Four Leprous Men
Dearly beloved of God, four leprous men sat at the entrance of the gate in Samaria, and they said one to another, “Why sit we here until we die?”
In the first place the men were lepers. None of us would want to have leprosy and watch our life decay before our very eyes; such despair.
Inside the city there was a very great famine. It was so bad a woman ate her own child to keep from starving. If the lepers went into the city they knew they would die of starvation.
They realized if they kept sitting by the gate death waited for them.
Outside the city the Syrians were besieging the city; perhaps they would save them alive if for some reason they decided not kill them.
The men had come to the end of the rope; they had come to themselves. None of their choices were favorable, but they decided to arise in desperation and head out. Little did they know what God had told Elisha the prophet the day before.
“To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.”
The socio-economic, the environmental, and the political conditions were about to change drastically, and they did. The Almighty God brought His Word to pass as He said He would.
If only people today would come to realize what lies before them as these four leprous men did. All of us are going to die should the Lord tarry, so why sit we here until we die?
We only have one life to live, so why not live it for the one who loved us and gave himself for us? Why not arise and venture forth on the promises of God?
If we return to our old way of living, the way we lived before we were saved, we are going to die.
If we sit here and do nothing, we are going to die.
If we get up, and move ahead with the things of God there is “the chance” (I say this facetiously) that God really is able and willing to perform His Word in our lives as He says He is.
It could be that the One True and Living God Who said that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus told the truth; that He always causes us to triumph; that He supplies us with all sufficiency in all things all the time. It could just be true. How will we ever know if we sit here until we die?
Dearly beloved, what do we have that we did not receive? Nothing. All that we have is by the grace of God; every last iota of it. God highly favored us in His Beloved Son. We are the beneficiaries of His divine favor. We stand in His grace, dearly beloved.
We were dead in sin, and came under the reign of death. We were without hope and without God in our lives before God called us by the joyful proclamation of His Word.
What do we now have in Christ? Everything! God became our Father and blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. He freely gives us all things with His beloved Son; all of them, beginning with the new birth and all the way unto the inheritance we will receive when he comes.
God our Father will glorify us with Christ Jesus in the ages to come and show us all of His loving kindnesses and tender mercies. He will show us even more of the exceeding riches of His grace that He shows us today.
Why sit we here until we die? Our reality could be as He says: His ears are open to our cries; He hears our prayers and grants our petitions. Fear not! It could be as He has said! He is the One that stands behind every word He has spoken and performs it by His mighty power; He is faithful that promised, dearly beloved.
Now is the time to arise. Now is the time to take Him at His Word. Is He the Living God, the Almighty God our Father, or isn’t He? Let’s not sit here until we die, never knowing. Let us arise and go forth as the four leprous men did. Boy, were they surprised at what they found!