Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-17).

This is one of those "I wish I were there" accounts. While, as Christians, we are commanded to walk by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7), here we have sight. Elisha's attendant is given a privileged perspective, where he can clearly see what the Psalmist simply hopes and prays:

But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.

I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about. (Psalm 3:3-6).

Friends, these accounts are given to us so that we might believe and know that our faith is on the solid and unshakable ground of God's sovereign power. They are given to give us perspective, so that we might understand the folly of living for any earthly thing. They are given to supply us with courage when our circumstances and wicked people cause us to fear or to be distressed. 

As she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had just said, “Tell me some stories about the great things Elisha has done.” And Gehazi was telling the king about the time Elisha had brought a boy back to life. (2 Kings 8:4, 5 NLT)

I find this reading interesting. Unless this is a different servant of Elisha by the same name, Gehazi was afflicted with severe leprosy just a few chapters before in the account of the healing of Naaman:

Because you have done this, you and your descendants will suffer from Naaman’s leprosy forever.” When Gehazi left the room, he was covered with leprosy; his skin was white as snow. (2 Kings 5:27 NLT)

So here we find this leprous former servant of Elisha giving an account to the wicked King Joram of Israel of all the great things Elisha had done. But what is absent from this dialogue is the acknowledgement of God, repentance from sin, and the necessary turning back to God in obedience to His Word. 

Gehazi recounts the amazing story of how Elisha raised a widow's son from the dead. In fact, the woman appears with her son at the very moment to verify the truth of Gehazi's account (2 Kings 8:1-6). Yet, these men fail to connect the miracle to God, even when there is a living witness. A miraculous story without the response of repentance and faith remains just a story.

I am humbled today by this account. I also read a very interesting biographical portrayal of Elisha's servant Gehazi. Here we find a king, who is better than most of the wicked kings of Israel. Here we find a prophet's servant, who doesn't seem all that bad. Yet, they both seem to come short in repentance and faith. They recount the stories of the amazing works of God without ever knowing and embracing the God of these stories.

Friends, let us not fail in this regard. Let us not read and share the Bible as just a collection of interesting stories.

Just from my time at GHC, which has now been eight years, I have been eight times through the Bible in at least five different versions. And I don't remember how many times I've been through it before this. Those of you that have followed this site from the beginning should now be in the midst of your third time through.

I have not emphasized immediate application of the Bible for those of you that have never read through the Bible at least once. You can get into a lot of trouble for yourselves and others if you have not grasped the whole testimony of Scripture. Certainly, even those that have read the Bible for many years misinterpret and misapply the Bible. Therefore, it is important that you understand the whole as well as any part. The more that you carefully read, the better grasp you will have of the context of any particular truth in the Bible and the more likely you will interpret correctly and apply rightly. 

Yet, if by the Holy Spirit, who ultimately teaches us and convicts us, you are given clarity and perception of what God desires in you from His Word, I would encourage and admonish you to earnestly and diligently begin to apply the truths of God's Word to your life, even as I have only begun to do now. I don't believe there is ever a point where we will completely understand everything, but there is a point where we understand enough to confidently apply at least what we have understood. And with humility and by prayer I believe we will be granted mercy and grace as we seek to wisely and boldly obey God. Therefore, dear friends, let us "work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work within us to will and to work according to His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).

We see here in today's reading that the zeal for His promise to king David preserves his offsprings.

When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. ² But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram^h]">[h] and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. ³ He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

The evil grandmother who craved so much for power killed all her grandchildren but God protected Joash, only male of David's line, through his aunt and preserved family line of David, eventually of our Lord Jesus. God always remembered His promise to David that his descendents would never leave the throne of Israel. Isn't it comforting that God loves us not according to our accomplishments but in accordance with His unconditional love and faithfulness. If His love for us were one that we have between man and woman, we would have already been abandoned by Him long time ago because we fall, due to our own weaknesses, over and over again and lose sight of His love and mercy. We simply love this world more than God just as the Israelites fell into idolatry of worshipping the golden calves as their god. Or sometimes the pang of guilt blinds our mind and makes us turn away from God instead of clinging more to Him through what Christ did for us. Again God's love for His children is not based on who we are or what we do but on who He is. Isn't His faithfulness great? Let us remember it throughout today and be joyful before Him!

I read what would happen if we were left alone without God's restraint on our sinfulness in this world. Samaria was under siege by the Armean army for a long time and there was a severe famine that might have been unprecedented. The people started doing unimaginable things that we think we would never do. Especially the story of a woman who cooked her baby for dinner just churned my stomach upside down! I told myself how she could do such an inhumane thing. But I realized that the Holy Spirit always guards my heart from evil that lurks inside and outside of me to trap me into pit of darkness. It's not me who enables myself to be alert to evil but it is Him who loves me and protects me with his invisible arms! Brothers and sisters! Let us go to the Lord today with contrite heart and thank Him for always protecting us and never leaving us abandoned in our sins.

⁴¹ As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴² and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you." (Luke 19:41-44)

God's justice demands judgment for sin and disobedience, but his heart is that no one should perish.  As Americans rejoice over the death of what Osama bin Laden represents, I think we should weep even over the death of this lost soul.