Our text today provides classic lessons and counsel for church leadership and the people: don’t breed a people who do not take responsibility for their need but be fully available to support and fill genuine gaps, leading to solutions that bring glory to God, not to self-promotion.

In this story of Elisha and the sons of the prophets, and the miracle of floating iron that led to recovery from an embarrassing loss, we see God showing up even for seemingly little things when we follow His principles.

He will save us from embarrassment when we heed His words. Psalm 119:26a (NLT), Proverbs 3:6 (NLT) and 1 Peter 5:7 are good instructions to heed and follow. The Lord wants us to share with Him every detail of our lives, not carry burdens that need not be ours.

Here are helpful instructions to follow:

1. Listening to understand the needs of the people and permitting their solution. When we listen and understand, finding a solution becomes a shared responsibility, the initiative for action being on the part of the people and active participation as demonstrated by Elisha’s willingness to go with them, and
2. The full impact of Elisha’s active participation was his availability when a problem arose—the axe head of a borrowed axe dropping into the water. He was not far off to see the distress and provide a Yahweh-glorifying solution.

Selah



Pastor Afolabi Oladele