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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Chapter a Day Audio Bible. I'm
Speaker 1: John Stangey, and today we're in Second King's chapter four,
Speaker 1: and this is what we read. One day, the widow
Speaker 1: of a member of the group of prophets came to
Speaker 1: Elisha and cried out, my husband, who served you, is dead,
Speaker 1: and you know how he feared the Lord. But now
Speaker 1: a creditor has come, threatening to take away my two
Speaker 1: sons as slaves. What can I do to help you,
Speaker 1: Elisha asked, Tell me what do you have in the house.
Speaker 1: Nothing at all except a flask of olive oil, she replied,
Speaker 1: And Elishah said, borrow as many empty jars as you
Speaker 1: can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your
Speaker 1: house with your son and shut the door behind you.
Speaker 1: Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting
Speaker 1: each one aside when it is filled. So she did
Speaker 1: as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her,
Speaker 1: and she filled one after another. Soon every container was
Speaker 1: full to the brim. Bring me another jar, she said
Speaker 1: to one of her sons. There aren't anymore, he told her,
Speaker 1: and then the olive oil stopped flowing. When she told
Speaker 1: the Man of God what had happened, he said to her,
Speaker 1: Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and
Speaker 1: you and your sons can live on what is left over.
Speaker 1: One day, Elijah went to the town of Shunam. A
Speaker 1: wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come
Speaker 1: to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he
Speaker 1: passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.
Speaker 1: She said to her husband, I am sure this man
Speaker 1: who stops in from time to time is a holy
Speaker 1: man of God. Let's build a small room for him
Speaker 1: on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table,
Speaker 1: a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a
Speaker 1: place to stay whenever he comes by. One day Elisha
Speaker 1: returned to Shunam and he went up to this upper
Speaker 1: room to rest. He said to his servant Gahazi, tell
Speaker 1: the woman from Shunam, I want to speak to her.
Speaker 1: When she appeared, Elisha said to Gahazi, tell her, we
Speaker 1: appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can
Speaker 1: we do for you? Can we put in a good
Speaker 1: word for you to the king, or to the commander
Speaker 1: of the army. No, she replied, my family takes good
Speaker 1: care of me. Later, Elisha asked Gahazi what can we
Speaker 1: do for her. Gahazi replied, she doesn't have a son,
Speaker 1: and her husband is an old man. Call her back again,
Speaker 1: Eli Shah told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said
Speaker 1: to her as she stood in the doorway, next year,
Speaker 1: at this time, you will be holding a son in
Speaker 1: your arms. No, my lord, she cried, Oh, Man of God,
Speaker 1: don't deceive me and get my hopes up like that.
Speaker 1: But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant, and at
Speaker 1: that time the following year she had a son, just
Speaker 1: as Elisha had said. One day, when her child was older,
Speaker 1: he went out to help his father, who was working
Speaker 1: with the harvesters. Suddenly he cried out, my head hurts,
Speaker 1: my head hurts. His father said to one of the servants,
Speaker 1: carry him home to his mother. So the servant took
Speaker 1: him home and his mother held him on her lap.
Speaker 1: But around noontime he died. She carried him up and
Speaker 1: laid him on the bed of the Man of God,
Speaker 1: then shut the door and left him there. She sent
Speaker 1: a message to her husband, send one of the servants
Speaker 1: and a donkey, so that I can hurry to the
Speaker 1: Man of God and come right back. Why go today,
Speaker 1: he asked, It is neither a new moon festival nor
Speaker 1: a sabbath. But she said it will be all right.
Speaker 1: So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, hurry,
Speaker 1: don't slow down unless I tell you to. As she
Speaker 1: approached the Man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw
Speaker 1: her in the distance. He said to Gahazi, look, the
Speaker 1: woman from Shoodham is coming. Run out to meet her
Speaker 1: and ask her. Is everything all right with you, your
Speaker 1: husband and your child? Yes? The woman told Gahazi everything
Speaker 1: is fine. But when she came to the Man of
Speaker 1: God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before
Speaker 1: him and caught hold of his feet. Gahazi began to
Speaker 1: push her away, but the Man of God said, leave
Speaker 1: her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the Lord has
Speaker 1: not told me what it is. Then she said, did
Speaker 1: I ask you for a son, my Lord, and didn't
Speaker 1: I say? Don't deceive me and get my hopes up.
Speaker 1: Then Elishah said to Gehazi, get ready to travel, take
Speaker 1: my staff and go. Don't talk to anyone along the way,
Speaker 1: go quickly and lay the staff on the child's face.
Speaker 1: But the boy's mother said, as surely as the Lord
Speaker 1: lives and you yourself live, I won't go home unless
Speaker 1: you go with me. So Elisha returned with her. Gahazi
Speaker 1: hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child's face,
Speaker 1: but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He
Speaker 1: returned to meet Elisha and told him the child is
Speaker 1: still dead. When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead,
Speaker 1: lying there on the prophet's bed. He went in alone
Speaker 1: and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Then he lay down on the child's body, placing his
Speaker 1: man my mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on
Speaker 1: the child's eyes, and his hands on the child's hands.
Speaker 1: And as he stretched out on him, the child's body
Speaker 1: began to grow warm again. Elisha got up, walked back
Speaker 1: and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself
Speaker 1: out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed
Speaker 1: seven times and opened his eyes. Then Elijhah summoned Gehazi
Speaker 1: call the child's mother, he said, And when she came in,
Speaker 1: Elijhah said, here, take your son, She fell at his
Speaker 1: feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she
Speaker 1: took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.
Speaker 1: Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine
Speaker 1: in the land. One day, as the group of prophets
Speaker 1: was seated before him, he said to his servant, put
Speaker 1: a large pot on the fire, and make some stew
Speaker 1: for the rest of the group. One of the young
Speaker 1: men went out into the field to gather herbs and
Speaker 1: came back with a pocket full of wild gourds. He
Speaker 1: shredded them and put them into the pot, without realizing
Speaker 1: they were poisonous. Some of the stew was served to
Speaker 1: the men, but after they had eaten a bite or two,
Speaker 1: they cried out, Man of God, there's poison in this stew.
Speaker 1: So they would not eat it. Elisha said, bring me
Speaker 1: some flour. Then he threw it into the pot and said,
Speaker 1: now it's all right, go ahead and eat, and then
Speaker 1: it did not harm them. One day a man from
Speaker 1: bail Shallashah brought the Man of God a sack of
Speaker 1: fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread made from
Speaker 1: the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, give it
Speaker 1: to the people so they can eat. What his servant exclaimed,
Speaker 1: feed one hundred people with only this, but Elisha repeated,
Speaker 1: give it to the people so they can eat. For
Speaker 1: this is what the Lord says. Everyone will eat, and
Speaker 1: there will even be some left over. And when they
Speaker 1: gave it to the people, there was plenty for all
Speaker 1: and some left over, just as the Lord had promised.
Speaker 1: Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for your word, and
Speaker 1: we thank you for the privilege of being able to
Speaker 1: look at this passage of scripture. And Lord, as we
Speaker 1: witnessed these miracles that you did through Elisha, we see
Speaker 1: a variety of things here that you were doing to
Speaker 1: glorify your name and to benefit your people. But we
Speaker 1: also see a series of miracles here that point to
Speaker 1: the miracles that would be done by your son Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: They remind us, or they show us a foretaste of
Speaker 1: some of his miraculous activity. We know that at the
Speaker 1: wedding feast that Jesus turned the water into wine and
Speaker 1: there was plenty to go around. We know that he
Speaker 1: fed a group of five thousand, and that he fed
Speaker 1: a group of four thousand after that, and he displayed
Speaker 1: to you people that he was who he said he was. Lord,
Speaker 1: we know that at times we find ourselves people who
Speaker 1: struggle with doubt. But then, by your grace, you put
Speaker 1: all these reminders in front of us that testify to
Speaker 1: your power, testify to your compassion, and testify to your
Speaker 1: presence with your people. So, Lord, we pray that throughout
Speaker 1: the course of today, as we live out our faith
Speaker 1: in your son Jesus Christ, that we would be confident
Speaker 1: of your presence with us each and every day. And
Speaker 1: we're grateful Lord for this reality. Lord, we love you,
Speaker 1: and we commit this day to your care, and we
Speaker 1: thank you for all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.