One of my favourite Bible events is in 2 Kings 7 where some lepers discover that the siege of Samaria has been lifted and go to tell the King that there is food outside the city.
The king’s officer whom he relied on for advice was sceptical, cynical even. So the prophet tells him that he would see God’s provision but not get to enjoy it.
The king puts the officer in charge of supervising the gate out of the city. He is caught in the crush as the people rush to get out of the city and trampled to death.
Fascinatingly, this is the bit of the account that the writer of 2 Kings seems to push forward as the main point. There are some sobering warnings here.
- Don’t put cynics and sceptics in places where they can seek to control the access of God’s people to God’s lavish, miraculous grace. In other words keep them away from church leadership. Choose gate keepers wisely.
- If you try to control and manage what God is doing, you will fail and be caught in the crush.
- You can be so close to God’s grace as to be able to see it and yet miss out, so close to life and salvation but at the same time, so close to death and destruction.
Faithroots 