Old Sandals

“And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him  as  a burnt offering upon the wall; and there was great indignation against Israel. So they departed from him and returned to  their own  land.”

What kind of king would offer his own son as a burnt offering in a desperate attempt to appease a pagan god?

Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead! So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

Elisha had been given a double portion of the spirit of Elijah.  He was even more of a miracle-worker than Elijah had been. He was God’s anointed. It is a dangerous thing to mess with God’s anointed.  Soon-to-be King David knew better.  These youths, sadly, did not.

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 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them,  Is it  because  there is  no God in Israel  that  you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore, thus says the Lord: You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.

We are nothing without the Lord our God.  What are all our accomplishments if our hearts are not right with God?

I am inadequate – without Christ who gives me power
I am insensitive – without my Lord who makes me see and feel another’s hurt
I am alone – if I try and walk the path myself
I am powerless  – if I believe I can do it in my own strength alone
I am destined to lose – if it is only for my own sake that I live this life
I will fail – should success be my only criterion for living
I will stumble – unless God shows me the way
I remain nothing – until God uses me for something

“And [Jehoshaphat] walked in all the ways of his father Asa. He did not turn aside from them, doing  what was  right in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless the high places were not taken away,  for  the people offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.”

Jehoshaphat did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. And yet he wasn’t perfect.  The high places were not taken away.  The Lord is not looking for perfection. He alone is perfection.  He is looking for those whose hearts are right with Him.

“And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”

The God of heaven and earth is very much involved with us – in real time, in real space.  In response to Ahab’s humility, the Lord delayed His judgement foretold by the prophet.

“Now a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor by the word of the Lord, Strike me, please. And the man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, surely, as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you. And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him.”

This is certainly a very difficult verse to understand.  But, if nothing else, this verse underscores the fact that the LORD puts a high premium on obedience.

“So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who  was  plowing  with  twelve yoke  of oxen  before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.”

This is one of many stories from Sacred Scripture I hope to see on Heaven’s big screen.  But what I’ll see then might be different from what I imagine now.  From Heaven’s perspective, the real story is what cannot be seen, at least with a fleshly eye.

“And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord  is  God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him. But the people answered him not a word.”

It is indeed either everything or it’s nothing.

“In devil’s dungeon chained I lay
The pangs of death swept o’er me
My sin devoured me night and day
In which my mother bore me
My anguish ever grew more rife
I took no pleasure in my life
And sin had made me crazy

Thus spoke the Son, “Hold thou to me
From now on thou wilt make it
I gave my very life for thee
And for thee I will stake it
For I am thine and thou art mine
And where I am our lives entwine
The Old Fiend cannot shake it”

Martin Luther

O welcome all you noble saints of old
As now before your very eyes unfold
The wonders all so long ago foretold
God and man at table are sat down

Elders, martyrs all are falling down
Prophets, patriarchs are gathering round
What angels longed to see now man has found
God and man at table are sat down

Who is this who spreads the victory feast
Who is this who makes our warring cease
Jesus, risen savior, prince of peace

Beggars, lame and harlots also here
Repentant publicans are drawing near
Wayward sons come home without a fear

Worship in the presence of the Lord
With joyful songs and hearts in one accord
And let our host at table be adored

Here he gives himself to us as bread
Here, as wine, we drink the blood he shed
Born to die, we eat and live instead
God and man at table are sat down

When at last this earth shall pass away
When Jesus and his bride are one to stay
The feast of love is just begun that day
God and man at table are sat down

R.J. Stamps

(A favorite of Pope John Paul II)

“So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for  many  days.”

This was faith in action, and the LORD God honored it.

“Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who  were before him.”

One by one the kings of Israel sinned grievously against the LORD by worshipping false gods, and leading their people to do the same. It seems that each king in succession did more evil than the one before him.  None of them seemed moved either by the warnings of the prophets or by the actual judgements those warnings had referred to.