2 Kings 1; Proverbs 4:1-17

Wednesday's Bible Reading: 2 Kings 1; Proverbs 4:1-17

The longest day of 2006. Summer begins. Yea!
Sunrise: 6:04 am
Sunset: 9:24 pm
Length of Day: 15 hours, 20 minutes
Length of Visible Light: 16 hours, 30 minutes

What a difference humility makes.

After injuring himself in a fall through the lattice of his upper room, Israel's king Ahaziah sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to find out if he was going to recover.

God sent Elijah to meet the messengers and give them an ominous message for the king: "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!'" (2 Kings 1:4).

When the king heard the message and figured out that it was from Elijah, he sent a captain and 50 men to order Elijah to "come down." Instead of coming down, Elijah called down fire from heaven that consumed the men. He did the same thing to a second company of 50 men. The captain of the third company sent by Ahaziah took a different strategy. Instead of ordering Elijah to come down, he fell down on his knees before Elijah (1:13) and begged for his life and the lives of his men. Receiving permission from the angel of the Lord, Elijah went down with them to the king. The message to Ahaziah did not change however. He would die from his fall. But the men who "fell" before Elijah lived.

The real position of power is humility, not arrogance.

From yesterday's reading in Proverbs . . .

The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked,
(tab)but he blesses the home of the righteous.
He mocks proud mockers
(tab)but gives grace to the humble. (3:33-34)