21 May 2017
I. Introduction
-- turn
in Bibles to 2 Kings 3:15b-18
2 Kings 3:15b While
the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha 16 and he said,
“This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 17
For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this
valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will
drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver
Moab into your hands.
-- living
in a rural area and being dependent on rain for agricultural, everyone knows
that a time of drought is a serious thing -- thankfully, we’ve gotten some rain
today, but we have been in the midst of a severe drought here for the past
couple months -- the crops have been suffering -- we’ve been seeing wildfires
all over the place -- and the swamps and the rivers are starting to get dry -- but
that’s part of living and working in nature -- droughts are always a potential
and always a worry for the farmer
-- back
in 1853 there was an extended drought in Ohio that caused a lot of concern --
farmers were in danger of losing their entire livelihood of crops and livestock
-- and, to make it worse, they didn’t have the ability to irrigate and to draw
water from the ground like we can today
-- it
got so bad, the farmers decided the only thing they could do was to ask God for
His help -- they reached out to the famous evangelist, Charles Finney, and
asked him to come and pray for rain -- if God would listen to anyone, He would
surely listen to the prayers of this Godly man -- Finney agreed, and on the day
he was scheduled to arrive, the whole community gathered in the town square to
greet him and to join him in prayer
--
Finney took his place behind the podium that had been set up in the town
square, and looked out at the crowd of anxious people who were trusting his
prayers to bring rain -- he gazed at them for a few moments, and then said, “I
see I am the only one who brought an umbrella”
--
although everyone there claimed to be seeking God’s help and trusted God could
bring the rain, only Finney truly believed, for only Finney had brought an umbrella
-- he preached a short sermon on faith, then set his umbrella down by his chair
and began to pray, “Lord, we do not presume to tell you what is best for us.
You invite us to come to you as children to a father and tell you all of our
wants. We need rain. Unless you give us rain our cattle will die and our
harvest will come to naught. It is an easy thing for you to do, O Lord, send us
rain.”
-- the
rest is history -- God immediately answered the prayer Charles Finney, who
reminded the people with an umbrella that God works in our lives only in
response to our faith
[modified
from illustration at http://www.chaimbentorah.com/2017/02/word-study-former-rains-%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%94/?print=print]
II. Digging Ditches in Dry Land (2 Kings 3:1-27)
-- this
evening, I want us to look at a passage about faith -- the story of three kings
who find themselves in the midst of a dry land -- in need of water -- in need
of God’s grace -- and how God responded to their need
-- this story
takes place during the divided kingdom -- after Solomon’s death, the nation of
Israel split into two, with ten tribes following Jeroboam as their ruler and
establishing Israel in the north, with their capitol city in Samaria -- the
northern kingdom is sometimes referred to in the Bible as Ephraim
-- the
other two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remained loyal to Solomon’s son Rehoboam,
and renamed themselves Judah, with their capitol in Jerusalem
-- Judah
and Israel had a tumultuous relationship -- for most of their history, they
were antagonistic towards one another -- they were enemies, and bitter wars
were fought between the two -- at other times, a tenuous peace existed, and the
two nations came together, usually for a common cause -- the story related to
us here in 2 Kings Chapter 3 is a time when the two nations were at relative
peace with one another -- let’s look at it now
-- verse
1-8
2 Kings 3New
International Version (NIV)
Moab Revolts
1 Joram son of
Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat
king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the
Lord, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone
of Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he clung to the sins of
Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn
away from them.
4 Now Mesha king
of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred
thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. 5 But after Ahab died,
the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So at that time King
Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. 7 He also sent this
message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against
me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”
“I will go with
you,” he replied. “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your
horses.”
8 “By what route
shall we attack?” he asked.
“Through the
Desert of Edom,” he answered.
-- Joram,
also known as Jehoram, was the new king of Israel -- he was the son of Ahab and
Jezebel, arguably the most evil rulers ever known in Israel -- during their
reign, the nation of Israel turned away from the worship of God and began to
worship idols and adopt pagan practices as never before -- this was the world
Jehoram knew -- this was his spiritual heritage
-- shortly
after the death of Ahab and the beginning of Jehoram’s reign, the nation of
Moab, who were subjects of Israel, rebelled and refused to continue to pay the
tribute required of it -- so Jehoram decided to attack them
-- Moab
lay on the other side of the Dead Sea, so there were only two ways for Israel
to attack -- the closest way was from the north, but that was near the capitol
of Moab and was heavily fortified against attack -- not only would that be the
most difficult course for the Israelites to take, but Jehoram also feared that
if he attacked Moab from the north, the Arameans might take the opportunity to
attack Israel from the rear, leading to a war on two fronts
-- because
of this, Jehoram opted to take the longer route around the southern end of the
Dead Sea and attack Moab from the south -- but, to do so, he would have to go
through the nation of Judah -- as I said, Israel and Judah were on somewhat
friendly terms at this point, so Jehoram asked Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah,
to join him in the attack on Moab -- Jehoshaphat agreed, and since the proposed
route would carry them through Edom, which was Judah’s vassal state, they also
enlisted the help of the king of Edom in their battle against Moab
-- verse
9-12
2 Kings 3:9 So the
king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a
roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or
for the animals with them.
10 “What!”
exclaimed the king of Israel. “Has the Lord called us three kings together only
to deliver us into the hands of Moab?”
11 But Jehoshaphat
asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of
the Lord?”
An officer of the
king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water
on the hands of Elijah.”
12 Jehoshaphat
said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
and the king of Edom went down to him.
-- the
longer route around the southern end of the Dead Sea carried the armies of the
three kings through the Desert of Edom -- we read here that the armies were not
prepared for this longer march, and ran out of water for themselves and their
animals after about seven days
-- so
here we find them, stranded in the desert without water and without any idea of
how to survive -- the same thing can happen to us in our spiritual lives --
there are times in our lives when we find ourselves in the midst of a dry land
-- lost in a desert wilderness -- far from God and far from His life-giving
grace
--
usually, these desert times are of our own making -- like the nation of Israel,
we have drifted away from God and from the message of God -- we give ourselves
over to the world and only give lip service to God while our hearts remain far
away from Him
-- we
see that in Jehoram’s response here in verse 10 -- he exclaims, “Has the Lord
called us together to just hand us over to Moab?” -- Jehoram didn’t really know
God -- he had continued to follow the evil practices of his father and mother
-- he had continued to lead the nation of Israel in pagan practices and the
worship of evil idols -- but he still claimed to be a believer in the Lord
-- he
used the name of God -- he might even have prayed to Him on occasion, along
with the foreign gods and idols he worshiped -- but it was lip-service only --
it wasn’t real -- it wasn’t from the heart -- the desert of Edom wasn’t the
only desert Jehoram had led his people into -- he had also been leading them in
a desert from the word of God
-- so
what do we do when we find ourselves in a desert -- away from the presence of
God -- away from the grace of God? -- Jehoshaphat gives us the answer in verse
11 -- you return to God -- you inquire of God -- you seek Him again, not with
empty actions and empty words, but with an honest and seeking heart -- and God
promises us that if we draw near to Him with honest and sincere hearts, He will
draw near to us
--
Jehoshaphat seeks a true prophet of God who might speak God’s word and God’s
grace into their situation -- the decision is made to seek out Elisha, the
successor to the prophet Elijah -- so the three kings make their way to the
prophet’s home to seek God’s word and God’s help
-- verse
13-15a
2 Kings 3:13
Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why do you want to involve me? Go to the
prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.”
“No,” the king of
Israel answered, “because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to
deliver us into the hands of Moab.”
14 Elisha said, “As
surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for
the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to
you. 15 But now bring me a harpist.”
--
Elisha knew the heart of Jehoram -- he knew Jehoram was not a believer in God
-- but he agreed to help because of the presence of Jehoshaphat -- Jehoshaphat
knew God -- Jehoshaphat trusted God -- and, although Jehoshaphat had sinned by
making alliances with the evil King Ahab of Israel early in his reign, his
heart remained true -- and so Elisha agreed to help
-- there’s
a couple of things we can glean from these verses -- first, God sometimes
blesses the ungodly because of the presence of the righteous -- when God was
going to Sodom to see if the evil there was as great as He had heard, He said
He would withhold judgment if there were 10 righteous men present in that city
-- the presence of the righteous can result in protection and blessings on
those around them, even if they are not right with God
--
second, when we find ourselves in a desert situation and begin to seek God’s
presence again, we should turn to those who know God and are living for Him and
ask for their help -- if you are lost, go to those who know the way -- that’s
why the church is here -- that’s part of our purpose -- to help the lost find
God and to help the backslidden and desert dwellers return to His presence
-- verse
15b-20
2 Kings 3:15b While
the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha 16 and he said,
“This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 17
For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this
valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will
drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also deliver
Moab into your hands. 19 You will overthrow every fortified city and every
major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and
ruin every good field with stones.”
20 The next
morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was—water flowing
from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.
--
Elisha goes to the Lord on behalf of the three kings -- and God tells them He
will give them water and success in their battle with Moab, but the blessing
will only come through an act of faith on their part -- Elisha tells the three
kings to dig ditches in the desert -- to make pools in the midst of that dry
land -- and to believe that God was going to fill those pools with the water
they needed
-- God
was going to do a miracle -- He was going to provide water in a desert without
rain -- but He would only do so if the three kings believed and trusted in His
word and acted in faith by preparing to receive the promised blessing
-- the
way out of a spiritual desert is through the route of faith -- this was not
only true for these kings, but it is also true for us
--
Charles Spurgeon commented on this passage -- he wrote, “the church must, by
her varied agencies, efforts, and prayers, make herself ready to be blessed;
she must make the pools and the Lord will fill them. This must be done in faith, in the full
assurance that the blessing is about to descend.”
-- we’ve
been praying about what to do here at Koinonia -- about the direction God wants
us to go -- and, as I prayed about this, God led me to this passage -- I
believe this is a promise from God that He is going to bless us, but we have to
do our part -- we have to believe in faith -- we have to trust and obey and
demonstrate our faith by preparing to receive this blessing -- in other words,
we have to dig some ditches and trust that God is going to fill them with His
life-giving water
-- the
message I am hearing is to keep on keeping on until we get clear direction to
do something else -- to keep putting out the chairs and trusting that God is
going to fill them -- to keep preparing the messages -- to keep spreading the
word -- to keep telling others about Him
-- we
may be in a dry season, but God is promising to send the water -- it will come
in a way we don’t expect -- it will come in God’s timing -- but we must trust
and believe that God will send His grace as He promises through this passage
-- the
three kings believed the word of God received through Elisha -- they offered a
sacrifice of faith by digging ditches and pools in the dry land of a desert and
not looking to the sky for rain -- and the next morning, at the time for
offering the sacrifice prescribed in the law, water flowed from the direction
of Edom into the empty ditches and pools -- the people and the animals drank
their fill -- and all were saved by the mighty hand of God
-- verse
21-27
2 Kings 3:21 Now
all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so
every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on
the border. 22 When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on
the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red—like blood. 23
“That’s blood!” they said. “Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each
other. Now to the plunder, Moab!”
24 But when the
Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them
until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the
Moabites. 25 They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good
field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every
good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed
with slings surrounded it and attacked it.
26 When the king
of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven
hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. 27
Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him
as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they
withdrew and returned to their own land.
-- as
promised by God through Elisha, the three kings were victorious in their
campaign against the rebellious Moabites -- that very morning, the Moabites saw
the sun reflecting off the pools of water in the desert -- pools they did not
expect or believe to be there -- and they assumed they were seeing the pooled
blood of their enemies who had destroyed themselves through infighting
-- they
rushed in to take the plunder, but found the armies of the kings ready for
battle -- the battle was fierce, but the kings prevailed -- and Moab was
soundly defeated as God promised
-- the
message here for us is that God will bring success to our endeavors -- He will
bless our efforts -- if we but seek Him and step out in faith -- digging
ditches and preparing for the blessings to come -- and trusting that He will
provide
III. Closing
-- in
his book, Drawing Near: A Life of
Intimacy with God, John Bevere writes, “backsliding begins when we find
ourselves indifferent to the Scriptures and things of God -- it happens when we
find ourselves more excited about natural things than the things of God.”
-- when
we backslide or drift away from God, we find ourselves in a dry and dusty land
-- we find ourselves in the midst of drought with no relief in sight
-- the
thing to remember when we find ourselves in the desert away from God is that
we’re there because we chose to be there -- as the old cliché goes, “If you
find yourself far removed from God, it wasn’t God who moved”
-- God
knows the tendency of our hearts are to wander away -- to drift away from Him
-- that’s why Jesus told us we must take up our cross daily -- that’s why He
gave us the various means of grace -- His word, the church, prayer, the
sacraments -- so that we might have the tools we need to abide in Him and stay
close to Him
-- every
day we must make the decision to follow Him -- every day we must make the
choice to either follow Jesus or to turn aside to the world -- every day is
another day to decide if we will follow Jesus or head towards the desert
-- the
thing to remember when we find ourselves in the desert is that God hasn’t moved
and is still waiting for us to come home, just as the father of the prodigal
son -- His prevenient grace continues to call to us -- urging us to draw near
-- to return in faith -- to take that first step towards Him -- and then He
will run to us and welcome us home
-- God
wants to bless us -- He wants to rain down His love and mercy and grace into
our lives -- but it is up to us to respond to His call -- to trust and believe
in His word and His promises -- to exercise our faith through our action -- to
step out in belief even when the way seems impossible
-- as I
close tonight, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and renew our faith in Him --
let’s commit to taking steps of faith in preparation for the blessing -- and
let us put our hope and trust in Him -- bring your umbrellas, because God is
going to send the rain
-- let
us pray
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