Do My Decisions Matter?

Lesson: Right Not to Remain Silent
Read: 2 Kings 7:3-16

Contagious skin diseases such as leprosy were so dangerous to society that those who suffered from them had to be ostracised from others. Leprosy can be caught through the air like a cold or the flu, and can even be transmitted by touching the clothing of an infected person.

So although these four people sat outside the city gate, they might have given their disease to anyone just walking by too closely. Men like this were outcasts of Israel, even though by birthright they had citizenship according to their lineage in one of the twelve tribes. They could not take part in Temple worship, were barred from relating to their families, and experienced virtually no human contact except with others like them.

How fitting is it, then, that God would use these four men to announce His gracious provision.

The king of Israel, in his stubbornness and lack of strong leadership of his people, did not deserve God’s help against the besieging Arameans. He had lost hope of rescue, even blaming God for Elisha’s decision to not wipe out the Arameans when they had the chance (2 Kings 6:1-18).

This king would have rather killed God’s prophet than trust that God would provide. Often our trust toward God is conditional. It only lasts as long as the severity of the last trial we experienced. When God comes through, we thank and praise Him. But when the next spell of trouble is even worse, we forget His past goodness and mercy. God knows we have short memories and little faith, and He is there to forgive us when we repent of our mistrust and grumblings against Him.

Many centuries later, God’s Son would stand on a hillside north of Samaria and feed thousands of weary people by creating bread and fish out of thin air. These were besieged people, as well. They had spent several generations under the rule of Rome. Their Temple in Jerusalem had been commandeered by an outwardly pious band of hypocrites. The God who had once spoken to them through the prophets had been silent for a long time.

But now this ordinary carpenter’s son from a neighboring town was there, healing their diseases, feeding them from a boy’s afternoon snack, and explaining that Gods’ kingdom had come near to them. Most of these people didn’t possess enough faith to believe that their promised Messiah had actually arrived. But for some, the miracles He did were signs that pointed plainly the eternal rescue from sin He offered.