“The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, ‘“Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgate of the heavens could this happen?’” “‘You will see with your own eyes,’” answered Elisha, “‘but you will not eat any of it!”
~ 2 Kings 7:2
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever felt like you are in an untenable situation? Have you ever felt like there is no way out of a jam in which you have found yourself? Have you ever felt like it just cannot get any worse but it does get worse? Your grandmaa and grandpaa had about $1,000 in the bank when in August of 1974, your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and Aunt Lynn left Aberdeen, South Dakota – where they had lived for two years, for Chicago so that your grandpaa could go to Moody Bible Institute. God had divinely directed your grandpaa to apply at Moody Bible Institute and He had divinely led the register of Moody Bible Institute to accept your grandpaa as a student. While your grandmaa and grandpaa were at a December 31, 1973 New Year’s Eve party, Joyce Wood – who was one of the hosts in the house where your grandmaa and grandpaa had gone for the New Year’s party, out of nowhere asked your grandpaa when he was and where he was planning to go to Bible School. Your grandpaa told Joyce that he was planning to begin Bible School in the fall but that he did not know which Bible School that he was going to. Joyce told your grandpaa that he should check into going to Moody Bible Institute. When your grandpaa told Joyce that he had never heard of Moody Bible Institute, Joyce told him that Moody Bible Institute is in Chicago. Even though your grandpaa had no desire at all to live in Chicago, your grandpaa decided that because of Moody Bible Institute not having tuition fees that he would to do whatever he had to do to become a Moody Bible Institute student.
Your grandpaa’s plan before he moved to Chicago with your grandmaa, dad and Aunt Lynn was to find a parttime job where he would earn enough money to buy the books that he would need for his Moody Bible Institute classes, to pay the rent and utilities costs, to buy gas and food and . . . because your grandpaa had been the manager for two years of the Beneficial Finance office that is in Aberdeen, South Dakota, your grandpaa was able to find a parttime job at a Beneficial Finance office in Chicago. It did not take very long for your grandpaa to go through the $1,000 that he had taken with him from Aberdeen to Chicago. After your grandpaa spent the $1,000, your grandpaa was encouraged to ask the married students’ dean at Moody Bible Institute if Moody Bible Institute could help him with a special gift. The special gift that Moody Bible Institute gave to your grandpaa helped for about month and then . . . then a gal who had contacted your grandmaa and grandpaa about buying their brass bed called again to ask your grandmaa and grandpaa if she could still buy their brass bed. What the gal gave your grandmaa and grandpaa for their brass bed helped to cover the rent for that month. Your grandpaa during this time was praying to God that He would let your grandpaa go to Moody Bible Institute fulltime without having his life and his family’s activities being interfered with or interrupted by having to go to a parttime job. Even though it seemed as if to your grandpaa that he had no other recourse but to find a fulltime job – which would have meant that your grandpaa would have had to discontinue being a student at Moody Bible Institute, your grandpaa believed that he was to continue to stay at Moody Bible Institute. The day or so after your grandmaa fixed some watery cool aid for something different for your dad and Aunt Lynn to have to drink and after your grandmaa and grandpaa had only a squash that a friend had given them to eat that another friend – who was the wife of an embalmer, who was a member of the church that your grandmaa and grandpaa were going to with your dad and Aunt Lynn showed up at the front door of the house where your grandmaa and grandpaa were living with at least ten bags of all kinds of things – from food to toiletry items. The wife of a funeral home director came with this friend when she delivered all the bags of badly needed stuff. Your grandmaa a day or so later got a call asking if she and your grandpaa would be willing – if paid $100 weekly, to move into a funeral home as the funeral home’s caretakers. God divinely having your grandmaa and grandpaa be the Zeiger-Mueller Funeral Home caretakers was the answer that God had for your grandpaa’s prayers.
The Kings Book historian recounts in 2 Kings 7 how God divinely kept an enemy people group army from overrunning Samaria’s land area. Ben-Hadad – who was the king who was ruling over the guys and gals who were living in the country of Aram, and his Aramean people group army had been besieging Samaria’s land area when they heard what sounded like a great army heading their way. Ben-Hadad and his Aramean people group army immediately – leaving all their stuff behind, headed for the Jordon River and their homes in the country of Aram. Verse 2 says, “The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, ‘“Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgate of the heavens could this happen?’” “‘You will see with your own eyes,’” answered Elisha, “‘but you will not eat any of it!”’ When two lepers discovered that the Aramean people group army had fled leaving all their stuff and after they told God’s specially chosen starving guys, gals and kids what they had found, the officer who had been leaning on the arm of the king who was ruling over the guys and gals who were living in Samaria’s land area was trampled to death by guys and gals rushing off to the Aramean people group army’s tents. God’s specially chosen famished guys and gals found the deserted Aramean people group army’s tents full of food. God is repeatedly reminding your grandpaa that He knows each situation that He has put your grandpaa in and that He knows the exact moment when He will step in to help. How have you been at pulling an Elisha kind of faith?
2 Kings 7 (964)