Title: Please tell me the good news
2 Kings (17) Share the good news
(2 Kings 7:1-10)
<Avoid negative comments>
In 2 Kings 6, Samaria, the capital of northern Israel, was besieged by a great Syrian army, and the food in the city ran out. Then, a donkey head was traded for 80 shekels of silver, the wages of a laborer six days a week for a year, and a small cup of grain was traded for five shekels of silver, a month's wages for a laborer five days a week. Furthermore, an extreme situation occurred among the people, saying, “Eat my son today, and eat your son tomorrow!”
Faced with such a miserable situation, King Jehoram took off his robe and put on sackcloth and wept, but he could not remove the skin of his heart. Then, his attitude suddenly changed and he acknowledged God's sovereignty, and Elisha delivered the word of God's blessing. “Tomorrow at this time in the gates of Samaria I will sell a sheaah of fine wheat for a shekel, and two sheaves of barley for a shekel” (verse 1). In a nutshell, it means “tomorrow, you will find cheap and easy food.”
What a wonderful gospel heard in extreme circumstances. Then the king's favorite minister sarcastically said, "If the LORD makes spears in the heavens, how can these things be?" (verse 2). The minister would have said that because he knew the food situation in the fortress better than anyone else, but a life that discourages the community and destroys the soul based only on such human calculations is not a blessed life.
Negative words that destroy faith ultimately lead to self-judgment. Therefore, if you want a successful life, refrain from negative thoughts and also refrain from spreading negative words. When someone comes up with a good vision, “Yes! Let’s do it!” is a great strength, but when you say “No matter what you do!”, you lose strength. Negative words, if not complaints or enemies, have a bad effect and bog the community. So always try to say a lot of encouraging words.
< Please tell me the good news >
With the minister's words, the people inside the city fell into despair and there was no response, so God used four lepers who had been driven out of the city. The lepers said to each other. “If you go to the castle, you will starve to death, and if you stay here you will starve to death. Let's go to the Aramaic army. It's good if they live, and if they kill, let's die." I went to the camp of the Syrian army with the determination to say, “If I die, I will die!” When I went there, there were no soldiers and there was a lot of food piled up like a mountain (verses 4-5).
Last night, God made the Arameans hear the noise of hoofs of horses and countless armies approaching, so they mistakenly thought that the Israeli allies were attacking, and the Arameans abandoned their tents, horses, and donkeys in haste and fled (verses 6-7). ). So the lepers went into a tent at the end of the camp, ate and drank, and took silver, gold, and clothing from there and hid them. Then they came back and took things from another tent and hid them (verse 8).
It is often said that you are blessed when you suddenly get so much, but if the blessing ends in verse 8, it is not a real blessing. Then the four lepers ate and drank and hid themselves for a while, and suddenly a thought occurred to them and they said to each other (verse 9). “We must not do this! Today is a day of good news, and we are silent. If we wait until bright morning, the punishment will come upon us. Now, let's leave and go to the royal palace and tell him."
If the saints do not have the awakening and fulfillment of the mission that the leper in the text had, no matter how well they eat and live, they will lose their mission and live an unfortunate life. God did not choose us and make us children only to eat well and live well. How shameful it would be if you could only eat and live well and then die and not save a single soul other than going to heaven. Therefore, just as you worship with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, preach with all your heart, soul, and mind.
Some say, “I have no evangelism power! There is no evangelism talent!” However, evangelism is not something that should be entrusted only to those who have received special missions and gifts, but it is an essential task that all those who are saved must bear together. Evangelism is not a matter of talent, but a matter of the heart. God used lepers to preach beautiful news. So don't say, "I don't have the strength or talent!" God's work is often done through people who are powerless.
Some pastors tell us to have many children and raise them in faith if we cannot evangelize. It means to have that much interest and passion for evangelism. Evangelism is not optional, it is essential. The mission of evangelism is the mission that must be carried out with the most urgent priority among the numerous missions. In other words, the most important purpose of my life that God planned and designed is to fulfill the mission of evangelism. The most regrettable thing for sincere believers is that they have not been able to evangelize a little more using their time, status, and materials.