Every Day with Jesus

The ‘floating axe-head’ story is one of many about Elisha and his life as a prophet of God. These stories don’t take a chronological form, but are included in the overall narrative to show that God will reveal Himself even when His people do not follow Him. Some biblical commentators think that this story follows the one about Naaman because both take place at the River Jordan. 

Pride has been called the deadliest of sins, for it often precedes other sins. For instance, when someone who prizes their station in life believes they are being snubbed, they may act on their anger. This is what happened with Naaman. 

Not only does God work by imparting His wisdom, as we saw yesterday, but sometimes He does something miraculous through the things of His creation. In today’s passage, Elisha illustrates God’s miraculous extension of twenty loaves of barley bread to feed the hundred hungry men. 

God can answer our prayers through His miraculous intervention, but He also can use practical means, as we see illustrated today. Elisha is responsible for the company of prophets who travel with him, and when they have to scavenge for food in a famine-affected land, one of the servants gathers some wild gourds for them to eat. Scripture to consider: Ps. 77:13–14; Jer. 32:16–17; Matt. 17:17–20; Jo...

Elijah’s name means ‘the Lord is God’, and Elisha’s name means, ‘my God saves’. In a story that echoes that of Elijah raising the widow’s son from the dead (1 Kgs 17:17–24), Elisha lives out the meaning of his name when approached by a Shunammite woman. 

The first line of this story of Elisha’s performing God’s miracle for a widow and her children gives us a clue about the context. The ‘company of prophets’ are the group of prophets who accompanied Elijah and Elisha and who lived by their own means while supporting these men. 

In today’s passage, we see Elisha experiencing some of the highs and lows of his new title, ‘prophet’. He begins by exercising his authority as a man of God, ushering in God’s healing of the water, much to the delight of the townspeople of Jericho. 

As a Christian leader came to the end of his life, he shared some of his plans and ideas with the one he was mentoring. She soaked up his words, sensing that this was a holy moment. She believed that she was being called to take up the mantle he was passing to her. 

God provides for the overwrought Elijah. Having won a major victory against King Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel, Elijah has fled from them, travelling about eighty miles south to the city of Beersheba. Spent of his energy and deeply discouraged by the threats of Jezebel, he then travels even further away, this time a day’s journey alone into the wilderness.

Not only has he defeated the prophets of Baal, he’s just invented the barbecue.’ So muses popular author Nick Page about Elijah when he encounters the prophets of Baal. This is a wry observation, but one that reflects the power of the almighty God.

After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam became king, after which began the splitting of the kingdom. Rehoboam and the kings after him turned away from the true and living God as they embraced false gods, and the Lord removed His favour from them.

Hearing about leaders who succumb to temptation – often through illicit sexual relationships – can feel rather clichéd, as it seems to happen so often. Perhaps the power that leaders are given fuels illusions of them being impervious to correction. But when the truth comes out, they still have to face the consequences, just as Solomon did.

Solomon prays, and God responds. He appears before Israel’s leader and shares not only the promises of His relationship with His people but also the requirements. Namely that God will establish Solomon’s throne as promised to David (v5), but if God’s people betrayed Him, turning from Him, He will destroy the Temple (v8) and Israel will become an object of ridicule (v7).

After God appears as a cloud covering the Temple, we see Solomon’s response. He can’t help but express his wonder at the fact that God, who dwells in the heavens, would yet come and grace the Temple with His presence. 

Christians share how at times we sense God’s presence like a cloud that descends and envelops us. Such as when praying with others and God seems to inhabit our prayers through His presence in breath-taking ways. Or when we lift our voices and hands in worship amongst hundreds of others while marvelling at God’s palpable love and grace. 

Grief can lead to crazy actions. We may have heard of siblings warring against each other when their parents die, battling over material things or how to settle the estate. Blame is bandied about, with labels slapped on one another in emotionally charged exchanges. The loss of a loved one is therefore amplified in unfortunate ways. 

Dallas Willard, a renowned philosopher and writer on spiritual formation, was known for his humility and gentleness, and for being not only very smart but deeply wise. He once told a friend that he had asked God to give him sentences and phrases that would convey meaning memorably, such as his definition of joy: ‘a pervasive and constant unending sense of wellbeing’. 

For some Christians, reading the Hebrew Bible can feel like a foreign country where there’s seemingly a lot of laws and retribution without the grace of the New Testament God. If that’s you, spending a month in 1 and 2 Kings could prove reassuring as we glimpse the loving and holy God who longs for His people to stay true to Him. 

Our fortnight of exploring God the planter and harvester culminates in this passage from John’s Gospel, where Jesus declares to the crowds that He is the bread of life. And that whoever eats of Him will have eternal life (v.54). Bread was in the minds of the crowds when they heard Jesus’ declaration, for He had recently fed the 5,000 through the miraculous stretching of a young boy’s lunch of brea...

Those who come from a long line of farmers probably inherit a strong work ethic. From the influence of their forebears, they may have developed an awareness of the seasons and the need for rain – perhaps checking their rain gauge with interest and praying for rain in the midst of drought. 

We live in the age of the cloud. With easy access to our digital stuff now seemingly a need, technology companies have developed a vast system that hosts our data, from which we can pull our digital assets without a fuss. 

Some historians say that Paul’s letter to the Galatians brought about the Protestant Reformation, for Martin Luther preached from and wrote about this letter repeatedly, stressing that by faith alone are we justified before God. But as Scot McKnight, a modern biblical commentator, says provocatively, ‘While works do not save us, no one is saved without works’.

As we age, we start to wear down in our bodies, such as needing glasses as our arms seem to grow longer to read the small type, or when our joints wear away and we need them replaced. Other reminders of our perishable bodies arise regularly: indigestion; weariness; things just not working right or as well as they used to. 

In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he addresses some areas of their immaturity and sin. One is the number of factions that had cropped up among the believers, with some following one leader and others someone else. Paul wants them to grow up in the Lord; to reach a state of maturity where they can digest solid food, not just milk. 

We might breathe a sigh of relief when we read the hope-filled last chapter of the book of Hosea. As we read for thirteen chapters, we faced the ongoing heartbreak of Hosea and his wife, which symbolises God and His people. A major part of that story is the protracted courtroom scene where God confronts His people with His case against them.