GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOUR DITCHES
Posted by: preacher30673 <preacher30673@...>
God is Bigger Than YouR DITCHES
II Kings 3:4-25
The armies of Israel and Judah were facing a great crisis. They had traveled in the desert and had run out of water (II Kings 3:9). The prophet Elisha was sought for help. His order, which he got from God, was to make the valley full of ditches .
Making the valley full of ditches was the requirement to blessing. Blessings from God are frequently connected with the commandments of God.
This story illustrates the relationship between God's part and man's part in resolving a crisis that faces God's children
I. The predicament that was encountered
Picture the scene if you can. Thousands of soldiers dressed in armor, carrying their bows and arrows, swords and shields— long lines of men, with their horses and asses and camels — stretching across the desert as far as the eye can see. Now over all the picture write: " No water!"
An army can be without a lot of things and get by, but an army cannot be without water and survive very long. The lack of water affected the troops and also the cattle brought along to feed the troops. This adversity looked to defeat the combined armies before they were even engaged in battle against Moab.
How did these armies get into this predicament? If you read the whole story, the answer is not difficult to find.
First, the predicament was brought about through a foolish decision on the part of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. Jehoram, tine king of the northern kingdom of Israel, an ungodly ruler (see 2 Kings 3:1-3). wanted to put down the rebellion of the king of Moab. Jehoram was losing a lot of revenue, and he thought it was time he settled with the king of Moab once and for all. So he invited Jehoshaphat to go to battle with him, and for good measure he invited the king of Edom to go along as wed. After all, if two heads are better than one, then three must be better than two!
How did King Jehoshaphat answer the invitation to battle? Foolishly he replied , "I will go up; I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horse as thy horses." We say that was a foolish response, for no indication that Jehoshaphat asked counsel of the Lord or of one of His prophets. He asked for trouble by ignoring divine direction.
As soon as Jehoram grasped the situation, he blamed God for the predicament? Here are his words: "Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!" How like human nature! We make wrong choices, get into trouble, and then invoke the doctrine of divine sovereignty to explain the situation and evade our own responsibility in creating the predicament! How convenient— but how criminal — to blame God and get off free.
King Jehoram of Israel blamed Jehovah for the adversity. This is typical of mankind. Man never considers the fact that he made the decisions that brought the problem.
The crisis was brought about by a foolish decision. But note that it involved many people. Three men made a decision, and the consequence of it affected thousands of soldiers and their animals.
Now, if there is a bright side to this story, It is the fact that the decision brought them to an end of themselves, and opened the way for God to intervene on their behalf. Although God did not engineer the military campaign and the trek into the desert. He overruled it in order to show Himself strong on behalf of those who trust in Him. While it does not provide a basis for deliberately sinning against God, this story clearly demonstrates that God does meet us at the end of our rope.
I. The predicament that was encountered
II. The preparation that was ENJOINED
Our story now turn to the preparation these kings and their armies were commanded to make. We have quoted God's command already. "Thus
saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches."
When we think of this preparation, there are a number of abiding principles that will help us as we prepare for God's blessing.
First, the remedy when we are facing a predicament is dependent upon turning to the Lord (11). There is wisdom is turning to the Lord. Jehoshaphat's response to the adversity was to seek Jehovah for help rather than denounce Him for the problem.
Second, the remedy to the problem of lack of water would not come apart from obedience to commands. Many problems would be solved if people began obeying God's Word.
In the case God's command was for ditches to be dug in the valley. That meant hard work, for the ground was probably as hard as a stone. It meant sustained work, for the valley was to be full of ditches.
We can imagine some officer, the one in charge of supplies, saying, " Elisha is wrong. What we need rather than spending all our energy in digging many ditches is to dig one deep well. In that way we'll get water."
However, when God says, " Dig ditches," we daren't respond by digging a well.
"Make this valley full of ditches ." This is a command, a precept of God You will miss many blessings if you ignore the commandments
Promptness is needed - Delay would be deadly. The armies needed water in a hurry, or they would perish .
"They that expect God's blessings must prepare room for them."
I. The predicament that was encountered
II. The preparation that was ENJOINED
III. The promise that was encouraging
Accompanying the divine command, there was a gracious promise encouraging faith. "Thus saith the Lord. Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain: yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink , both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand" (3:16-18).
This divine explanation of the miracle of the overflowing ditches contains some significant clues as to what God can do for us.
First, God's blessing is not dependent on natural means. "Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain." The ditches were dug, and water began to seep into them from some mysterious, invisible source. It was not an ordinary process of nature; but a supernatural process, accomplished by the direct agency of God.
Elijah, by prayer, obtained water out of the clouds, but Elisha fetches it nobody knows whence.
Without wind, which in the East is the usual forerunner of rain, and without rain, which supplies the earth with water (Elisha prophesied that the valleys would be filled with water, implying that its coming would be by the act and will of God. Digging the trenches before the water came was an act of faith which was honored with "a light thing" to God.
God promised the supply. God planned the supply. God provided the supply. All that was required of the soldiers was that they dig ditches to make room for the divine supply. All that was demanded was the obedience of faith.
We need not inquire whence the water came. God is not tied to second causes.
Second, God's blessing is suited precisely to our need. In verse 9 we have the words, "no water." In verse 17 we have the words, "filled with water." Is not this miracle exactly in line with Jesus' teaching: "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:11-13).
What's your need at this very moment? Is it cleansing? Is it peace? Is it joy? Is it victory? Is it assurance? Then out of His storehouse God is able to supply all your present need.
But there's a third principle here. God's blessing is a miracle to us but not really to Him. "And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord
Picture the tired soldiers coining out of their tents in the morning to look over their handiwork, and there are their ditches full and overflowing! Watch their eyes pop open and their mouths fall open with amazement and wonder.
They are seeing a miracle. But God says, "It is but a light thing." When God works we can expect Him to work on a scale equal to his ability and not ours.
If this is God's "light things," surely we need not fear to ask from him all that we require. Our sin is, not in asking too much, but in asking too little. "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).
` I. The predicament that was encountered
II. The preparation that was ENJOINED
III. The promise that was encouraging
IV. The provision that was enjoyed
When God promises, God will deliver! Though Elisha, God said the "valley shall be filled with water" (v. 17). Men may mock God's promises, but in the end the fulfilling of the promises will mock the mockers.
Many may have been skeptics out in the desert with the armies, but the water shut the mouth of every skeptic. And the day is coming when every skeptic of the Word of God will have his mouth shut when all the promises of the Word are fulfilled to the letter.
This supply of water to meet the thirst of men and beasts came supernaturally into the prepared ditches. There you have the union of the divine and
the human: prepared ditches and plentiful water. It was not a matter of man's part only or God's part only, but of both.
There was man's responsibility in digging the ditches, and God's responsibility in sending the water.
You will never make too many ditches for God to fill. It was sufficient in its coming. If God says to fill the valley with ditches, you can be sure He has a sufficient supply of water to fill the ditches. God gave enough water for all the armies and all the beasts as He had promised He would. Our God is a sufficient God. "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).
It was significant in is coming. The water came "in the morning, when the meat offering was offered" (v. 20). The morning meat offering (which consisted of a lamb accompanied by meal, oil, and wine—see Exodus 29:38-41) was offered at sunrise each day. How significant that Scripture states the time of the provision's arrival was the time of the sacrifice. This reminds us that the greatest blessing of all (the water of life) comes because of the greatest sacrifice of all (Calvary). God does nothing in the spiritual realm apart from Calvary.
When Elisha promised the water, he said, "This is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord; he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand" (v. 18). Though the coming of the water was a really great work, God was going to do an even greater work for the allies. He would also give them a great victory over the Moabites. God was not only rescuing these armies from the dilemma of no water, but He was also going to give them success in their expedition against Moab.
Elisha did want the armies so taken up with the water blessing that they lose sight of what it was for. The miracle was not to entertain but to enable. God's blessings are for us to do business for Him. The water was to save the armies so they could fight against Moab. When God blesses you, it is not just for your ease and comfort but for your service, too
Conclusion
God's provision whether providing for our daily needs or against the enemies that stand opposed to His glory and our walk with Him is never a question of the sufficiency of God's ability. Nothing is too small or too great for Him to handle.
God is not limited by us, but there are times that He will go no further than we are willing to go.
God is bigger than the ditches you can dig.
IN HIS ETERNAL GRIP,
Pastor Jimmy Chapman
Victory Baptist Church
706-678-1855
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