2 Kings 6:30 “And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.”

2 Kings 6:31 “Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.”

2 Kings 6:32 “But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

2 Kings 6:33 “And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

In the second half of 2 Kings 6, the Syrian army has come up and besieged Israel’s capital city of Samaria, and they are starving them out, things are really bad in this city. If you thought inflation was bad in our society, check out the price of pigeon poo in this story! And it all makes for quite some reading!

The context to these verses is that the king of Israel has ventured out to see how the “peasants” are getting on from the safety of his wall… and as part of his outward shew of “identifying” with the people, he hears a complaint from a woman who has just eaten her own son, and is complaining that a woman she knows didn’t keep her agreement to eat her child also… that was the deal she says!

Pretty crazy stuff hey. But what we know is that this horrible situation is a fulfillment of what God soberly warned his people in Deuteronomy, that if his people would rebel against his commandments, many curses would take hold on them… and here they are. Somehow we think God changes the rules for us, and his commandments don’t apply to us like they do everyone else… but fact is, God doesn’t break his word for anyone.

Upon hearing this, naturally this evil king blames Elisha, the man of God in the city, and he says he’s going to take Elisha’s head off… today! That’ll make it all right! People always blame Christians for the problems in society, not their own sin and wickedness. And so he sends a messenger with his threatening message to Elisha’s house!

… why didn’t he go himself? Because he’s all bark and no bite. Just remember Christian, Satan only has the power against you that you give him. Elisha wasn’t giving him any. And today I want to encourage Christians, because Elisha will teach you how to handle Satan trying to get in your house… in your head, heart and life… this king wanted to put fear into Elisha by sending a guy with this message… it would have made me pretty afraid if I opened my door and let this news in!

… Think about what comes into your head during the day, what’s bouncing through your mind right now and has taken possession of you, and where and who it is coming from… do you take thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ as God tells you to? Because as Christian you need to, because Satan wants in! Man I’ve seen Satan wanting in to people’s lives at point of salvation. Like Haman at king Ahasuerus’ door in the book of Esther, he’s right there people!

Hold Satan at the door! Don’t let his lies into your life… but to truly defend your head, heart and home from Satan, first of all, you have to recognize who is really behind what is trying to or has gotten into your life. Satan will send people “a messenger of Satan” into your life who are from him, with his words and agenda. But they may not be “obviously” from him… after all Satan has a most deft touch “more subtil than any beast of the field” Has he possessed your life already and you don’t even know it? He got into Judas Iscariot’s head and heart, who had heard Jesus preach for three years and even ministered himself also!

You have to be able to perceive who and what is behind something… that’s what prudence, wisdom and walking circumspectly is all about… see here, Elisha knew what kind of a guy the king was “the son of a murderer”… physically but also spiritually… and also that this king was behind the message being sent by another person to his house “is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” Elisha’s handling of this situation with God’s word is a model to us, because the Bible, such as in 1 John, is how we discern between the children of God and children of the devil. By it you can discern the spirit of obedience from disobedience!

We can know what is from God and of God. God isn’t the author of confusion, we know “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness”, we know he hasn’t given us the spirit of fear and he has made many precious promises to us of his protection, infinite love, supreme truth, safekeeping and eventual and inevitable victory in every situation of life.

In the meanwhile, you’re just going to have to accept that as a Christian there will be “others” and “they” who won’t understand… you will experience unpopularity, blame, false accusation, slander, people will want your head… as happened to Elisha. If they wanted John the Baptist’s head on a platter for an 11 word sermon, someone will want yours also… and they truly do want your head, because as a Christian, Christ is your head, and that’s who they truly hate. They’d be fine with you if they could just take that head off you! And Christians know this conflict, which is why many sit it out on the sidelines because they don’t want the boos from the crowd if they would strive for the prize.

… Like Elisha told them to do with the king’s messenger, we need to hold Satan at the door! Why open the door so easily to him? The Bible says “neither give place to the devil” and “for we are not ignorant of his devices”. Why let Satan murder our Christian life so easily with his fiery darts? How about slam the door shut in his face?

How many people let Satan ruin them by letting his lies in their head, heart and home. How many young Christians stopped waiting on God because “what should I wait for the LORD any longer?”… yes you should! Or because of “This evil is of the LORD”… stop blaming him and believing lies about him! He’s not against you, he’s not your problem, he’s your salvation! How many of Satan’s lies about God’s word or character or both all from Satan are behind a young or even older Christian’s ruin. See, God’s word will beget you… or maybe Satan’s already got you. Because once he’s in, he will demand the only seat at your table… like Haman’s exclusive sole access to Ahasuerus. But hopefully you could yet be like Rahab, and when God’s message of the gospel comes to you, whose truth will make you free… hopefully you hide his truth in your heart, and don’t let that pesky king come for his precious promises, the scarlet thread of your redemption!

The only person you need to let in your life is Christ. He says in Revelation, to the churches no less, because that’s where he’s being missed most these days “behold, I stand at the door and knock”… why not let him in? He’ll give you a solid sure foundation, and that old open door you had to Satan where he just strolled in as he pleased, that privilege be quickly revoked!

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