*** Please read the scripture from the Bible first as this is God's good Word!! ***

2 Kings Chapter 6 Verse 24 - 33 and Chapter 7 Verse 1 - 20

There was a constant battle between the kingdoms of the north and kingdoms of the south(Judea North, and Israel South), much like we see today in the land of Israel and Lebanon.

The king of Syria, Ben-hadad, gathered his army in effort to surround the City of Samaria. This was military tactic in the ancient times to surround a city behind walls and wait. They would wait to see who would give up first.

During this siege, there was a great famine in Samaria. The famine was so great that a donkey's head, and lentinals were sold for silver (Not much nourishment and flavor in a donkey's head)

The king of Samaria named Joram was walking along the the city wall when a woman cried out to him for help. Joram replied by saying, "If the Lord doesn't help you, how will I help you? By giving you food out of the barnfloor or out of the winepress?" Joram asked her, "What is your problem?" And the woman responded by saying, that her and another woman made a pact to eat her son today and the other woman's son tomorrow. So they at the womans son as agreed upon, however the other woman hid her son when it came time to eat him.

After hearing of this the king ripped his garment and wore sackloth a symbol of mourning. The king then sent a messenger to kill Elisha, since the king couldn't harm God, he wanted to harm God's servant. Elisha new that the messenger was coming and told the elders to shut the doors and distract the messenger. The messenger in anger said that this evil has come from the Lord and he is tired of waiting for something to happen.

Then Elisha spoke to the Joram and said that tomorrow at this time, flour and barley will be plentiful. However "a lord on whose hand the king leaned" claimed that he didn't believe this. He said, God will have to open the windows of Heaven and let the food fall from Heaven in order for this to happen. And Elisha then told him, you will see this food tomorrow with your own eyes but will not eat of it.

Now there were 4 leprous men outside the city between the gates of the city and the Syrian army. The came to the conclusion that if the go into the city they will die because there is no food with in the city, and if they stay out outside the gates they will die, and if the go surrender to the enemy they might be killed, but there is a chance that the enemy will have mercy and not kill them and they might eat. So in the morning the arose and headed for the Syrian camp only to find the camp abandoned.

God had presented the miraculous sound of a superior army charging in so that the Syrians would hear and be frightened. The Syrians thought that the king of Israel had called the kings of the Hittites and kings of the Egyptians to attack their army. They were so scared that they fled from their camps leaving everything behind including their tents, food, and horses.

The lepers arrived at the camp, but didn't find any soldiers. They found food and drink. They also found treasure, gold and silver. They took of the treasure and hid it, then came back for more and hid it. They then realized that they were not doing right. God had blessed them with food and drink, if they carried on with stealing the treasure and selfishness they would be punished, for it was a day of good tidings. So the decided to go tell the king of Samaria.

The lepers went to the gate of Samaria and called the "Porter" or gate keeper to tell him of their findings. The porter gathered the other porters and they went to tell thing king. The king then told them that he believed this was an ambush. He thought that they would be hiding in the bushes waiting to kill them. The king decided to send five horses with men to see, and if they were killed they were all doomed to die anyway. They ended up taking two chariots with men to explore the camp, along the way they found everything abandoned including garments and vessels that the Syrians left in their fleeing of haste. They reported back to Joram of their findings. Flour and barley were plentiful as Elisha prophesized. Joram then sent "a lord on whose hand the king leaned" to be keeper of the gate, but the people had trampled him in their haste to get the food. Once again Elisha had predicted that "a lord on whose hand the king leaned" would see the food, but not eat of it.

This depicts three different characters with three different hearts. You have the king of Syria, Joram, who is living with a rebellious heart, doing what he has to do because it is an obligation. He would do as Elisha said, but didn't like the fact that he had to do it. Then you have the character known as "a lord on whose hand the king leaned" mentioned twice in this story. He had an unbelieving heart. Then you have the four lepers who had desperate hearts.

What is your heart like? Few people even take time to consider it. They are son "into" the circumstances of their own life, they fail to consider the condition of their own heart before God. God looks on the heart, and He acts accordingly.

1. God Judges a rebellious heart. (We must have a heart of servitude to our God. We must have a humble heart and do what is right in order to obey our Lord.)
   
   
   • We all have a history of sin. (Jorum practiced idolatry and the city was full of paganism. This is the idea that they would only call on God when they needed something and "put God in their back pocket" when after they were blessed. The sense of being obligated to do what God says.)
   
   
   
   • We all have enjoyed God's mercy undeservedly. (As the city of Samaria exemplified, we all take God's blessings for granted, we all enjoy the blessings until something bad happens. Then we ask God "why do you do this to me?" When in fact God doesn't do bad unto you, however he allows you fall so that you will turn to him and trust in Him to pick you up.)
   
   
   
   • At some point in your life, God will bring pressure to bear on you in order to get your attention. (God brought the Syrians to siege the Samaria, they were forced to the point of cannibalism to survive. God puts pressure and shakes things up much like the recent events of 911 which forces individuals to turn to God.)
   
   
   
   • We sometimes do what God wants, but do so with unrepentant hearts. (Jorum would do what God asked through Elisha, but he did so out of obligation, not out of joy and glory. Much times we do things to "show off" that we are giving or helpful, but inside we really despise having to give or help.)
   
   
   
2. God Rejects an unbelieving heart. (We must believe "on" God, not in God, but ON God. What do I mean? Most people believe in God, that there is a God which only acknowledges that there is a God. We need to believe on God which means trust God with ALL of our dependence. Depend on God for all!!!!!)



• When we enjoy God's blessings we refuse to believe in His judgment. (We sometimes get caught up in our blessings and all to good fortune that is coming in our lives that we believe that God will not judge us.)



• When we suffer His judgment we refuse to believe in His blessing. (Much like "a lord on whose hand the king leaned" refused to believe Elisha's prophecy of God that said they would have flour and barley tomorrow at this time. He was so caught up in the suffering that his mind logically only could foresee that the city would all die of starvation, and that then only way they would be fed would be if Heaven opened its windows and dropped food in the city.)



• We must believe the word of God regardless the present circumstances. (We might miss out on God's blessing if we don't believe, much like "a lord on whose hand the king leaned" , Elisha said that he would see food with his own eyes but wouldn't eat of it.)



3. God saves a desperate heart. (Sometimes we have fallen to a low point in our life where we are desperate, this is one of the best states to be in because this is the point that we humbly turn to God.)



• A desperate heart has lost all illusion of hope. (The lepers were under a physical death sentence because of their disease. They weren't allowed in the city because of their disease, and would have been the last to get fed if they were allowed in the city because they were going to die anyway and they were trapped between the enemy and the city walls.)



• A desperate heart is willing to cast itself on the mercy of the enemy. (They were so desperate they believed their only chance of survival was to go to the enemy in hope of mercy.)



• A desperate heart finds unexpected and undeserved deliverance. (We don't deserve God's mercy, but he loves us and blesses us and delivers us from our trials. However we must have the heart of trusting that God will always provide being that God makes NO MISTAKES!)