Sermon Central
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"A Simple Matter”
Contributed by Larry Grant on Jan 15, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: As God gives freely to the unworthy, so he gives richly, like himself, more than we are able to ask or think. His gifts outdo our requests and expectations.
“A Simple Matter”
January 15, 2023
The Division
King Jehoram of Israel was not an honorable man. “He did evil in the sight of the Lord” Though he was not like his father Ahab or his mother Jezebel because he put away the sacred things of the false god Baal, we are told that he still persisted in the sins of Jeroboam.
The “Sin of Jeroboam” is division. Because of his rebellion against the house of Solomon the nation split into the NORTH (Israel) and the SOUTH (Judah). The policy of Jeroboam as King of Israel was to bring about a religious as well as political disruption of the kingdom. He therefore sought to discourage the yearly pilgrimages to the Temple at Jerusalem. His government exhibited one idea-that of raising a barrier against the reunion of the tribes.
We are given this information about Jehoram because in our lesson he is the one who initiates the reunion of Judah and Israel and God does not want us to believe that Jehoram had anything but selfish intentions! History tells us that Mesha king of Moab sees Jeroboam as a weak king not like his evil father Ahab. So, Jeroboam went to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?"
When division is at your core it does not take much trouble before your weakness is revealed. At the first sign of hardship, they ran out of water, King Jehoram said in verse 10, “For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.” This lesson teaches us that this is a simple matter, this is not complex. Evil people do evil things. And yet Jehoshaphat supports him anyway? Don’t change who you are because they are the way they are!
The Direction
But Jehoshaphat said in verse 11, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?” But the prophet Elisha knew the character of Jehoram and said in verse 13 to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” He said, “surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you, nor see you.” It is good being with those that have God's favor and his prophet's love. Wicked people often fare the better for the friendship and society of those that are godly.
Sometimes even the preacher gets distracted by evil folks and needs the songs of Zion to clear his head! “Bring me a musician." He composed himself to receive instructions from God. To hear God's praises sweetly sung, as David had appointed, would cheer his spirits, and settle his mind, and help to put him into a right frame both to speak to him and to hear from him. Those that desire communion with God must keep their spirits quiet and serene. When the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon the prophet and he said, "Thus says the Lord: 'Make this valley full of ditches.' For thus says the Lord: 'You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.”
They were seven days into the march, and they could not go back for tools for digging. They were already in a valley, but God needed them to dig deeper. This is a Simple Matter! Sometimes we are just not deep enough to handle what God has coming for us. God said that they must dig ditches in the middle of the dry valley. They will feel no wind nor see any rain, but dig anyway because water was promised from God.
And this is a simple matter in the sight of the Lord; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. "This is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord; you shall not only be saved from perishing, but shall return in triumph." As God gives freely to the unworthy, so he gives richly, like himself, more than we are able to ask or think. His gifts outdo our requests and expectations. Those that sincerely seek for the gift of God's grace shall have it, and by it be made more than conquerors.
The Deliverance
In verse 20 when the worship began, and an offering was given, and suddenly water began to flow from God and fill the ditches. When the enemy, standing on their border, saw the water from a distance, they too had felt no wind and seen rain and they surmised that what they were seeing in the distance was puddles of blood on the dry valley floor. They thought that Israel, Judah and Edom fought with themselves during the night, and they were now weakened. When the king of Moab attacked he found these 3 Kingdoms too fierce to defeat and Israel, Judah and Edom were victorious! This is a Simple Matter! The lesson learned here is that we don’t need to worry about the enemy because God can cloud the eyes of the enemy so they will not see his plan.
