Your Life Can Change In A Day

When things are bleak, so bleak that there is no food to eat in the community, God can turn the bleakness into a feast . . . in one day! Do you believe me?

It’s true. This was the condition of the nation of Israel during the siege of Benhadad and the Syrians. The story is recorded in 2 Kings 6 and 7. It is really an unbelievable story . . . but it’s true, and I might add, it is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

This present crisis in our nation is by far the worst in my lifetime. Often in conversations with friends and acquaintances, the remark comes up again and again, “I would never have believed this could happen in America!”

So, it is completely fitting that we would visit this story, and see what God can do . . . in one day!

Syria had laid siege to Israel, surrounding the city of Samaria with troops, not allowing any food to enter the city. One day a woman cried out to the king to help her. She related that she and another woman had killed her son and ate him, so desperate was the hunger in the city. At the time, a half-pound of dove’s dung was selling for five pieces of silver.

The king tore his clothes in grief and decided to blame the prophet, Elisha for the situation. After all, wasn’t Elisha the prophet of God in the nation? Surely, he was to blame for this crisis. The king swore an oath that he would behead Elisha before the day was done. So he and his entourage went to Elisha’s house to kill him. “It is the Lord who has brought this trouble on us!” the king said.

Elisha calmly delivered God’s message to the king. “Listen to what the Lord says! By this time tomorrow you will be able to buy in Samaria ten pounds of the best wheat or twenty pounds of barley for one piece of silver.”

An attendant to the king scoffed at Elisha’s words. “That can’t happen,” he said!

Elisha replied, “You will see it happen, but you won’t get to eat any of the food.”

Well, it all turned around in a single day, just as Elisha said.

Four lepers were sitting at the gate of the city, and they reasoned, “Let’s go out to the Syrians’ camp. The worst that can happen is that they will kill us, but if we stay here, we will die anyway.

So they went and found that God had done an amazing thing. He had caused the Syrians to hear the sound of a mighty army coming down on them. They fled in terror abandoning the camp with everything in it, a bountiful supply of food and plenty of money.

The lepers reported back to the king, and sure enough it was true. In one day the inhabitants of the city went from starving to having all the food they needed and more.

The attendant who had scoffed at the word of the Lord was trampled to death by the people stampeding to get food, so Elisha’s word to him was fulfilled.

In one day, God turned a dark, dire situation of starvation and despair into a feast where the people had more food than they knew what to do with.

Without belaboring the details, suffice it to say, America is in an unbelievably chaotic situation, without a doubt the worst in my lifetime. Inflation is soaring, our southern border overrun, the Afghanistan pullout is arguably the worst military maneuver in the history of our country, and the Democrats are putting together a massive tax program that will reach down to anyone making over $40,000.

Bleak? Maybe a better word would be “horrific.”

Can God turn it around? Of course, He can. The key is that we Americans cry out in repentance to the God who can deliver us. The sins of our people are unthinkable. It is time we call sin, sin, and quit saying it is good.

Isaiah 5:20 says,

“You are doomed! You call evil good and call good evil. You turn darkness into light and light into darkness.”

As many of you know, Lorraine and I live by faith – our employer and provider is God!

Before Lorraine and I were married, I lived by myself for two years in Shakopee, Minnesota.

My inspiration comes from two heroes of the faith, George Muller and Rees Howells. Both of these men of God prayed in the money they needed. Muller lived in England in the early 1800’s and there he built five large orphanages, praying in all of the money needed to build and run them. Rees Howells purchased three English estates where he operated Bible colleges to train young men in the art of prayer and intercession.

During my stay in Shakopee there were several days when I didn’t have enough money in my pocket to buy a cup of coffee. I had no credit and no credit cards during this time, so the money I had in my pocket was all that I had.

One Sunday night I suddenly realized that I had no money and the “empty light” came on in my car signaling “no gas.”

What do you do in such a situation? Pray! What else can you do? So on Monday morning I went to the library to pray . . . most of the day. On Tuesday I did the same. On Tuesday evening the Lord told me to write a check for $30 for gas. I knew at that particular gas station, it would take two days for the check to hit the bank. Well, isn’t that risky? Yes, but after two days of prayer I knew I had heard the Lord speak. So I put the gas in the tank and the next day drove to the mail box, which at the time was a 25 minute drive.

When I got to the post office and got ready to open the box, I opened it just a crack. “Please, Lord, let there be envelopes in the box.”

I could see there were two envelopes. When I opened the first one, there was a check for $20. I literally jumped up and down. I had money! When you are totally broke, $20 seems like a lot of money. Ahhh . . . but when I opened the second envelope, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was a check for $1000!

Now, I was rich! At least, I felt that way, and I had good reason to feel that way. One thousand twenty dollars!

Well, one day I was broke, and the next day I was rich. God turned my circumstances around in one day!

You see, your circumstances do not depend on the state of the world around you. Your circumstances depend on God, the living God who made heaven and earth!

What do you think? Can you trust Him?

The people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

Daniel 11:32 (KJV)

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In His Service,

George and Lorraine Halama

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