Sermon Central
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Its Only A Mirage
Contributed by Randall Lavere Ii on May 1, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Often times in life we look at the present things of this world as if they are all that we have, but fortunately for us, things aren’t always as bad as they look.
V.11- Up to this point, the king of Israel (Joram), was betrayed by The king of Moab. Every year, Moab had to pay a hundred thousand lambs, and the wool of a hundred thousand rams, to the king of Israel. It was almost like a tax.
But since the Old King Ahab had died, and Joram took his place, the king of Moab was no longer going to pay his taxes. Joram did what he felt he had to do, he mobilized his troops, and called his allies for help.
Joram got with The king of Edom, and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, and said will you go with me? Jehoshapat said yes we will go, but which way are we going to go?
Joram answered back, we will go through the desert of Edom.
So these 3 kings take off with all three of their great armies, and begin to march through the desert of Edom. The bible then says that after a round about march of seven days, that the army had no more water for themselves, or their animals.
After 7 days, The king of Israel said What, has the Lord called us three kings together, only to hand us over to Moab?
I can imagine the King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, saying, what is there not a prophet of the Lord here that we may ask the Lord what to do?
What do you mean Joram, that you led us out here on your own vision? Are you saying that you did not seek the Lord before you gathered us together and started out to battle with the armies of Moab?
One of the officers spoke up and said, Elisha, the son of Shaphat is here, he’s the one who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah. So the 3 kings went down to him.
Immediately Elisha said to the king of Israel, what do I have to do with you? Joram was the son of Ahab and Jezebel. Go to the prophets of your mother and father, and they will help you out. Joram then said, no, because is was the Lord who called us together to hand us over to moab.
Elisha then said, if I did not have respect for Jehoshaphat, I would not even look at you, nor even notice you, But since he is here, bring me a harpist.
While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha and he said, “Thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches. You will not see wind or rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you and your animals will drink.
This is an easy thing for the Lord.
The request of Elisha to bring him a harpist, was one of the main points of interest in this story. The prophet of God, The servant of Elijah, the heir of the double portion asks for a minstrel, or a musician to come and sing to him.
The reason why we have music in our services, is to get our minds focused upon the Lord. We see in the bible several times, where music was used to comfort people who were oppressed. (Saul) We see music being used as a celebration (Red sea). And now we are seeing it be used to get into one accord with the Lord.
The bible says that as the musician played, the Hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he began to prophecy.
Make this valley full of ditches-God said he would supply our needs, but he never said that we wouldn’t have to work for it.
Sometimes it is hard work to get things into order to receive the blessings of God-
What God was saying was-make this valley capable of holding water.
What do you do when you’ve come to the end of your rope? What do you do, when you’ve done everything that you’ve known how to do? You begin to dig.
Its interesting to me, that for 7 days they wandered aimlessly, not really having a route in mind. They knew what they were going to do, but they did not know how they were going to get there.
The kings went to the prophet wanting to get a word about where they could find water, and they probably expected him to tell them to dig a well where they were standing. Or they wanted him to tell them to go over the next hill, and they would find something. But what he told them was to make the valley full of ditches.
God said, you will not see wind, and you will not see rain, but these ditches will be filled with water.
God doesn’t do anything by accident. He doesn’t waste your time, when the Lord says move, you’ve got to move. When he says shout, you’ve got to shout, and when he says dig, you’ve got to dig.
