{"id":35313,"date":"2025-03-30T22:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T05:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=35313"},"modified":"2025-03-25T18:58:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T01:58:27","slug":"2-kings-1_1-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-kings-1_1-18\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Don\u2019t Want God to \u201cFire\u201d You, Do This"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings 1:1-18\u00a0\u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 1:1-18.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>\u00a0Kings<\/strong>\u00a01<\/strong>:<\/strong>1<\/strong>-4 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1<\/sup>\u00a0After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.
\n2<\/sup>\u00a0Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!'” So Elijah went.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-4: Ahaziah king of Israel falls and injures himself.\u00a0 He wonders whether he will recover from this accident or die from it.\u00a0 He decides to consult Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron on the question.\u00a0 The Lord’s prophet Elijah brings a message to Ahaziah, stating that Ahaziah’s actions have offended the Lord.\u00a0 By seeking another god for help and not consulting the Lord first, Ahaziah showed that he places his hope in other things more than he does in God.\u00a0 Elijah also tells Ahaziah that Ahaziah will not recover but will certainly die.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Who you consult first for help is a reflection of who you really trust.\u00a0 If you keep consulting someone or something other than God first, then you may be trusting in an idol instead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Kings 1:5-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”‘”
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They replied, “He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist.” The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!'”
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!'”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants!
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The angel of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He told the king, “This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he died, according to the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0that Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-18: Ahaziah finds out that it was Elijah who gave the message that Ahaziah would die from his illness.\u00a0 Ahaziah twice sends a captain from his army with 50 men to apprehend Elijah, saying “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!'” (v9, v11 – in the second case, the second captain is even more forceful: “come down at once!”). However, each time fire comes down from heaven and consumes the captain and his men.\u00a0 When the third captain comes with his 50 men, he takes a humbler approach: on his knees he asks Elijah to have mercy on his life (v13).\u00a0 God tells Elijah that he may go with this third captain and that Elijah need not be afraid of him.\u00a0 Elijah goes with the third captain to King Ahaziah and delivers the same message of Ahaziah’s impending death.\u00a0 Just as Elijah predicted, Ahaziah dies (v17) and is succeeded by his brother Joram, since Ahaziah had no children of his own.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 The first two captains had no respect for Elijah or for the Lord.\u00a0 So they approached Elijah pridefully and God “fired” them.\u00a0 The third captain had respect for Elijah and came humbly before him and was received by the man of God.\u00a0 Likewise, let\u2019s be careful to approach God and the leaders God has placed in our lives not with a prideful, condescending, disrespectful attitude but with a healthy respect and humility.\u00a0 For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.<\/p>\n

Father, may I be careful to treat you and the leaders You have placed in my life with a healthy respect and humility, knowing that You watch everything we say and do.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 1:1-18.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2\u00a0Kings\u00a01:1-4 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”\u00a0
\n3\u00a0But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’\u00a0
\n4\u00a0Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!'” So Elijah went.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-4: Ahaziah king of Israel falls and injures himself.\u00a0 He wonders whether he will recover from this accident or die from it.\u00a0 He decides to consult Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron on the question.\u00a0 The Lord’s prophet Elijah brings a message to Ahaziah, stating that Ahaziah’s actions have offended the Lord.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35316,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35313\/revisions\/35316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}