Having Unwavering Confidence in God: 2 Kings 6:8-23

Show Notes

Episode 616: 
In this episode, Chris and Jeff dive into the story of Elisha's servant in 2 Kings chapter 6. They discuss the narrative where Elisha, a prophet of God, demonstrates unwavering confidence in God's protection despite being surrounded by an enemy army. The hosts ponder whether Elisha had the ability to see the spiritual realm or if he simply had faith in God's presence. They explore the implications of spiritual sight and confidence in God's support, emphasizing that believers can expect divine intervention when they align their lives with God's mission.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible guys. It is Monday, everybody's favorite day, everybody his favorite day. In the eighties, we had this little cartoon called Garfield, and Garfield was famous. For hating Monday Mondays. He would have a little bubble they said, I hate Mondays. Yes, so there you go. And it's why we loved Garfield. Yes, because we are so sensible. And he loved zangna and azagna. Yeah, that's right, that's right. He's a cat. So. Hey, my name is Chris, this is Jeff. We want to welcome into the Bible guys, and we are starting off with a riveting segment. This is super exciting. Yeah, and it's called would you rather? This is one of your favorites? Right? I love it? Okay, because it's just fun choices usually, Well, since you love it so much, wy, don't you start number one? Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon? To which I would say are they one of the same? Are dragons? Well? I think Desiree knows what she's doing. And she's distinguished between the two. I see, it depends on what kind of dinosaur. Cheese dinosaurs are real. There's that. Yeah, well listen, I believe the dragons may have been. Real at one time as a dinosaur. As a dinosaur. Yeah, okay, so. But the point almost every ancient culture has some kind of a dragon story. Many of them do. Yeah, so I would definitely say dragon dragon. Well, I saw the cartoon what card How to Train Your Pet Dragon? Oh, yes, it looks way cooler than just And I also saw Jurassic Park, and that's not super cool. One's death in distraction. Yeah's your friend. Yeah, that's exactly right. So, yeah, you have to fly on pet dragon, pet dragon top top, not right there. And I've also seen House of Dragons, where House of Dragons is a prerequisite to gimme thrones, and they actually, like were realistic dragons, and it sort of tried to create a world in which dragons were real and that they were the dominant, you know, group of people that rode them. I got to tell you, riding dragons looks pretty cool. Okay, Well there you go. I'm talking about a cartoon. Yeah, yes, hey, okay, here you go. Toothless. Would you rather wear clown makeup every day for the rest of your life? Or where to to every day? To Tom? I think so too. Yeah, it's it's terrible, but it's way better than clown makeup. I just don't want to take the time. No, I I just don't want to have to my skin to bear. Do you have a Do you have a long routine for getting ready in the morning? Uh? It depends on if I shave or not. Shaving takes a little bit of time. But if I don't shave, I'm ready. Because it's because your beard is just so strong and sturdy you must go through multiple Did you know that Superman? Did you know that Superman has to use a mirror and use his heat vision to shave because a razor can't cut? Whoa, I did not know that? Yeah, okay, yeah, I just don't want to take the time with the clown makeup, So put on the two two embarrassed? Got it? Okay? All right? Number three, I'd get like a Velco two two. Oh yeah, yeah, Well, if you get to wear it every day, it's like a belt. Why not get the best to the best, that's right, the most convenient, only the finness, only the finnest. To go to the Bible guys dot com and go to our store. Right, you can get a Velco number three. Would you rather fight one hundred tiny sumer wrestlers or. One giant toddler? That is hilarious. How tiny is tiny? And how giant is giant? I think that's the issue. I think. I think I think you should. A man sized toddler. No, no, no, giant means giant. Well, toddlers. Have you seen a toddler? They're usually like foot tall? I know. So then to be six feet tall would make you a giant. If you were six times bigger than you are now, you'd be a giant. Yeah, but I'm picturing the false world. You're thinking like mega mega, I'm thinking. Like yeah, yeah, toddler. And then I think, how tiny is a tiny sumo wrestler? I think there may be like dwarfs. Okay, so like a three foot tall one hundred three foot tall sumo wrestlers. Right, So sumo wrestler usually weighs like four hundred pounds, right, So if you take a six foot sumo wrestler at four hundred pounds and you shrink it to three hundred or to three feet. That's a two hundred pounds. You're fighting one hundred two hundred pounders. Yeah, I'd rather fight first verse the giant. The giant. Yeah, just just one giant. Yeah, we worked it out. You see, good problem solving right there. What were you going to say? You were going to say one hundred tiny? In my mind, I was also thinking like, could they be like the size. Of tinkerbelt like micro? Right? Yeah, see just fly swatt. See that's what I was asking. Is this micro and mega or is this little and big? I think I think the giant toddler wins giant toddler. Yeah, yeah, because you only have one problem, right, instead of one hundred problems, one hundred two hundred pound problems? Okay, good? Would you rather sneeze glitter or sweat maple syrup? There is no question in my mind sweat maple syrups. Sweat maple syrup. Absolutely. First of all, thanks for the questions, Desiree. These are awful. That was terrible. Well, hey, both of those I just want to gag at. Yeah, but there's the glitters from the pits of hell. That's right, that's right. Whoever invented glitter, I'm confident is not heaven. Yes, that's correct, right, along with I think the other declaration we've made. I mean, hey, we are a hard hitting no no, we are a hard hitting Bible doctrine show. And we took a strong stand against uh android phones, and yes, right right, we don't. Pull any punchest. You're gonna make a hot stage, yeah, no, And and so we're pretty sure they're not going to go to heaven. And then now, whoever invented glitter? People who use glitter? If you if you were in the glitter industry. Yes, or if you're a glitter pusher, or if you're a glitter fan glitter pusher, that's hilarious. Yeah, okay, I would agree with you on the maple syrup. Okay, it's gross. At least it would smell good. That's right. Okay, I think it's you again. Five. Would you rather always have a bad case of the hiccups? Oh, that's terrible, or have an itch that you can't reach that's pretty bad too, Those are too terrible. It's a bad case of hiccups, not just hiccups. Well, bad case of the hiccups that you always have. That could define the bad bad case. Doesn't have to mean like strength, it could mean like length. Yeah, I think I would rather have the itch. I think so too. I think so too. I would just hire somebody follow me around your job. You're the itcher, you're the scratcher, because yeah, yeah, because it doesn't say that you can't scratch it, just said you can you can't reach it, which, by the. Way, I can pretty much reach everywhere. All right side note, we're gonna okay, that's that's the best as far as we want to go with that. When I yeah, it's like you have to be like doesn't mean you're like, you know, like a quadriplegic. Well, speaking of not being able to see everything, m hmm. Today's episode, Elicias servant cannot see all the protection around him. Wow, here's the question. When did we speak of not being able to see anything? You just did, Well, you couldn't reach it. If you can't reach you can't see it. That was the connection. You've effectively done a bad transition, bad transition. Yes, man, I think we're about five hundred for five hundred now, And. Yes, I think so too. So we are in Second King's chapter six today and This is one of my favorite stories I think in Elisia's life. Yeah yeah, well, I'll tell you what, he already had some pretty good ones. Yeah yeah, as opposed to all those bad Bible verses. These are some of our favorite ones. These are why do you insert such things on people? Well, I didn't, That's not what I said. I know. I didn't say you Yeah, I was just commenting. Second King, Chapter six, verse eightys. When the King of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, we will mobilize our horses. At such and such a place. But immediately Elishah, the Man of God, would warn the King of Israel, don't go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there. So the King of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the Man of God. Time and again elisha warned the king so that he would be on the alert there. The King of Arab became very upset over this, and he called his officers together and demanded, which of you is the trader who's been informing the King of Israel of my plans. It's not us, my lord, the king one of. The officers replied, Elisha, the prophet in Israel tells the King of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom. Go and find out where he is. The king commanded, so I can send troops to seize him. And the report came back Elisha as at Dothan. So one night the King of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the servant of the Man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. Oh Sir, what will we do now? The young man cried to Elisha. Don't be afraid, Elisha, hold him, for their are more on our side than on theirs. Then Elishah prayed, Oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see. The Lord opened the young man's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elishah was filled with horses and chariots of fire. As the airman army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, Oh Lord, please make them blind. So the Lord struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. Then Elisha went out and told them, you have come the wrong way. This isn't the right city. Follow me and I'll take you to the man you're looking for. And he led them to the city of Samaria. As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, O Lord now opened their eyes and let them cease. The Lord opened their eyes and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the King of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, my father, should I kill them? Should I kill them? Of course not, Elisha replied, do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink, and send them home again to their master. So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Airman raiders stayed away from the land of Israel. Yeah, no, lie, I think I probably would too. Yeah that first of all, if this brings up so many different questions. Ask him. Okay, so the Bible, no worries, no worries, got this. So the question is, did was Elisha able to see all of the horses of you know, chariots of fire? Was he able to see the spiritual world? And then he asked the Lord to open his servant's eyes so that he could see the spiritual world. So Elisha walks around seeing the spiritual world? Or did he walk out of his house see the army and then Elisha God just allowed Elisha in that moment to see the spiritual world. Or does Elisha perpetually see the spiritual world? And then here's the third question. Here's the third option, because this is possible, Elisha just assumes that there's a spiritual world. Well, using your test yesterday about don't say things that aren't there, correct, it never implies that Elisha can see anything, correct, which would mean then your last question is your last question is the correct question to be asking. But it doesn't say that he can't see. Yeah, but you said don't add anything to it. Correct. So the only thing that we know is that Elijah's servant can see, right, but Elisha had confidence. What I'm saying is it doesn't tell us all three of those options. So the only thing we know for sure is that it just doesn't tell us. It could be any one of those three options. Yes, but I think the assumption would be because it doesn't say the other two. Yeah, the natural assumption would be that he lives like you and I do. Otherwise, you're turning turning him into a superhero. Right, Yeah, I think I agree with that. I agree with that. Yeah, but yeah, so I think it was just that he had absolute confidence that, you know, God's with us and so we don't have to worry. Yeah, I think so too. And by the way, can we just talk about that for a minute, let's do it. When you walk around with so much confidence that God is real and that God is on your sho now, in a lot of cases, you know, now, Elisha was a prophet of God. That is different than my profession and your profession. So even though we're pastors, and even though that you know, Christians are you know, ambassadors, all of us are, right, it's different than a prophet. A prophet had this ability to you know, directly hear from God. And so Elisha has, you know, it seems like it's Alicia's idea. I have an idea, make him blind God. And then and by the way, I think that was Elicia's idea. I think God honored Eliicia's idea because it said he made them blind. As Elisha asked, this didn't seem like an idea that came from God. Right, But again, he was the prophet. He was. He was the representative, the only representative, at least apparently at this point. So anyway, all that to say this, for the average person listening going into work, you know, it doesn't necessarily. Mean you know, your ideas are always the best ideas, Like, this is what God says. God says. God says that you're going to try to punch me, and your fist will stop in mid air, right. Like that, That's right, That's not what it means. Right. However, if you know that something is wrong and you stand up and do what is right, I believe that we can have confidence that God is going to be with you and that God is going to take care of you. And sometimes they do have consequences sometimes, you know whatever, sometimes we don't see it work out. I'm just trying to. Think of different scenarios, right, So, Like, in other words, if a person quits a job because they stand up for what is right and they refuse to do what is wrong. Okay, they may go through a hard time financially, but I. Believe that God will in the end take care of that person for doing what is right. Yeah, God's never going to be in debt to you because you did the right thing right right, right? Yeah, God will always settle the score and it always winds up being better than than what you think you invested in doing the right thing. Yeah, I sure rambling, But what I'm trying to say is to have that amount of confidence to do what is right. It's sort of what I was saying, right. Can you imagine just just to have every situation be like, oh, I know I'm on the right side. I know God's going to win. I know God's going to take care of me. I have no reservation whatsoever about you know, and by the way, I live that way often. Yeah, but I wonder how confident I would be if I knew that there's a potential I would die because I already told you right, Like, remember remember that time I told you about that car wreck and I was like, yeah, I wanted to run over and help the guy, but I was standing across the street. It was like a coward, right, And I'm thinking, gee, whiz man, if I knew I was going to die, who would I have that much confidence? Oh? Yeah, God's with me right now. He doesn't have to care me right now. I think you know, it's interesting to me that Elisha spends the vast majority of his time in Israel and not in Judah. Judah is where all the people who followed God were, and he had great respect for Jehoshaphat he said, so he says it multiple times. He's like a big fan of that guy. Right, But he lives in Samaria, where all the wicked people are, where all the sin is, and he's not indulging in it. He's constantly, you know, speaking against all of this evil. And I think this was an opportunity and he saw this as an opportunity to continue to move God's mission forward, right, And God saw this as an opportunity to move his mission forward, to get in the in the the mind, in the eyes of the King of Israel. Again, look at I'm still paying attention. I'm here, right. How many miracles do you need before you finally start believing? You know? So, what it turns out I think you're seeing here is that the King of Israel looks at Elisha as a magic man, like like like a witch doctor or something. He just has this built in magic in him. He's not seeing that God is doing these miracles. Apparently, it just is I don't understand why he doesn't respond. Sometimes he'll mention, you know in the previous one where he mentioned, you know, your God said this or whatever. But for the most part he just doesn't have the same perspective. But I do think that God is getting this message across. And so in this moment, then Elisha can have confidence. One I don't believe God's done with me yet. And two this is a really great opportunity to point out to the king again. And that's why, Hey, God strike them blind, and I'm going to march them right into the middle of the city, right, and hey, see what God did. And so when it's all about see what God did, I think you can expect miracles when it's just every day stuff, maybe or maybe not. And it just depends on what God's plan is for your life in that next thing, right, So when your work is aligning with God's plan, I think you can always you can always count on miracles when it's just Tuesday on the way to the grocery store. I don't know, right, right, I think I think we lived the majority of our life just in the natural world, right, and natural things happened good and bad. And then when we were walking moving God's kingdom forward, it's not unreasonable for us to expect God to do the supernatural and protect us. And there's been many times where I found myself. You know, we do a lot of work around the world. There's been multiple times where one time we were out in the bush and we rolled up on a group of guys that were not happy that we pulled up. They all had machetes in their hands, and I'm thinking, oh, this is kind of scary, right, It calmed down and things were fine. Had another time we were on motorcycles riding through the bush and we were right on the border between two warring tribes, and these guys step out with rifles and stop us in the middle of nowhere, and they commandeered our motorcycles and rode with us for two hours. I had a guy sitting on the back of my motorcycle with machine gun right between me and him on my back. Wow. Right, And we didn't know if we were being kidnapped night. We didn't know which tribe they were from, we didn't know anything about them. And they finally we sat down and had meal. Once we got to where we were going, we had a meal with them. They sat around and chit chatted with us for a couple of minutes, and then as dark came, we set up our tents and they just kind of disappeared into the bush. I don't know if they were good guys or bad guys. Never figured out well. I've had times where radicals, religious radicals in the Middle East took possession of us and wondering, you know, how's this going to work out? Had a lot of those things, and in those there's the nervousness of it, but always a confidence that God's got this one right. I think I've been more worried that, oh, this might not turn out well, like you said, driving down the road having a bad problem than you know, than in those because in those moments and thinking, hey, I'm just doing what Got told us to do. We're trying to plant churches, we're trying to make disciples. He'll protect us, right right, Yeah, Well, you know I think that looking back at my life when I was a kid, I did a lot of crazy and dumb things, and it was pretty was pretty ignorant and have a lot of things and almost died like probably four different times, maybe five different times, and uh. And but God had a plan for you. I think, I like, look at this dumb kid, I'm just going to keep him alive. Like I actually believe, like there are unexplainable things, and I think even as a kid, I'm thinking, like somehow God, God protected me from that. Yes, you know, I fell down two stories onto a cement driveway. I remember that I was two stories high. I fell off of the ladder. I went straight backwards and landed on my back and my head on a cement driveway. No protections a lot, right now, m R and Z. Yeah and so, yeah, and so. I believe that one hundred percent that when you get yourself in a situation, God's not done with you. You are heading towards God. This is what I'm saying. If you align your life where you're like, God, I'm going to do everything I can do to serve you. And it doesn't have to be full time preacher ministry. It's just that you're saying, as a businessman, God, I'm going to leverage my resources to further your kingdom. I'm going to share the guys. You're saying, God, I want to align with your plan for my life. Then I think you can expect God supernatural intervention in your life on a regular basis because God had a plan. You made some dumb choices, yep, and your your guardian angels working hard. Man. Just this was a tough one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe that every listener that's listening now, I think qualifies for that kind of protection. I agree to you, I agree. And and so let's let's spend our last few minutes talking about the spiritual world. So, so we believe that there the Bible teaches that there is a spiritual world, and that Adam and Eve had the ability to h you know, walk with God in the garden. That's what the scripture says, right and and uh, and so Adam and Eve saw God in the spiritual world, and then when sin came into the world, you know, the theology of it is that Adam and Eve were separated from that spiritual world. And so then, you know, now we live in a world where, you know, God is a spirit and we can't see the spiritual world. But the Bible describes angels, the Bible describes demons, the Bible describes you know that that these two are are completely in the same space. But at the same time, we can't see them, which is why it says suddenly an angel appeared, right. And then it says everybody was terrified. Right. And then in the Book of Revelation it talks about how uh, you know, the new Jerusalem will come down and it'll it'll it'll it'll merge with the Earth, you know, the new the new Heaven and the new Earth will come together. Right. And so the theory is is that the spiritual world will merge with the physical world and it will be like it was in the Garden of Eden, where we can see the spiritual and the non spiritual, the physical and the spirit. That's right, because we have come alive spiritually, right, right. It's not that those two are they're not set for God. They're separate for us. And I don't think they're separate for the angels. They're separate for us. And that's why the angels show up. You know, these armies come in and the angels are like, oh man, Now, what I think is really cool is it's talking about this is a pretty substantial army that shows up many chariots and horses. And in those days, a few chariots would change an entire battle, right, right, because the other armies typically didn't have charits. You rarely in this timeframe ever, hear about the Jews the Israelites having chariots, right, So that's a tactical advantage. There's many chariots, many horses. This is a substantial army. And then Elijah's like, yeah, Lord, if you could just let him see what you're planning. And there's this for for Elisha and his helper. There's a bigger army in heaven around and so that phrase and I just wish not that I think we always have this opportunity, that this expectation that God's going to show us these things, but just the idea that this is true. There are more on our side than on theirs. Right, right, if you can just live your day, there's more on your side than there air is on theirs. Your boss is wanting to do evil to you today, just understand there's more on your side than there is on theirs. That's really good. Your in laws or your ex or whatever. There's if you're following God and you're all in with Jesus on this one, you're surrendered to the Holy Spirit. The Bible says there's more on your side than there is on there. So when you look at all the evil stuff going on in the schools and in our public arena and in politics and all those things, there's more on God's side than there is on theirs. Right, Yeah, And the scripture says in the New Testament, it says, greater is He that is. In you than He is in the world. That's right, that's awesome, that's fantastic. All right, that's a good place stand. That's right. It's a good place to end. And we will see you hopefully tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,