READ: 2KINGS7:1-9
Our text
introduces us to the challenging attitude of the lepers who experienced a
turn-around in their situation. No condition is permanent. A leper is usually
viewed as an outcast, but today’s leper may be tomorrow’s instrument of
progress. In the olden days, when a person was said to have leprosy, it was
another way of saying that such a person was dead alive. As a matter of fact,
according to Numbers 5:1-4, God commanded the children of Israel that anyone
who was leprous must be taken out the camp. He must not be allowed to live within
the city. Lepers were outcasts and lived in terrible conditions. They were sick
in the body, soul and spirit. They were hopeless. In this particular Bible
passage, these lepers were sick in the spirit because they did not even include
God in their calculations at all. A leper cannot trade or farm but only lives
on charity, and so is always a poor person. These four lepers were bound to
die, whether they were fed or not because there was no cure for leprosy. Under
normal circumstances, a leper is a desperate person. In the situation described
in our text, they were even more desperate living among normal but equally
desperate people. Fortunately for them, however, there was a silver lining in
their dark clouds. No matter how terrible your situation may be, there would
always be a ray of light. These lepers, though desperate, were not mad so they
could still assess their situation correctly. They were able to ask one another
why they should sit down in their situation and die. Their brains were
functioning well. There is nobody is this world who hasn’t got one reason or
the other to thank God. I once wanted to thank God but did not know what to
thank Him for. He asked me to start the 365 miracles. He gave me in the past
year. Initially, I could not figure out what the 365 miracles were all about.
The Lord told me that He woke me up 365 times in the year. He told me that it
was a miracle that I went to bed and woke up on each of those days. Do you know
that God has given you more than three hundred miracles this year? Have you
ever said, “Thank you, Lord?” Don’ttake
anything for granted. Be grateful. Give thanks unto the Lord.
MEMORIZE:
PSLAM57:7 –My heart is steadfast, O God my heart is steadfast; I will sing and
give praise.
