For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Col. 3
What might change if you were to do your work “with all your heart as working for the Lord”? Paul keeps mentioning the importance of how we think and how God changes us from the inside out. He continues that line in this chapter. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col. 3:2). He says the same about our hearts. Paul is not telling us to be aloof or to isolate ourselves from the world around us. He is telling us to let God transform us from the inside out.
Instead of responding to people and situations according to our human nature, we should consider what response would honor God. Likewise, instead of working to please human masters for personal gain, we should consider God as the benefactor of our efforts. Why? Because “you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.” (Col. 3:24a). That is what it means to set your hearts and minds on things above. It means being mindful of the truth that our reward does not lie in any perceived benefit this world has to offer. Our reward lies in being faithful to the One who is faithful to us.
2 Kings 7-8
At the end of 2 Kings 6, the king of Aram laid siege to Samaria. Due to the resulting famine, two women came to the King of Israel over a dispute. They had agreed to kill and eat their sons, but after eating the first woman’s son, the second refused to stick to her end of the bargain. (Yeah – the Bible gets gruesome at times, but that’s the harsh reality of the human condition!) The king – I believe it was Joram, son of Ahab – was rightly distressed by this situation. But he wrongly blamed it on God. He went to Elisha and said, “This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?” (2 Kings 6:33b).
Joram may have thought he had righteous anger here, but his heart was clearly in the wrong place. Instead of humbly seeking God’s mercy, he got defiant with God. Nevertheless, God gave Joram the reprieve he sought. Elisha told Joram that food would be plentiful in Samaria in a day. The telling thing to me, though is that neither the king nor his officer believed Elijah’s word. The king’s officer apparently mocked Elisha for saying such a thing. He paid with his life right after seeing Elisha’s word come to pass. The king, on the other hand, didn’t trust God’s answer when He saw it. Even though he was told what was going to happen, he still thought it was a set up when it happened.
The situation with the two women and their sons was a horrific thing. I completely understand why it upset King Joram. But what right do we have to get mad at a God we refuse to trust? If Joram thought God was able to cause this disaster, why would he not think God was able to fix it? Either God is God or He isn’t. If He isn’t, what’s the point in getting mad at Him? However, if He is the God He says He is, we would do well to take a much different attitude with Him than that of King Joram.