God can change any situation

If you can go with me to the Second Book of Kings, chapter 2 verses 19 to 22. We're going to be looking at four verses tonight. Second Kings chapter 2 verses from 19 to 22. The Word of God says: 'And the men of the city said to Elisha "Here is the place where this city is located, it is good, as my Lord sees. But the waters are bad and the land is barren.

Then he said 'Bring me a new vessel and put salt in it'. And they brought it to them. And going out to the springs of the waters, he poured in the salt and said thus has the Lord said: 'I healed these waters and there will be no more death or disease in them.' And the waters were healed until today according to the word that Elisha spoke." These are four apparently very simple verses that recount one of the miracles that Elisha performed after Elijah had departed from within his presence.

At first glance one reads this and says: but what can one get out of these four verses? We see that God did a miracle through Elisha, that he healed some water and everything else, but how does that apply in our lives? What is the hidden message in these verses? And when I was studying this passage, that was the question I asked myself: what is this passage going to do for me? These four verses? What am I going to learn from these four verses?

A very beautiful story and to my surprise the Lord ministered to my life in a very special way while I was studying this passage. In a way that I didn't expect. And tonight I want to share with you what the Lord shared in my life. And I want to focus, I want you as we study this passage together tonight to keep in your mind that God can change any situation through His Word.

That is the central idea of this passage. God can change any situation no matter how impossible it may seem through his word and I know that many of us go through different situations – today, tonight: we come from work, from school, from home, tired with only God. You know how many problems you have, be they emotional problems, financial problems, health problems.

Problems that perhaps at first sight we cannot do anything about because they get out of our hands. Problems that we have come before God praying for a long time and still apparently do not receive an answer. Things that get out of hand and that we cannot change by our own strength. But through this passage we are going to see how God through his word can turn the impossible into possible.

The people of Israel in this context found themselves in a situation that was beyond their control. During the time of this passage there was a very strong phenomenon of idolatry in the people of Israel. You know that in the Old Testament this was one of the biggest problems of these people: that they went after pagan gods, other gods in search of solutions to their problems.

And therefore they disobeyed the law of God and in this passage the main idol of these people was Baal a pagan god who was supposedly the god of fertility and natural effects. That god was characterized because he supposedly controlled the rain, the wind, the earth and countless things that had to do with natural effects. But we see that in this passage he is talking about a problem with the city's water.

In a world where the idol of Baal reigns. If you remember, how many of you remember the story of Elijah facing the four hundred prophets? TRUE? Because there was a drought during that time and Elijah directly confronted these prophets that they worshipped… Whose prophets were they? Of Baal, right? They were four hundred prophets of Baal. They worshiped Baal and everything. That was the preeminent idol back then.

And in this passage the power of Baal is being directly challenged against the power of God. People back then did not understand why there was a problem with the water in their city and if Baal was the idol of the moment why Baal had not solved this problem. But to give you a little more information about the city, we are talking about Jericho. A city that was relatively close, about 5 miles from the Jordan River, which was a very fruitful river in a highly developed area.

It was a magnificent city, the only problem with this city was that the water was bad. The water caused infertility and therefore in that land there were no tree fruits. Some commentators say that pregnant women lose their children because the water is contaminated. And for us it is not new to think of water as a symbol of life, right?

When one thinks of water one thinks of life, the flowing water through which trees feed. We need a lot of water to be able to hydrate our body and to be able to function. So, in a society where the water was contaminated, it was difficult to be productive. And that was a problem that was affecting this city that was ironically located near the Jordan River.

And the waters of the Jordan River were good, they were fruitful. But how then did this city so close to that river have a problem with the waters that escaped from their hands? That perhaps the scientists of that time could not explain themselves, they could not fix the problem. It was something unprecedented that they couldn't explain. And then what about them? They come to Elisha and present the problem to him.

They tell him in verse 20: "The men there said to Elisha 'the place where the city is located is good, it is a city [imagine the city of Cambridge here in Boston near the Chas River a very attractive city, executive, with many schools and everything but suddenly say: there is a problem with the water. The water in that city is a disaster. You cannot live no matter how beautiful the city is, no matter how many buildings it has, the water is bad, you cannot live in that city.]

So it would be a very interesting time for people trying to sell or rent apartments, to promote their locality knowing that there is such a problem. It was a similar problem that affected this city. And these people wondered: 'Where is Baal? Where is the god Baal? What is happening with Baal?’ Many times we as Christians have other gods apart from God.

That during our lives we turn to them. We are going to say "money" it may be that it is one of those gods that we have. Many of us depend on money to do everything. And we put money in such a high place in our lives that it becomes an idol. But nevertheless, as the years go by, one realizes that there are things that money cannot solve.

And one says: And what happens with my money that can't heal me from this disease? It can't heal my heart, it can't heal a broken relationship, it can't heal my son, my daughter, my husband, my wife. Things that get out of hand and then we turn to God. Something similar was happening in the context of this passage. However, there was something beyond what these people could understand.

Which was the reason why the water in this city was bad. If you go with me to Joshua 6:26. The book of Joshua. It says here -let's read from 25 to give you a little context-: "But Joshua saved the life of Raab the harlot and his father's house and all that she had and she lived among the Israelites to this day because he hid the messengers that Joshua had sent to collect Jericho.

At that time Joshua swore an oath saying: Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city of Jericho on his firstborn made in its foundations and on his youngest son who establishes its gates. This occurred immediately after the Israelites had marched around the city of Jericho seven times and the walls fell down.

How many of you remember that story? A very famous story right? That Jericho was a city that oppressed the Israelites so they marched seven times, the cities fell. Right after that Raab who was the person God used to help Joshua after she was saved, Joshua declared a curse on that city.

And he is saying here that "cursed be the man who rises up before the Lord and rebuilds this city of Jericho on his firstborn, made on its foundations and on his youngest son, establishes its gates." Declare a curse on this city. But when we go further, the passage about us in Second Kings tells us that this city was Jericho. In other words, years later, around 500 years later, the city had been rebuilt.

And it was a city, a good place apparently, but there was a problem that could not be explained that was related until this event, here, in the book of Joshua. A curse proclaimed by Joshua and endorsed by God himself. But who built the city again? Well in first Kings 16:34 it gives us the story of a man.

It says: “In his time Jirel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho at the price of the life of Avian his firstborn, he laid the foundation and at the price of the life of Segub his youngest son he laid its gates. According to the word that the LORD had spoken through Joshua the son of Non." Here we see that there was an individual who built that city at the price of the blood of his children.

This is a terrible abomination in the eyes of Jehovah. Immediately this person did that, Joshua's curse took effect. And this was a city that had already been oppressed for over 500 years under a divine oppression that had been allowed by the hands of God. But why? Because of this person's disobedience.

In the time of the Kings, the Lord communicated with that person through the Prophets. The Prophets served as a reminder that 'God is in our midst and God is speaking' and Elisha was reminding them of God's presence in their lives. In verse 20 it says: “And he said 'bring me a new vessel and put salt in it' and they brought him. The men obeyed.

Why does he ask for a new vessel with salt? They are talking about the fact that the water in the city is bad and he says "bring me a new pot with salt" and some ask what are you going to do with a new pot and with salt? Are you going to solve the situation with a pot and salt? And if it is a vessel, how much salt do you need? I imagine these were the things that were going through his mind as Elisha responds in this way.

But nevertheless, they obeyed and brought him his new vessel and his salt. No questions. For God to work in our lives, the first step we have to take is: obey without question. Sometimes we will not understand exactly what God's purpose is through the things that surround us and the most absurd thing can be the instrument that God uses to carry out his plan in our lives.

So these people brought the new pot and the salt. Salt, as you know, is a symbol of purification and preservation in the Old Testament. All this was symbolic. And the new vessel perhaps represented the new God-endorsed ministry of the Prophet Elisha. The Prophet known at that time as Elijah because Elijah was the one who had confronted – this occurred after the confrontation with Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

He was the preeminent prophet back then and Elisha was a new little boy just come in and everybody, "Let's see if Elisha can do something." So perhaps this language of new pot and salt was something symbolic. But notice what Verse 21 says: "Going out to the springs of water, he poured the salt into it and said, 'Thus says the Lord: 'I have healed these waters and there will be no more death or disease in them.'"

What did Elisha do? He went to the springs. The springs are like the source where the waters are born, right? Most of the people identified a place where the water passed and that. He went to the source, he identified the root of the problem and there he went and threw in the salt. But yet he is not saying that it was the salt that did the purification or the preservation.

He is giving credit to the Word of God. He's not even taking credit for himself as the prophet of God who just did this miracle. No! He's pointing it all back to God and says, "Thus says the Lord, 'I have healed the waters, and there shall be no more death or disease in it.'" God had changed a curse that had been oppressing this city for more than 500 years through his Word.

And the deep meaning here is that God changed something that was dead into life. Those waters were bad, polluted and caused death and sterility. And God through his Word changed all that by demonstrating his power against the idol of that time, which was who? Baal. It was God that did it. It was a reminder that He was giving these people again that "I am the true God."

And once they had exhausted all their resources that they no longer had any other way to solve the problem, they had to turn to God. Then he says that "there will be no more death or disease." Ready all. And verse 21 says: "the waters were healed until today according to the Word that Elisha spoke." In other words, the result of God's intervention until today was eternal.

It wasn't that the waters healed and that years later we had the same problem and a pipe was punctured and I don't know what. No no! When God works, God works for life. And so it is that God wants to transform our lives. It doesn't matter what problem we have, or for how many years we have dealt with that problem. Whether it's us, our families, whether it's a financial problem, an emotional problem, a problem caused by sin. It doesn't matter.

I don't know what your problem is but the Word of God says that God can change it through his Word. The same God of yesterday is the same God of today. And if we believe that God did this and that he lifted a curse that God himself had placed on a city, God can lift any curse that is in your family.

Any oppression in your family. God can raise her but in his time. It took these people 500 years. And a lot of them were like, 'Oh! Could it be that God finally changed his mind.” No, God did not change his mind. To them it seemed that God had changed his mind. But God from before declaring the curse, God knew that he had declared a curse and that 500 years later he was going to lift it.

God in his sovereignty knew. But He wanted to show these people who the true God was. And so it is that God decides to glorify himself, to manifest himself through our lives. Whatever oppression we are going through has to be obvious to the people around us. Because? Because God wants to glorify himself through that. This situation was obvious to the entire city.

And the surrounding cities, I imagine, would say “Oh! You can't live in that city. There is a problem there." So it was obvious. But that's how God decides to do things to glorify himself. So that when the world says "you can't", He comes in and says "Yes you can". I don't know how many times you've heard this week “You can't. It can't be done". Perhaps you grew up in a family that was the only thing you heard: you can't.

But God through his Word tells you: "If you can" and the changes will be eternal. But you have to obey me. The only thing I want is for you to obey me and if I ask you for a bowl of salt, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, that you give it to me. And I am going to glorify myself. I am going to glorify myself so that the people in your community, in your school, in your home see that it was I who transformed and redeemed your life.

That I transformed and redeemed your relationship, your relationship with your dad, your relationship with your mom, your relationship with your son, with your neighbor, with your boss. This is how God works in our lives. And He transforms something that is dead and fills it with life to this day. And we have many examples of this throughout the entire Bible.

In the Old Testament, there in the same Book of Kings, Elijah raised the son of the widow of Zarepta. Was dead. Dead. It was an impossible situation. He's already dead, what are we going to do? But through the word of God the child was resurrected. In the New Testament Jairus's daughter died. Everyone saw, the neighbors, everyone saw. Jesus went, raised her from the dead to make it obvious.

No matter what situation is impossible. Sometimes we spend our entire lives praying for a family member that we want to come to the feet of Christ and nothing happens, and nothing happens. And well, now, we lost all hope. Do not lose hope brother, because God is going to do it in his time. Be it within two days, within 10 years, the Lord is going to do it.

The life of Saul, Paul, before he was Paul he was the persecutor of the church. He was known because he persecuted Christians. He locked them up and killed them. If there was a bad person towards the church, that the church perhaps did not want to know about that person, it was Paul, Saul. I imagine that a Pastor saw that Saulo arrived at his church and sat down, he would say “take me out of here please. That man will have a bomb or something. I don't know".

He was a person who, in terms of human criteria, had no forgiveness from God. It was impossible for Saul to react and change. But nevertheless it was him that God used to be one of the most important -prominent- people in the development within the church. He was a missionary who through his work millions of people heard the Gospel of God.

And God met Him directly and he heard the voice of God audible. He listened, understood and obeyed, right? So it doesn't matter, brothers, what has happened in your life. All the drama, all the sin, all the evil that you have done or that a person in your life has done to you, the Lord can change it. But we have to come to God and ask God to change it.

And when we ask God to change him we have to be willing to give him what God asks of us. I don't know what the Lord is asking you to give up so that He can glorify Himself, but remember: no matter how ridiculous it may seem, you know what the Lord is asking you to give up. Be your career, your vocation, your resources. Give it to God and let Him do the miracle so people can see and God is glorified.

Let's pray. Lord we thank you because your Word is alive and effective, Father. Thank you because You are the God who makes the impossible possible through your Word, Lord. On this night we come to you, Father with different problems, different needs, Lord. You know them. Many of us, already tired of praying, tired of waiting without understanding your purpose, Lord.

And we ask that You renew our strength, Lord. Give us your patience to be able to wait on You, Lord. Help us to obey your Word and to give you what you ask of us so that you can glorify yourself in the midst of our lives, Lord. Thank you because you are a God of order and because you are the same yesterday, today and forever, Lord.

And we declare Father that in the same way that You filled a city with life where before there was death, You can fill our city with life in the midst of death, Lord. You can fill our lives with new life, Lord, and purify us. Help us to hear your voice, Lord. To understand your voice, my God, and to obey your voice, Father.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.