IN TUNE WITH GOD

 

Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon [Elisha]….  (2 Kings 3:15b)

Musical instruments need to be tuned.  Time and use take their toll and the result is that the same keys or strings may be struck on different instruments, but will have a different sound.  That’s not good.  We can also be out of tune spiritually.  There can be no harmony with God until we get in tune with Him.   Are our thoughts, motives, and passions in alignment with His?  Elisha was a man in tune with God.  There are several lessons concerning this in 2 Kings 3.

There can be a DROUGHT OF A WORD FROM THE LORD (v.1-10).  King Jehoram wasn’t in tune with God.  While the text acknowledges that he wasn’t quite as bad as his perverse parents, Ahab and Jezebel, he was still an idolater.  He didn’t hear from God because he worshipped idols rather than the true and living God.  If we depend on the arm of flesh we can’t be lifted by the arm of God.  If we listen to the wisdom of the world, we can’t receive the Word of the Lord.   Thus, the army found itself in a wilderness without water.  They would become weak and be defeated. Isn’t that a picture of God’s army today? Here we are a church of Christian soldiers in a spiritual wasteland.  The drought we are experiencing is a scarcity of the water of the Word of God. 

This brings a DEMAND OF A WORD FROM THE LORD (v.11-19).  Perhaps our drought will elevate desire to the point of desperation.  We must demand a Word from the Lord.   Bring a man of God with a message from God! There will always be someone in tune with God, if we take time to listen.  Elisha did not answer because of the plea of Jehoram, but because of his association with Jehoshaphat.  The King of Israel was undeserving of a response, so Elisha did it for the King of Judah’s sake.  Thus, we can cry out to God in faith that He will answer, not for our sake—we are undeserving—but for the sake of another, the King of kings, Jesus Christ.  We pray in His name.  This was a matter of faith.  They were to prepare themselves to receive water, although there was not a cloud in the sky.  They were to dig a channel to receive the miracle God had for them.  We are to make our lives channels to receive the flow of truth and then God will send it.  How?  We must dig into the Word and pray to the Lord.

Then comes THE DELIVERANCE BY THE WORD OF THE LORD (v.20-27).  Great things happen when we get in tune with God.  The people of God went from impending defeat to overwhelming victory!  That’s what happens when we get in tune with God.  Everyone recognized that it was God who brought the victory and not man. God works in such a way that He receives the glory.  A church that draws crowds through gimmicks and compromise will have only that—a crowd—and they’ll get the glory.  But, it is a stench in the nostrils of God.  The church, however, that is built on the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word of God in the power of the Spirit will produce disciples and God will be glorified.  Let us personally get in tune with God, lead our family to be, and insist that the church is!