IT'S IN GOD'S HANDS (2 KINGS 5:1-27)

 

IT’S IN GOD’S HAND

BIBLE PASSAGE: 2 KINGS 5: 1-27

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://baptistlessons/

 JULY 03, 2022

MEMORY VERSE

As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

ECCLESIASTES 5:15

 

INTRODUCTION:

People think that they are in control of their lives without realizing that there’s a Supreme God who made everything. People feel this way especially when they do need nothing which means

they are supplied of everything; they have better job and still strong and no sickness to be worried about. In the other hand, there are also people who are incapable of acquiring something in this world and waiting for God’s blessings but times go on and they are tempted to be greedy and thinking they can be acquiring something according to their means and without thinking the possibility of the chastening of the Lord.

 

Our topic for this month is “giving” we’re talking about different situations in life wherein we can see how these characters in the Bible dealt with the sin of covetousness and how they realized that God is in control of their lives. 

 

Do you believe that one way of proving you’re maturing is through giving? It is quite possible to covet not only what belongs to others but to covet what belongs to God.  This happens when you are keeping a portion of His property.  Scripture relates that our relationship to material possessions is a key to understanding our relationship to God.  The opposite of covetousness is the two Spirit-given qualities: contentment and generosity. If you’re a babe in Christ, do you give generously? At the infant level there is no giving. Like many in the church, he must be fed, entertained, and cleaned up.  He cries when he doesn’t get what he wants.

 

In the of the ten commandment the word “covet” is there. What does this word mean? Covetousness is the opposite of generosity. Covetousness is desiring and plotting to take

something that is not yours to have. In Colossians 3:5, covetousness is described as one form of idolatry – worshiping the other god. Why? If you don’t believe that your God is the source and you go to illegitimate means to get it and the bible warns us about this in Luke 12. Don’t say that I wouldn’t reach that point in my spiritual life to covet something that is not mine. “I’M OKAY.” Remember what we have read.  The story is introduced with Gehazi being described as “the servant of Elisha, the man of God.” Here is one of the things that makes this story so sad, and at the same time a warning to each of us. He was not a man without opportunities. As a servant of Elisha, he was also a student of Elisha. He had the privilege of knowing this great man of God. He had the example of Elisha’s life and the message of his lips as a tremendous source of instruction, challenge, learning, and motivation for godliness and a life of service. Yet he failed to capitalize and grow through this privilege.

Gehazi is the servant who saw great things happened. A servant of the prophet Elisha. He was first mentioned in 2 Kings 4:12, where Elisha would command him to do something. He saw many miracles take place. He witnessed a childless woman (and her old husband) have a child (verse 17). When the woman's child, a boy, died, he saw him live again (verses 35-37). He saw miracles other than that. He saw a poisonous pot of stew be purified and made safe to eat (verses 38-41). He also a hundred people satisfy themselves with but a few portions of food, with much leftover (see verses 42-44). These accounts would make us think that he was very fortunate to have witnessed with his own eyes things that no normal man can do without God. It must have been very exciting and hair-raising to see a dead boy back to life, something poisonous become edible, and a hundred people have their fill from a little amount of food.

In 2 Kings 5, Naaman was healed from leprosy and in return, he wanted to give something in return to the prophet, but Elisha said in verse 16,

 ^“But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.” (“Saksi si Yahweh, ang buháy na Diyos na aking pinaglilingkuran,^[a] hindi ako tatanggap ng kahit ano.”)

This chapter revealed to us that something wrong in Gehazi’s heart: greed. Let’s remember that consequences follow our every choice, even if we serve God. EVERYTHING IS IN GOD’S HAND.

Have you ever thought of something about blessings and expect those from the Lord, but it seems like you’re waiting for so long?  Like the battle we have in this world, Gehazi, the servant, saw the opportunity to acquire wealth and he wanted to grab it. He made his way to acquire wealth through deception; he used Elijah’s name and the name of God. He also lied that there were two poor prophets who need support.  After doing the sin, Elisha told him in verse 26,

And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?

Tagalog: “Sinabi ni Eliseo, “Hindi ba't kasama mo ang aking espiritu nang bumabâ sa karwahe si Naaman at salubungin ka. Hindi ngayon panahon ng pagtanggap ng salapi, damit, taniman ng olibo, ubasan, tupa, baka at mga alipin!

It is not yet time, but Gehazi can’t wait for it. Greed grew in his heart. LET’S REMEMBER THAT…

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  NO ONE IS ABOVE GOD’S AUTHORITY

To begin with this story, a little background is needed to appreciate the context. The children of Israel live in the divided kingdom, the ten northern tribes formed the kingdom of Israel and two southern tribes formed the kingdom of Judah. The books of I and II Kings record the history of both kingdoms whereas the books of I and II Chronicles mainly focus on the history of Judah. Elijah was a powerful prophet who was sent to call the people of Israel back to God, and Elisha was his successor, who asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit when Elijah was taken up into heaven; his request was granted. What is interesting about this story’s characters is that Syria, where Naaman was from, did not have a good relationship with Israel. They were often fighting in war, as they would be in the next few chapters. The fact that Naaman has a servant girl from Israel would imply that she had been taken captive in war, and the king of Israel’s reaction to Naaman’s message shows the tension that was present between the two nations as the king supposes that the king of Syria is just looking for a fight. Nevertheless, Naaman does indeed find Elisha and a very interesting story follows. https://twentyeighteighteen.com/

 

Naaman was a great man; he was a valiant warrior, but he had a serious disease. He was a great man with leprosy, and we know at that time it is incurable. He thought he could buy the cure by sending gold, silver and gold to the king of Israel. Then with the instruction of the prophet, he got furious because he didn’t expect the way of instruction the prophet had said. Because of his status, he expected something; he expected to be cured on that time and immediately but instead, the prophet had instructions to follow. The instructions were not acceptable to him, he expected to be washed in fancy places for the cure, but it was a simple river and there’s number of how many times to wash. At the end, he humbled and followed; his pride had to go. At the end, he said in verse 17,

“Dahil dito, sinabi ni Naaman, “Kung ayaw ninyo itong tanggapin, maaari po bang mag-uwi ako ng lupa mula rito? Kakargahan ko ng lupa ang aking dalawang mola. Mula ngayon, hindi na ako mag-aalay ng handog na susunugin sa sinumang diyos liban kay Yahweh”

We can see that really no one is above God’s authority, and everything is in God’s hand.

 

2.  CONSEQUENCE FOLLOW OUR EVERY CHOICE, EVEN WE SERVE GOD

Gehazi was blessed to be near with the man of God. He had that great opportunities and privileged but he lost them. Opportunity and privileged are no guarantee of success; it’s in GOD’s HAND.

Let’s read verse 27 of 2^nd Kings chapter 5, “The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.” The consequence of his sin is leprosy. Leviticus 13:45-46 say,

“And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.

Sad to say that the consequence of his sin is not to him only but also to his descendants. He and his descendants are isolated.

Gehazi's greed was met with unpleasant consequences. We cannot expect to be exempted from the consequences of our sin, even if we spend all that we are to serve ministers or the church. Sin is sin and must be repented of and renounced.

3.  GOD CAN REVERSE THE IRREVERSIBLE CONSEQUENCES

What are the problems or situations we have right now which we think are impossible to have solutions? In case of Gehazi, his leprosy is incurable. He’d been outside the camp to avoid spreading of this sickness; he was unclean. Was his situation worst? Yes, you cannot do what you used to do. You are separate from friends and other people. Let’s read 2 Kings chapter 8: 4

And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.

This verse mentioned that Gehazi talked to the king. How come that he could talk to the king if he had leprosy. Commentaries wrote the possible reasons why he can talk to the king: the chronological order of the events, he might have talked to the king in a distance and many more. Let’s read the first six verses:

¹Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. ² And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³ And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. ⁴ And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. ⁵ And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. ⁶ And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

Now let’s read chapter 7 of 2^nd Kings (read from the Bible). Some commentaries mentioned no name with these four leprous men, but other commentaries said that there is possibility that this is Gehazi and his sons which mentioned by Jews on that time. It was not mentioned possibly because he was living in a curse. These leprous men can now eat and drink with God’s blessings. God made a noise of chariots so that the enemies would leave the place and their stuff. God prepared the food for them and for Israel because that time, it has famine. Remember what Elisha said to Gehazi that it’s not yet time to take money and now it’s time to have everything because it’s God’s will. The events in chapter 5, 7 and 8 are in order that we can see the blessing of Gehazi. In verse 8, he talked to the king and became a witness of Elisha to the king; it’s like a liaison officer. Whatever situation we are in right now, GOD CAN REVERSE THE IRREVERSIBLE CONSEQUENCES.

CONCLUSION:

Let’s remember Job’s situation. Despite Job’s immense loss and suffering in losing everything, including his children and livestock, he rightly praised God as “he fell to the ground in worship” (Job 1:20). He then said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (verse 21). Basically, Job is saying that he came into the world with nothing and will leave the same way when he dies (cf. Ecclesiastes 5:15).

“As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.” All that he ever had was a gift, and God is sovereign over those gifts.