A story broke yesterday of a widow in Kisauni who was found cooking stones for her children because things had gotten so bad for her. I think nothing else comes close to depicting the reality of the situation on the ground as this one. Of course it was met with a lot of surprise in some quarters, empathy in others but mostly sympathy and alarm. I think it is symptomatic of the current state of the nation and not just in a natural sense but also in a spiritual sense. It brings to mind the story in the recorded account of Israel's Kings, where two women had a dispute over a pact they had made. The pact was to take turns to cook and eat their children for dinner one after the other. The first lady came through but the second one reneged. So the king learns of this in what looked like a serendipitous fashion. But when he does, he absolutely loses his mind. So he storms of raging ready to take Elisha's head, because the king blamed God for the situation and Elisha was God's rep.
Just to give some background, the situation was that Samaria was under siege by the Aramean army. No one could go out or come into the city and so there were no supplies coming into the city. Doesn't this closely describe the situation in many cities of the word at the moment? Several cities are in complete lock-down because of the enemy called corona virus. The global deaths toll stands at 227,368 (plus or minus ten thousand). It is estimated that half of the world's workers (1.6 Billion) will lose their livelihood due to corona virus according to ILO. As expected, tension has been gradually building and sporadic riots have been reported in different cities across the world including Sierra Leone, Colombia and others. It is a bleak and volatile situation needless to say. So you can now appreciate the king's emotional outburst.
But where as one would expect despair, the king responded in rage.Why though? Some background. The thing is on several occasions before this siege, Elisha had come through for the king big time.Elisha had been revealing the enemy's secrets to the king plenteous times before. Elisha would receive this secrets supernaturally as soon as they were hatched in the enemy's camp and then relay them to the king. So some unspoken MO had been established.Hence, under the circumstances, the king felt blindsided and he must have thought Elisha had insight on the situation. But instead of showing gratitude for previous tip offs and asking nicely, rage was easier emotion to feed of. I think this is quite an accurate picture of our responses to God when we don't understand what He is up to. We often forget the numerous times before when he confided in us and saved our faces or behinds. But I digress.
Going back to our story, the king burst into Elisha's house with huffing and puffing but before he could go so far Elisha spoke.The words he spoke on face value sounded so ridiculous to the government official who came with the king and who had not intimate knowledge of Elisha nor his God. But the king new better.He knew the value of Elisha's words. He did not dare speak out of turn. The account is in 2 Kings 6-7.
"God says,the famine is over.
This time tomorrow food will be plentiful—a handful of meal for a shekel;
two handfuls of grain for a shekel.
The market at the city gate will be buzzing.”
2 Kings 7:1(MSG)
This is the equivalent of telling President Uhuru that by tomorrow, Kenya will be swimming in food and supply, yet just yesterday a woman was cooking stones for her children.
How audacious! It is not wonder the king's official scoffed at them.I don't know why but in my head the image that is conjured when I picture this official is Dr Fauci. Don't ask me why! On a random note though, Dr Fauci who is the leading infectious disease expert in the US, reportedly said that a second wave of the coronavirus is "inevitable" later this year.
I said that for no particular reason so feel free to use it whichever way you like.
Back to the story, when the king's official rejected God's promise, he was judged by his words.He was condemned to only see it come to pass but not enjoy it. Please bear in mind that so far this whole chain of events was sparked by the dispute of the mother who had cooked her child for dinner. Imagine if the story of the widow of Kisauni would have any contributions to the goings on in the world. Or Kenya. Anyway, never mind.
On the other side of the city, these four lepers had come to the end of themselves. So they had a last meeting to decide their fate. The odds were stacked against them and whichever way they went, their fate was sealed. With that in mind they elected to face their enemy and see what comes of that. So they set out. Four lepers. Leprosy is an 'old' disease that eats away the limbs and in that context having leprosy meant you were unclean. So it is interesting that in a sense God chooses these lepers to effect his will. They get to the camp and much to their surprise, the enemy's camp was deserted. But to make matters even more interesting, the enemy had left all their supplies intact! There was no dilemma for the lepers. They had nothing to lose even if the enemy may come back later in the year (hahaha) and found them. So they indulged.
When they were too full to eat anymore and too heavy to carry anymore gold, they sent news to the king. The king then sent out his intelligence officials and as it turns out the enemy had fled by night. Just like that! The enemy who had traumatized the whole city for several months was now gone!Disappeared! The story was that the Aramean army had heard footsteps of a large army approaching them. The reckoned that the king of Samaria had called for reinforcement and so they did the wise thing. They fled.I think the enemy made the right choice because that army was really large. To piece it together, what happened was that, an army was released when the prophet spoke. An invisible army with chariots of fire(2 Kings 6:17). So when the four lepers got a nudge to start walking towards the enemy's camp, the invisible army started to march in synchrony with the lepers and the chorus of the marching was too thunderous for the enemy to sit still and wait. So the Arameans did the wise thing by fleeing. But for the Samaritans, the had gone to bed in one reality but when they woke up the next day, it really was a new day that the Lord had made. The enemy was gone with the wind. Overnight! To digress again, I watched this documentary the other day where an expert in describing how SARS outbreak in 2012 ended and he used the word, "it just went away". (COVID-19 is a strain of SARS).
The story ends with the king appointing Dr Fauci to supervise the distribution of God's provision but then a stampede breaks out and he winds up being flattened into pulp thereby seeing but not enjoying the harvest. The prophecy was fulfilled in all fronts. It turns out that it was just a misunderstanding. The enemy that had brought them to their knees was actually a delivery company coming to deliver their harvest. But God in his goodness sorted out the misunderstanding. And as many as believed the news, they rushed into the Lord's seemingly ridiculous provision and enjoyed the spoils. And to think that this chain of events was triggered the incident of the woman cooking her kid for dinner. What a parallel with our situation. One has to wonder if in light of the news of the Kisauni widow cooking stones for her children, the king has been angered enough to the point of taking the matter to God. One wonders if the prophet has released the words of life that releases the heavenly armies. Have the lepers gotten the audacity to walk to the enemy's camp? And will the Samaritans believe when they are told that the enemy they see today will be gone in a matter of days?
One has to wonder.
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