Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Kings 8:7-15.

“Then Elisha came to Damascus.  Now Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.”  The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”  So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads;  and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”  Then Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him, ‘You will surely recover,’ but the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die.”  He fixed his gaze steadily on him until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept.  Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?”  Then he answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel:  their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up.”  Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?”  And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”  So he departed from Elisha and returned to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?”  And he answered, “He told me that you would surely recover.”  On the following day, he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died.  And Hazael became king in his place.”  2 Kings 8:7-15.

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““Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;  but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth;  for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.”  Jeremiah 9:23-24.

Elisha could weep even though he knew that the LORD would execute His justice against Israel.  Love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”   1 Corinthians 13:6-7. 

Today’s Scripture points us to Jesus and how He lamented over the desolation of Jerusalem.

Like Elisha, Jesus could lament even though He knew the LORD would execute His justice against Jerusalem. 

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.  Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”  Matthew 23:37-38. 

But, there is hope!

The hope is in Jesus.

“For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’”  Matthew 23:39. 

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.  And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET AND THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”  Matthew 24:29-31.