Impossible!

Some solutions are temporary, but that's the story of Israel. In fact, more than 300 times in the Old Testament, that record which is supposed to give us what we can have in our New Testament lives, they are told to remember, remember, remember what? That God will do something so that you'll never grow hungry again. Oh no, remember what He did when you were hungry that time? You remember how dark that room was when God turned the light on? You remember that tragedy that God gave you the grace to go through?

Remember, remember, remember. Many of us have had difficult days, weeks, and months. For some, those difficulties have stretched into years. Sometimes it might seem as if the way forward is bleak, and you're not even sure how to press on. You can take comfort today in the example and testimony of Elisha. While he faced enormous trials that sometimes seemed impossible, God always proved stronger than the obstacles. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart.

Stephen Davey continues through his series on Elisha with this message called Impossible. Swindoll in his booklet entitled Attitudes has retold the story of an American POW held captive by the Viet Cong. He writes, In the POW camp was a tough, young Marine, twenty-four years old. He had already survived two years of prison camp life in relatively good health. Part of the reason for this was that the camp commander had promised to release the man if he cooperated.

He went along with that word and cooperated. He turned into a model POW and a leader of the camp's Thought Reform Group. As time passed, he gradually realized that his captors had lied to him. When the full realization of this took hold, he became a zombie. He refused to do all work, rejected all offers of food and encouragement, and simply lay on his cot like a baby sucking his thumb. In a matter of weeks, he was dead.

Swindoll adds this commentary. Caught in the vice grip of lost hope, life became too much for the once tough Marine to handle. When the last string snapped, there was nothing left. You compare that story with the discovery that I made. Near the end of World War II, members of the Allied forces were sent in search of snipers who would hide in upper story homes. On one occasion, one party made their way into a home that was now, by now, simply a pile of rubble.

They made their way down into the basement, and when they got down there, they made an interesting discovery. Some survivor of the Holocaust had etched into the wall of the basement a Star of David, and underneath the star were the words written, I believe in the sun, even when it does not shine. I believe in God, even when he does not speak.

Faith is, as it were, walking into a dark room and believing that at the right time, for the right reasons, God in his own providence will turn on the light. Now you say, well, you know, Stephen, that isn't really fair. It's unfair of God to ask me to do something in blind faith, whatever that means. Well, you've already done it.

This is cold season. Many of you have probably already gone to a doctor whose name you can't pronounce. He has degrees hanging, littering his walls, and you haven't verified any of them. He's given you a prescription, and you probably tried, but you couldn't read it, and you took it to a pharmacist you'd never seen before, and he gave you a compound you didn't understand, and you paid for it.

And then you took it home, and without even first testing it on the neighbor's cat, you took it. You operated on the basis of the fact that you, in your faith, having placed it in objects you believed were verifiable and trustworthy, you operated on the basis of those facts. So also in the Christian experience, it's the same thing. If our object of faith is a reliable God, then we will be willing to do whatever, whenever, however, that God informs us to do or to live. Well, we started a study that dealt with that issue, and I want to review two of the things that we learned.

At least as facts doesn't mean we necessarily put them into practice. Number one, I encourage you to remember that when God is in charge, plans do not degenerate into panic. Secondly, that when God is in control, we are to remember that, and in so remembering, our trust should not dissolve into blame. The tragedy of that POW was that he attached his faith to the unreliable word of a deceitful man. The thrill of the believer is that we attach our faith to the reliable word of a God who is alive, who is real. Now I want us to go back into the biography of Elisha.

Let's go back into the laboratory where these truths are tested. We've started by talking about some of the impossibilities that he encountered. Would you take your Bibles if you're not already there, turn to 2 Kings chapter 4 verse 8, and this passage introduces us to impossibility number four. Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat food. And so it was as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually. Please, let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set up a bed for him there, and the table and the chair and the lampstand, and it shall be when he comes to us that he can turn in there.

What a precious passage this is. The text informs us that this Shunemite woman was a prominent, great, the word can be rendered wealthy woman. As Elisha passed their wealthy estate, she, and we're not sure how it first began, but eventually she would run out and she would greet him and she would invite him the word. She would constrain him to eat there.

She would persuade him, Please eat with my husband and myself. Now eventually the woman talked it over with her husband and they agreed to build an additional room for him. Now the typical homes, as you already know, had flat roofs and they were often used for sitting areas or for storage areas. It wasn't typical. It would have been a rare thing to have anything walled in, but they wanted to make a place, a prophet's chamber as it were, where Elisha could roll out a sleeping bag and enjoy. However, they're not very typical because they could have had him roll a sleeping bag out on the roof. It was flat.

It was a cool breeze perhaps. They were different. She said, Let's do something unique. Let's create a room up there with walls and let's put some things in it. Verse 10 gives us the details. Let's put up there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand.

We know, at least we can assume, that Elisha ate his meals with them downstairs where the servants would bring the food. You need to understand that the table and chair is more like a desk and a chair. This is a little study that they're creating for this man to come and pray, study, read, whatever he might want to do. And the lamp stand here is more than a common candle. Honey, let's just put a candle or two up there.

No, it's from the word menorah. This is, in that day, state-of-the-art lighting. And they didn't just say, Well, let's make sure there's enough square footage so that Elisha can roll out a sleeping bag.

They did something which was unusual in that day. They made for him what? A bed.

What you have here is a personal warm, custom-designed, lavishly prepared study retreat bedchamber. This couple provided for Elisha everything they possibly could with what they had. You get the idea that he had everything upstairs that they enjoyed downstairs. Now, why does the Bible give us those details?

Is it because God wants to fill out chapter 4 just a tad more before he closes? No, I think he's giving us as believers an example of what I want to call to your minds as being Shunammite hospitality. See, the challenge to an individual reading this passage as we observe these Shunammites and as a church in the way we treat those who are in the trenches, the question, the challenge is, How do you, how do I treat those who are serving Christ as prophets in our generation? How do we take care of missionaries? How do we provide for pastors? How do we care for those serving in nonprofit organizations, those serving in ways that benefit the body of Christ? How do we as a church, as individuals, care?

Do we do the typical or do we have any Shunammite blood in us? I'm undoubtedly biased because I grew up in a missionary home. I can remember traveling and my dad's roots were in the north. And so we, we would travel through every summer visiting families that supported us in churches. And I remember as a kid, every time we'd go through Iowa, we stopped at the home of Mr. And Mrs. Pieper. We used to snicker at their name, just like you just did.

Made me feel better actually. I wanted to see your reaction to see if my mother really had a case against us. Every time we'd get in there, she'd have something ready for the four boys.

It'd be brand new, freshly baked, heavily iced cinnamon rolls. She had the gift and they'd sort of exhort us to sing and we'd always sing the same things. They were Shunammites. My mom reminded me of a time when we were in Iowa, the car broke down. It was the Piepers that came and got us. Took us home while the car was repaired. Well, in the Old Testament, sometimes rewards happened immediately.

That's what's happening now. Look at verse 15. And he said to her, that is Elisha wants to do something special for this lady. He tells his servant to call her.

When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. Then he said, at this season next year, you shall embrace a son. And she said, oh no, my lord, oh man of God, do not lie to your maidservant. That's like saying, you've got to be kidding.

It's too good to be true. Verse 17. And the woman conceived and bore a son at that season, the next year, as Elisha had said to her.

Now, everything that we have just looked at, I think has been given to us to prepare us to feel the remorse and the anguish that she is about to feel. Verse 18. When the child was grown, probably 11 or 12 years old, the day came that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, my head, my head. And his father said to his servant, carry him to his mother. When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat him on her lap until noon. And then died. This is the son of her hopes and dreams.

This miracle boy is dead. The woman immediately saddled up and heads for Elisha. She doesn't even tell her husband where she's going or at least why. He does know she's going to Elisha. Look at verse 28. She meets Elisha and she says to him, did I ask for a son from the Lord? Did I not say, do not deceive me?

You see what she's saying? I didn't ask for this boy. You promised him. I didn't ask for this grief. Why would you allow God to bring about conception and the birth of a boy only to have him snatched away? This doesn't make any sense. We're not told any of the reasons why.

But Elisha immediately moves to restore the boy's life. For the sake of time Gehazi is sent with Elisha's rod and he's told to lay the rod over the body or on the body of the boy. We're not told why he was told to lay the rod on the body of the boy. Even though I read about eight reasons why.

We don't know why we come up with lots of reasons. But I read about eight. Well, we do assume based on the reaction of them that this was supposed to somehow restore life to the body of this boy.

And it doesn't work. It seems that God would associate closely the prophet with the miracle of resurrection. Just as that had happened with Elijah. Just as the greater Elijah would bring about the resurrection of Lazarus.

So when Elisha arrives, the miracle of resurrection takes place and we're just told a few things. And Elisha returned and walked into the house once back and forth. He went up and stretched himself on him.

The lad sneezed seven times. The lad opened his eyes and he called Gehazi and said, call this Shunammite. And when she came into him, he said, take up your son. Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground and took up her son and went out.

Either way, this is a wonderful foreshadowing. It's an illustration at best of Christ's appearance in the air. And the church is raptured. But prior to that, just a brief second, those who died in Christ, including the babies, their bodies glorified, go to be with the Lord in the air.

Impossibilities number five and six occur. Next, in rather brief succession, they all have to do with food. One story revolves around poisonous food, the other one around not enough food. Look at verse 38. When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets. Now, remember, ladies and gentlemen, that the prophets lived in a communal sort of a setting. There was in Gilgal a place where a seminary or a school of the prophets was located where these men could study.

And from this location, they would go out on their adventures of faith. The text tells us at the beginning of the verse a very critical phrase. There is a famine in the land.

That means the righteous ones of God are suffering along with everyone else. There's a lack of food. And Elisha says, hey, let's put on the pot and let's boil some stew, probably nothing more than flavored water, but let's get our soup spoons out and our bowls and let's have a little fellowship here. Maybe pretend.

Who knows? Well, one of the young seminarians decides to go out into a nearby field and gather some wild vegetables, which turned out to be poisonous. Serves him right for trying to go find vegetables.

But look at verse 39. Then one went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered from it. It's his lap full of wild gourds. The Hebrew word indicates this was a wild cucumber. And he came and he sliced them into the pot of stew. How like this.

For they did not know what they were. Now, this sounds like the way only a group of men would cook. We have no idea what we're doing, but they kind of look like cucumbers and let's just slice those babies up and make sure the water's boiling and it'll kind of boil up anything impure and make it disappear, right? That's how it works. Well, I think this has to be the first reference in the Bible to potluck.

You put everything in the pot and you hope you get lucky and live. This is what they're doing here. Verse 40, so they poured it out for the men to eat. Just the men. Maybe they're testing it.

I don't know. It came about as they were eating of the stew that they cried out and said, oh, man of God, there is death in the pot. Now, I don't want to ruin your lunch, but what's happening here is these men are losing theirs, all right? The Bible says they were unable to eat.

That's quite an understatement. Verse 41, but he said, now bring meal. And he threw it into the pot. And he said, pour it out for the people that they may eat. Then there was no harm in the pot. Now, this is one more miracle that's easy to pass by. The miracle was not in the meal any more than it was in our last discussion in the handful of salt. Elisha could have thrown a handful of weeds in there. Then it would have worked. If the meal had somehow naturally drawn the poison, then they would have been foolish to not strain the stew and separate the meal.

He didn't. He just threw in some meal, and he said, it's all right to eat. Go ahead. Now, wait a second here. You're at this potluck, and you've just seen a few of your close friends turn green and run into the woods. And Elisha says, the pot's OK. Let's eat up. What would you say? Excuse me. I've lost my appetite.

No, thank you. If Elisha had taken a poll and said to all those gathered around, maybe 150 or 200, how many of you believe that I've cured the pot? We would have all raised our hands. Yeah, he's a man of God, the prophet of God. He did it.

OK, how many of you want a bowl? The reason I'm making that point is that for this miracle to be enjoyed, this group of people had to not only say they believed, they had to operate in behalf of what they said they believed. They had to operate on the basis of the word of God in the prophet of God, not on the basis of what they'd just seen happen from people who'd eaten it.

You think God does that to us? Not based on things we see, but based only on his word he asks us to operate? You see, God intends to develop their faith and ours as well. He's committed to building in us not just crisis faith, but confident faith. Not just confident faith, but confirmed faith.

Not just confirmed faith, but contagious faith. Now, if you've ever had delicious stew, which this potluck turned out to be, the meal really needs, what it needs is some good bread. The kind where you can just sort of sop it into your bowl and eat it, and if you don't have company over, you can kind of swipe the bottom of the bowl and get one last morsel.

Well, that's what happens here. Verse 42. Now a man then came from Baal-Shalishon, brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain and his sack. Now this is really turning into a Thanksgiving meal here. And he said, give them to the people that they may eat.

And his attendant said, what? Shall I set this before 100 men? That is this little sack of 20 loaves. The loaves would be about the size of the palm of my hand. You're going to feed 20 of those little pancake things to 100 men? Six men could eat those.

My two boys could eat those, probably. He said, give them to the people that they may eat. For thus says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left over. Faith again in the word alone. So he set it before them and they ate.

And guess what? They had some left over according to the word of the Lord. This also is a foreshadowing of Christ who would feed the multitude by means of that miracle of creation. There's a famine in the land here. Yet the servants of God are enjoying a rare feast because they are willing to live by the word of God. I want to tie this up with three thoughts. Number one, when your voice is silent and God works in you, there's little difficulty recognizing his power. George Mueller would often sit at his table with his orphans without any food.

You've probably read some of those stories. And he would give thanks to food that had not yet arrived. He wrote these words.

Listen carefully. God delights to develop the faith of his children. We ought, carefully follow this, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience. To be willing to take them from God's hand is a means, I say, and say it deliberately, trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats are the very food of faith.

It's good, isn't it? Second thought, when your strength is broken and God works through you, there is no question who receives the credit. We have a terrible tendency, ladies and gentlemen, to obscure the glory of God.

We have a horrible habit of stealing praise. And the way we pray and the way we share answered prayer with others. And that's why when you get in a dark room and your hands are tied, it's a wonderful thing to your faith and to your spiritual character. To know that God's hands are at work, you can depend on him.

And when things happen, when the light comes on, it's clear who flipped the switch. Maybe he's keeping it off in our lives until we are willing to give him the glory for when it comes to God. Third, while God's solutions may be temporary, the lessons learned can last a lifetime. Now, we're not told, by the way, at chapter four at the end of it, that the famine lifted.

This is an interesting point. We're not told that their stomachs would never growl with hunger again. We're not even told that the Shumanite couple outlived their son. We're not told that there weren't funerals in their future as they had.

Some solutions are temporary, but that's the story of Israel. And in fact, more than 300 times in the Old Testament, that record which is supposed to give us what we can have in our New Testament lives, they are told to remember, remember, remember what? That God will do something so that you'll never grow hungry again. Oh no, remember what he did when you were hungry that time? You remember how dark that room was when God turned the light on? You remember that tragedy that God gave you the grace to go through?

Remember, remember, remember. You see, those lessons can last your lifetime. And what Paul said, by the word of God, can come true in your life and mine, where as we learn the lessons of the Israelite nation, we can have perseverance. We can have encouragement.

We can have hope. But when our hands are tied, God's hands are at work. We certainly hope that seeing how Elisha walked through difficult times will help and encourage you when you face times of trouble. This is Wisdom for the Heart featuring the Bible Teaching Ministry of Stephen Davey. In addition to equipping you with these daily Bible lessons, we also have a magazine that includes articles written by Stephen to help you think biblically about various topics related to the Christian life. For example, we recently published an issue to help Christians understand our relationship with the Old Testament law and another issue on the topic of church discipline and how to restore a brother or sister who's ensnared in sin. The magazine also has a daily devotional guide that you can use to remain grounded in God's word every day. We call it Heart to Heart. We send Heart to Heart magazine to all of our wisdom partners, but we also send several issues as a gift to all new listeners to this program. You can click the magazine link on our webpage and introduce yourself that way. You can also call us. Our number is 866-48-BIBLE. That's all for today, but please join us again next time for more wisdom for the heart. .