Good News in a Bad World

It was one of the darkest times in Israel’s history. Everything had gone wrong. The people had sunk to their lowest depths. Not only were they being oppressed by the Arameans, but a massive famine had swept the land. They were starving to death.

Why had this calamity come upon Israel? It was because of their continued disobedience to the Lord and their nonstop worship of false gods.

The king of Israel, in all his royal power, could do nothing to change things. So finally he listened to what the prophet Elisha had to say. Elisha told him, "This is what the Lord says: By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver" (2 Kings 7:16). Elisha said that deliverance was indeed coming. The next day there would be food on the streets at affordable prices.

Working supernaturally, God cleared out the camp of the Arameans by causing them to hear the sound of an approaching army (see 2 Kings 7:6). Working naturally, God brought three men with leprosy to the abandoned camp, driven there by their appetites. They walked through the camp and saw an abundance of food sitting out. They could have kept it to themselves, but they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what they found. Deliverance came, just as God said it would.

Maybe you are in a place of influence. Are you using it for God’s glory? Maybe you are in a place of affliction and hardship. Are you using it for God’s glory?

God has put us where we are for such a time as this. We need to bring good news in a bad world.