Death in the Pot

2 Kings 4:40 ~ "And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, 'O man of God, there is death in the pot!' And they could not eat it."

During a time of famine, when Elisha was gathered with the sons of the prophets, a meal was prepared. This is, in itself, no small thing during a time when food was scarce. During famines, you forage and gather what you can and everything that can be food is procured. 

But not all things that look like food are edible, and some things can be deadly.

During their foraging, a young man gathered up a cache of wild gourds, a seemingly innocent addition to the stew being prepared. They sliced them up, added them in, and at first taste, it was poison.

Okay... just dump it out and start again. After all, it's just a stew and another pot can be boiled up and made ready in a short amount of time. Except for one thing... there was no other food. There was a famine in the land. 

They cried out to Elisha and he cast flour in the pot and they could eat without fear of death. There is no great anti-poison quality to flour, it was an act of faith on Elisha's part. 

So, what have you added to your life that is mixed in now with your spiritual food and is actually death in the pot? There are all manner of worldly, tasty gourds that get blended in to the mix of our spiritual food and end up being deadly. 

In truth, our world is living in famine conditions concerning Christ, where there are fewer and fewer locations where a believer can be fed adequately for the work of the Lord. And then, there are some "pots" where they will add anything from the world that looks like godly ingredients in the hope that it will nourish and supply what is lacking. 

Things like marketing gimmicks, self-help philosophies, entertainment attractions, new age mantras, and many other "wild gourds" are added to the teachings of many churches. The purity of the word of God and the simplicity of faith in Christ are mingled with these and so many other things that to actually eat what is presented will be a deadly concoction for your soul.

What do you do? As the sons of the prophets called out to Elisha to rescue them, so let us call out to the Lord that He should cast His grace and truth back into the pot of our lives and nullify the poison that was added. The wild gourds were not removed, they were neutralized. And when we seek the Lord and be true to His word, we will discover that even though those foolish poisons are still mingled in, they will have no effect upon our spiritual nourishment.

​For God's truth will always neutralize the world's lies.

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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