The Positive Difference of One Person 1
Greetings, friends. We meet again; as I speak on The Positive Difference of One Person. And we will take our text from 2 Kings 6:8
2 Kings 6:8-16
8 Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” 9 And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” 10 Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice.
11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”
12 And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
13 So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.”
And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.”
14 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. 15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18 So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
PRAYER:
Father, as we meet now to reason in your word, we are praying that Your Spirit will convey the message with such assurance and clarity to the hearts of all who are listening, in Jesus Name. Amen!
The Positive Difference of One Person.
It will not come as a surprise to us that one person can make a difference. It is what kind of difference he or she makes that matters. Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Mao Zedong and Osama Bin Laden. all made a difference. We experience the difference of the later, Osama Bin Laden. The difference he has made we experience today when we travel by air as we go through security checks. But others such as Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Mary Slessor and the Apostle Paul made such positive difference that still fuse our heart with joy and gratitude today.
In our text we find that the difference of one person saved a king and a nation from the evil plans of an enemy. We were told in our text that the king of Syria was making war against Israel. And he was constantly trying to take them by surprise. And the man of God in Israel, Elisha, said to his king…warned him to be aware; told him where he should not go. And this, not once, not twice – we do not know how many times. Through his close contact with the omniscient God, Elisha had the enviable privilege of knowing the evil plans of the king of Syria against the king of Israel and his nation.
Friend, you can get privileged information that can make a difference. In the book of:
Ezekiel 33:30-33
30 “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ 31 So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. 32 Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. 33 And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
What a privileged information! Ezekiel had that privileged information from God of the attitude of his people so that they would not fool him when they came and sat in his presence pretending that they were hearing the Word of God and enjoying the Word of God. They were just enjoying his sweet voice but not the word that God was sending through him.
Your closeness to God will enable you to have a positive influence that can affect individuals and even a nation or nations.
The positive difference that one person can make! This positive difference that Elisha has made saved his nation. The positive difference that one person can make saved the king’s cabinet from false accusation and potential capital punishment. We see that in verses 11 and 12:
2 Kings 6
11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”
12 And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
We do not need to have divine knowledge like Elisha to make a difference. Common sense, common knowledge that comes from keen observation can equip us to make a positive difference, as was the case of one of the servants of the King of Syria. He knew there was a man of God in Israel who had the ability to know what ordinary people could not know. That was how he made this difference – saved the cabinet from false accusation and perhaps potential capital punishment. There is a positive difference that a woman, an old woman – an old lady in the United States made many years ago. Rosa Parks is her name. Rosa Parks knew that it was morally wrong to tell a tired lady to vacate her seat for a white man so that she would go back – she would go to the back of the bus and stand. She made a difference by refusing to do what every black person was expected to do. And this is why today a black man…a black person in the United States can seat anywhere in a bus, anywhere in a train, anywhere in an airplane. And this is why today a black man is sitting in the White House – because an old black lady refused to do what was expected of her by a society. And by that she made a positive difference.
A positive difference made by the servant of God bolstered the confidence of a trembling heart: (verse 13 and 18 of our text):
13 So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.”
And the king of Syria sent his armies to Dothan and they surrounded the city. And the savant of Elisha saw that and trembled. But because of the positive difference that his master Elisha made, this young man was strengthened, and to a point that Gehazi said, Master, let’s go get them.
We will continue from this point next time when we return.
PRAYER:
Father, may You grant us the grace; everyone who has heard my voice today…and myself, to make a positive difference in the lives of people, and perhaps even in this nation and beyond this nation, in Jesus Name. Amen!