Hi all, today's prayer pointer stems from a rather obscure passage in the bible.
2 Kings 2:23-25
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.
ok, the following is taken from my newest bible.
Was this personal revenge on harmless youths?
Probably not, for the following reasons
1 )Very likely these were young men( the word translated youths often refers to people in their late teens), not little children. To Elisha, the group of at least 42 youths must have appeared a fearsome mob
2)Their mockery represented the irreverance of a generation growing up with increasing contempt for God and his laws (Lev. 19:32)
3)Their insults targeted not just Elisha's baldness but the God whom he represented. In taunting Elisha and rejecting his prophetic authority, the youths were taunting God and rejecting his authority. Go on up may have been a way of saying "get lost!" or perhaps, "If you are really a prophet like Elijah, go on up to heaven as he did."
4)Elisha did not take personal revenge but called on the Lord, who seems to have used the bears to warn a corrupt generation that blasphemy against God would be met with swift consequences.
I hope that upon reading this, you, like me, feel better that one of the most famous prophets in the bible is not a petty and vain man like you once thought he was.
furthermore, there are 2 obvious implications i see from this passage.
1. respect our pastors! i'm sure we have no problem with this, and so, let's take a further step by remembering to pray for them and their families.
2. remember our generation. if you do not have the confidence to save our generation, at least have the commitment to save one person from our generation. pray for your non-Christian friends!
>>and i live just for you my lord.
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