The God of the Impossible

08/01/21 – 08/05/21

Salvation from Poisonous Control

By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  08/04/21

Read 2 Kings 4:38-41.

In the Promised Land, the people are dependent upon the rain, which means they’re dependent upon God. In 2 Kings 4, there hadn’t been rain for a very long time in the region of Gilgal, where the school of the prophets (an ancient Bible college or seminary) was located. So, the people of the region were suffering through a famine.

One day, when Elisha was meeting with the company of prophets, he instructed his servant to put on a big pot of stew. This stew was to be God’s provision—His supernatural relief during this time of trouble. God always, always refreshes His righteous ones in times of suffering. He may not remove the suffering, but He will refresh His children in the midst of it.

But then one of the students went out into the fields and found a strange vine. Without knowing what it was, he picked the gourds from it and added them to the stew. Little did he realize he was adding poison to the pot.

Brothers and sisters, God doesn’t need our help. It may have seemed like an innocent mistake, but in reality, this man’s desire to add his own ingredient to the stew has all the markings of a controlling spirit—and there’s no surer way to intrude on God’s miraculous provision.

A controlling spirit is the number-one enemy of faith. It ruins relationships, breeds loneliness, and ultimately squeezes God out. Any time we add to God’s provision, we poison the pot.

What God wants is for you and me to trust Him. God wants you to meet the conditions of His promises, and then He wants you to stand back and let Him do the rest.

Elisha cured the stew by having his servant add wheat flour to it. It wasn’t an accident that it was wheat flour, for wheat points to Jesus. In John 12, Jesus declared, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (v. 24). Jesus was that kernel of wheat. He bled and died and was buried and rose again to reproduce His life within us. He is the flour that removes the poison of sin and self-reliance from our hearts.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for the times I try to force my way in a situation. Help me to trust You and Your purposes. May I relinquish control and seek Your will through Your Word so that I become more and more like Jesus. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Elisha said, ‘Get some flour.’ He put it into the pot and said, ‘Serve it to the people to eat.’ And there was nothing harmful in the pot” (2 Kings 4:41).