I have worked at a grocery store for twenty five years…and just when I thought I had seen it all- last week happened!
It was like a scene from a movie, a social experiment and a crazy dream- all in one. Chances are, you saw it too.
Empty meat, milk and toilet paper aisles. Even our Ramen Noodle shelf was bare. I kept thinking I would wake up at any moment and tell my family and friends all about this bizarre dream I just had.
Strange times, I tell you.
Speaking of strange times, there is a story found in 2 Kings 6 & 7 that has been on my mind since I first walked those empty aisles.
The passage starts off a little gory, but keep reading- the end is filled with hope for today. It takes place in the city of Samaria.
“Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. There was a great famine in the city; the siege had lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.”
Side note: I don’t know the usual exchange rate for a shekel to a cab of seed pods, but it must have been bad…and unfortunately, it only got worse.
“As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!…Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?”
She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ So we cooked my son and ate him.
The King of Israel couldn’t handle what he just heard. He tore his robe. He was fed up with God and he was ready to kill the prophet Elisha.
Elisha interjects, “Hear the word of the Lord…About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
The King’s attendant overheard Elisha’s words and voiced his disbelief…“LOOK, EVEN IF THE LORD SHOULD OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF THE HEAVENS, COULD THIS HAPPEN?”
Sure enough…twenty four hours later…it happened!!!
2 Kings 7:16 “A seah of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said.”
God lifted the siege!
In a crazy turn of events, God caused an Armenian army to hear things that weren’t really happening (striking fear in their hearts), and God used four men with leprosy to save the day… As for the kings’ attendant who doubted what God was capable of doing- he was trampled in the gateway and never got to enjoy the deliverence of God.
Friends, the people of Samaria were DESPERATE. Their city was under siege. Their supplies were cut off. Their economy was sinking and they were beginning to lose their minds.
Now for the good news…God did what only He could do. He lifted the siege and rescued His people.
Now for the even better news…The God of 2 Kings is same God we are crying out to today. He has not changed.
If He can increase the exchange rate on a seah of flour and give relief to the famine in Samaria…He can lift our economy, replenish our grocery store aisles, and eradicate COVID19. He was, is and always will be Jehovah Jirah- my provider.
NOTHING is too difficult for Him.
-Binu
Photo Credit: Michael Mathews
