The great theme that runs through this episode is the theme of blindness and sight. God sees, Elisha sees, The servant is blind and sees, The enemy are blind and they see. 

Seeing, sight and blindness. I can remember when i began to lose the clarity of my sight. I kept complaining about the overhead projector at church being out of focus! It was only when borrowing my sister's glasses at an art gallery that i discovered that i was the one with the sight problem!  

None of us sees clearly, spiritually. Only God sees perfectly. We on the other hand are blind and need to receive the gift of sight and even when we have been given the gift of spiritual sight we need to go on daily having our sight clarified, properly focussed; the eyes of our hearts opened. 

It doesn’t take much to distort a message with huge consequences: 

a wealthy american lady was travelling in europe and found a piece of jewellry she wanted. the price was outrageous but she emailed her husband any way telling him of her desire and the cost of the item. upon receipt of the message her husband instructed his secretary to immediately email back : “No, price too high” The problem was that the secretary omitted the rather important comma. the message the wife received from her husband was “No price too high” and there were celebrations in Europe. 

It doesn’t take much to distort a message with huge consequences. A comma. A couple of bags of silver and a couple of changes of clothes..  

we come the second half of the Naaman story the first part of which we looked at last week... 

There is huge pressure today to be inclusive – not to draw boundaries. Not to tell someone they are wrong. At the same time, being totally inclusive can end up in a very confused place. There are realities that bring boundaries and exclusions. Yet we can find that exclusivism – that marking that things are right or wrong – often is rather ugly or arrogant. We see that particularly in area of politics at the moment.

That often feels like the choice – inclusivism that welcomes but ends up confused. Or exclusivism which has boundaries that might fit reality but is often harsh and ugly. 

I think our passage tonight helps us with these issues of a confused inclusivism, or an ugly exclusivism.  

The Christian life is a journey from life to death to resurrection. That’s the shape - like the Nike swoosh! 

Now what on earth is that all about? Life, death, resurrection. 

Well the bible tells us in a hundred different ways 

And our passage today from the depths of the Old testament - 600 years before the life of Jesus Christ - just so happens to trace this journey, this salvation for us. 

I wonder what’s your attitude towards the Bible? Have you read all of it? Are some bits better than others? Old testament? New Testament? Is God the same God in each? Aren’t some bits in the Old testament a little extreme? The God of he Old testament. Is the God of the Bible really in charge of the world? No one believes that any more do they? 

Well should they? That’s the first question we’re asking as we continue our series in the book of Kings. Who’s in charge? 

The book of Kings is a compelling case FOR the true God in an age of many gods and multiple spiritualities. 

So who is the true God? What is he like compared with all the idols?

In this chapter we see the way that God deals with Elijah in his despondency and depression. Elijah feels that God has failed him; that he doesn’t know who God is anymore. But God comes again and he treats and corrects Elijah’s depression and in so doing He reveals his Glory.

God in his grace will will not leave his people to suffer in bondage to mute idols. he will shatter our idols and show himself to be the true God. It will hurt us but it might just save us. How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him. 

In these miracles we see the LORD God demonstrating in an Age of Unbelief that he is the living God who provides. He confronts Baal and ALL idols and he shows them to be impotent. False gods. lifeless. these are NOT the things that bring us life. Only God. Only Jesus brings life.    

In these miracles we also see the courageous growing faith of Elijah. Growing because God is testing and training that faith in his servant as God always does with us to make us more effective for him in the adventures he calls us to