sieve potage for the sons of the prophets. And one went out into the field
to gather herds, and found a wild vile, and gathered thereof wild
gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of
cottage, for they knew them not. So they poured out for the men
to eat. And it came to pass, as they
were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, O thou
man of God, there is death in the pot, and they could not eat
thereof. But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot.
And he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the
pot. Times have changed in Israel. The good years have given way
to hard times. There is a barrenness in the
land now. And I think that we should all
realize that that's just what happens in life. change happens
in life. Sometimes things are good and
sometimes they're not so good. Sometimes we're happy and sometimes we're
sad. Sometimes things seem to go well
and sometimes things seem to go terribly. And often I think Well, if I
let me speak for myself, often I think it's at times when things
are going bad that I find it easiest to go to the Lord. During happy times and sad times,
fruitful times and barren times, as these changes occur, we find
that we change too. The Lord never changes. The Bible
tells us that the Lord is the same. He doesn't change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. God is unchangeable. Times change
in this world. Times change. We change. But God never changes. And when times are good, often
I forget to thank God for the good times. And when times are
not good, when times are bad, then I go to God and I ask for
his help. That shouldn't be the case, but
it is the case because of our weakness and our fleshy nature. Invariably, it happens that we
forget God in the good times and we run to God in the bad
times. So here's the first lesson for
the children today. If you're having a hard time
about anything, if you're having a sad time about anything, if
you, like the country of Israel here, are going through a barren
time, if you're worried, if you're frightened, if you're in trouble,
then go to the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to him in prayer. Improve
your circumstances by taking them to the Lord Jesus, by asking
for his help and trusting that he hears your prayer and that
he will help you. He will help his people in time
of need. And when he does help us, don't
forget him and don't forget to say thank you. day. They had gone to Elisha
because there was a death in the land. They had gone to Elisha
and they were sitting before him. They had gone perhaps to
find out what God was going to do and to hear the prophets speak
to them about God and about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was going
to teach them about God's way. And that's a good place for us
to be. It's a good place for us to be
in church, to be hearing the gospel, to be looking for the
Lord Jesus Christ, and to be looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Elisha saw all these men,
these sons of the prophets sitting before him. And he knew that
they would need something to eat. They would need something
to sustain them. But it was a time of famine.
So he tells his servant to go and set on a big pot. Maybe he was going to make a
stew or maybe it was some thick soup that was going to be made.
But there was nothing in the garden. There were no vegetables.
Well, the servants had to go out into the field and pick the
gourds off the bushes. And we are told that a man picked
wild gourds from a wild vine that he didn't recognize. You know, that's an important
lesson in life, that we don't eat what we don't recognize. Unless you know that it's safe
to do it, don't eat things. And don't drink things. I know
there will be people that will offer you drinks, and there will
be people who will offer you things to eat. Maybe little round
things from time to time. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't eat those things that are
dangerous. Don't drink those things that
are dangerous. Here, the sons of the prophets some of these wild gourds had
given it a terrible taste and made it dangerous for their stomachs. There was death in the pot and
they cried out because of this death that there was. They wouldn't
eat any more of the stew or the soup. And Elisha, he called for
some meal, probably that was flour, and he added it to the
pot and then he gave it This was a miracle. Elisha performed
a miracle. God gave healing in that meal
that was added. Not because of the power of the
meal, but because of the power of God. God was with the prophet
and God showed that Elisha had authority from him to be the
leader and to be the director and to be the speaker of God
to these people. He showed by this little miracle,
and it didn't seem to be a great thing, and yet it was important
to the people that were there at the time. He showed by this
miracle that he was speaking by his servant, Elisha. And there's
another lesson here for us. Because this wild gore that was
put into the stew is a little bit like false teaching in this
world. There can be a lot of good things
in the bread, but if one bad thing is in there, it can make
the whole pot poisonous. If we add anything to the true
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we add anything to the message
that God has given us in his word, then it becomes dangerous,
not just to our tummies, but it becomes dangerous to our souls. And it becomes dangerous to our
happiness. And it becomes dangerous to our
relationship with God. We have to keep this gospel. as we are able. And I'm very
glad that your mums and dads bring you along to this church,
where we try, by the grace of God, to be as true and as faithful
and as honest with the scriptures as we possibly can be. And if the Lord is merciful to
us, I promise that I will be very careful when I feed your
young minds and your young hearts with gospel truth today and in
the days ahead. I will be very careful not to
mix anything into the stew that is going to do you any harm. And I will always be putting
in plenty of meal and plenty of Christ to your attention and
reminding you of His goodness and His grace and His mercy. And I will be trusting that the
Holy Spirit will apply these things to your hearts and souls,
even though you are so young. Amen. May the Lord bless these
thoughts.