Lesson 26 - God Provides Food for His People
Read 2 Kings 7:1-20 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/2KI.7.ESV
From 2 Kings 7:9 – Then they said to one another – We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell ….

Elisha announced, “Listen to the word of God! The famine is almost over! This time tomorrow food will be plentiful.”

The unbelieving king’s attendant answered, “Do you expect us to believe the skies are going to open up and food is going to tumble down?”

Elisha replied, “You will see it, but you will not taste a bit of the food.”

Four lepers were sitting at the city gate, talking to each other: “If we stay here, we will die, if we go into the city that has no food, we will die; why not go to the enemy camp and see if they will give us food? This way, at least we will have a chance.”

After the sun went down, they walked to the enemy camp. When they got there, they were surprised – not one man was there! God had made the enemy soldiers hear what sounded like a huge army coming toward them, and they fled on foot for their lives, leaving everything behind. The lepers ran into the camp, ate and drank until they were full, and then started to gather money and clothing, hiding it to take back with them later.

Then one of them said, “We should not be doing this! This is a day of amazing good news, and we are keeping it all to ourselves. If we wait until morning light, we will be punished. We need to let the king’s household know.”

The lepers told the gatekeepers, who shouted the news to the king’s palace. The king got up, but thought it was a trick and the enemy army was hiding, waiting to ambush them when the Israelites went into their camp. One of his officials encouraged him to send a few men to take some of the enemy’s horses and see what would happen. The scouts found their enemy’s clothing and equipment thrown all along the way to the river; they had dropped these things as they ran for their lives. The scouts told the king, and then the people ran into the deserted enemy camp, eating all they could hold. Food was plentiful and prices dropped to below normal, just as the Lord has said.

The king had ordered his attendant to guard the city gate, but the starving people trampled him to death in their rush to get to the food. So it happened just as Elisha had said – he saw all the food, but never tasted a bit of it. Every word of Elisha, the man of God, came true, and the Lord was glorified.

*What results of unbelief have you seen in your lifetime? What does this encourage you to do?