I & II Kings

It's Sunday!  I love Sundays!  I get to be with God's people and see God move in our midst.  Souls will be saved, lives will be changed, decisions for Christ will be made, and God's Word will be preached!  Sunday.... yeah!! I'm in I & II Kings this morning, and here are some thoughts: 1) WHO IS CAUSING ALL OF THE TROUBLE?  In I Kings 18, Ahab, King of Israel, comes to Elijah and says in verse 17:  "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"  and in verse 18, Elijah answers back:  "I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house,"  Now, Israel had trouble!  They were in a three year famine, they were eating their children, people were starving to death, and it was sad days.... but, the question is:  Who is causing all of the trouble?  The answer is that it was Ahab and the people of Israel who had "forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim."  (vs. 18)  When we forsake God, we deal with the consequences.  Things go bad!  The way of the transgressor is hard!  (the Bible says)  Today we have problems in our country, but it is not the God fearing people who are causing all of the trouble, it is those who would remove God's influence from our land.  They are causing the trouble! 2) GOD OF HILLS AND VALLEYS- In I Kings 20, Ben-hadad, king of Syria, came against the King of Israel with a superior force by far, but God intervened and told Ahab that the battle would be won to prove that God was the God of Israel.  The Syrians came to battle in the hills and were wiped out.  So, a year later, they replace man for man, weapon for weapon, but want to fight in the plains.  for they say in verse 23:  "Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they."  The prophet once again comes to Ahab and tells him in verse 28:  "Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD."  Sure enough, God had them wiped out again!  God is the God of the hills and the valleys! 3) NOT THE STAFF, BUT THE MAN!  Gehazi carried the staff of Elisha to the Sunammite's son, but it did not bring forth life.  The power was not in a staff, but in God and the man who trusted in God.  Had Gehazi had faith like Elisha, he too could have seen this miracle happen, but it took the man of God to go to the boy and pray over him, pouring out his heart to God for the son's life.  In II Kings 4, we have this story, and finally Elisha could say in verse 36:  "take up thy son". This is all for today.  Have a blessed Sunday!  Pastor Mike Mutchler