Suggested reading: 2 KINGS chapter 4 verses 38-41

Continued:

In our previous meditation we focused on a simple POT that was God’s answer to the crisis of a famine that was facing the people in the time of Elisha, the prophet, who succeeded Elijah. We reminded ourselves that God often chooses the seemingly weak and insignificant things of the world to accomplish His purposes. Indeed, it was the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, on a Roman cross that has made the possibility of salvation from sin available to each one of us, who trust Him!

In today’s meditation we discover further important lessons about God’s salvation. All the people had to do to escape death from the famine that engulfed them was to follow His instructions given through Elisha. Sadly, as is so often the case, there are always those who think they know better than God. On this occasion, they were happy to make use of the POT OF STEW, but they decided to add to it; therefore, one of them went out into the field and gathered some wild gourds, although no one had any idea whether they would be harmful to consume or not.

When it comes to God’s Word, the Bible, that sets out His plan of salvation, many people want to accept the parts that suit them, remove the parts that do not and add their own ideas to it. Such a course of action is fraught with danger! And so it proved to be in Elisha’s day! They sliced the wild gourds into the POT and it was not long before the cry was heard: ‘MAN OF GOD, THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT’. The contents of the pot ought to have brought hope and life to the people but they resulted in tears, sorrow and death.

This simple pot reminds us that we add to or take away from God’s plan of salvation at our peril!

To be continued