Elisha 7 - Even Defectors Can Be Used by God

David W Palmer

(2 Kings 7:3–4 NLT) Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. {4} “We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”

Yesterday, we saw that God said through Elisha that within 24 hours the siege of Samaria would be over and that there would be a plenteous supply at cheap prices. This sounded far too good to be true—but so does the gospel.

We must remember that the city was in lockdown because an evil enemy had besieged them. While God’s covenant people were starving to the point of eating their own children, their cruel enemy was revelling in lavish abundance. But once God’s word came alive through his prophetic mouthpiece, everything changed.

(2 Kings 7:5–7 NLT) So at twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans. …

Like Israel’s king that we read about yesterday, the four men who sat at the gate suddenly decided that waiting on God to move would lead to death; so they decided to surrender to the enemy … in hopes that he could provide for them. This was very sad; and sadly that is exactly what many have done today. They have given up trusting God for their provision, health, freedom, and security, so they too have defected to the enemy to put their trust in him. Subconsciously, perhaps, defectors like this are hoping that they can trust the enemy’s benevolence and generosity—that he will look after them and provide for them. This is a vain hope, because he is completely evil.

Yet, this Bible story from Elisha’s life confirms that God can use defectors. As we read on in this passage, we see that in God’s timing, they arrived at the enemy’s camp only to find that God had already acted through his living word; the enemy was gone, but all of the provision was still there:

(2 Kings 7:5–7 NLT) … But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there! {6} For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried to one another. {7} So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.

We note that the enemy is in rebellion to God and not operating in love, benevolence, generosity, or bringing freedom. This leads to fear because only perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and they had rejected God and his perfect love, so fear was able to dominate them. All God had to do was to let them hear a sound; their fear-dominated imagination filled in vivid details of an impending massacre. So they left everything and “fled for their lives.”

God used the defection of the four men to sound the dinner bell, so to speak:

(2 Kings 7:8–11 NLT) When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it. {9} Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.” {10} So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!” {11} Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.

Thankfully, the goodness of God leads to repentance. After initially ensuring they had collected and hidden enough for themselves, the defectors changed their thinking: “This is not right.” So they rushed to the city to inform them of the good news of God’s provision. Soon, the whole city was enjoying God’s abundance. After all, a lot of what the enemy was enjoying—while forcing God’s covenant people into fear, lack of freedom, poverty, and despair—belonged to the local people; the Aramean raiders probably got it from their farms. Now it was time for God’s people to get back what belonged to them all the time.

Today, I encourage you first; do not be like the king and the four men who gave up waiting on God to provide and to bring freedom, health, provision, and joy. Do not turn on the prophets and try to silence them as the king did. Do not defect to the enemy in the hopes that he will love you, provide for you, bring you health, and give you freedom. He always has strings attached; and his motivation is always—yes always—to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He will never change. Do not trust him no matter how pleasant he appears or how much he promises; he is a pathological liar:

(John 8:44 NLT) … “He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

(1 John 5:19 NLT) We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

I also encourage you that as in this story, God has a plan to rout the enemy and bring the provision back to his people. God has always provided and been a healer; Jesus promises freedom if we continue in his word (John 8:31–32). But he never said that this would happen without a fight of faith, patience, and some testing fiery trials. Be an overcomer today; keep fighting the enemy, do not defect to him. But don’t judge those who do; God may used even them to help you.

(Revelation 21:7 NKJV) “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”