6/14/11

Don't play with fire!!!!


German shepherd's can be wonderful dogs, yet they can also be very tough and intimidating.  I still remember my in-laws dog, Suzie.  A beautiful loving family dog, she was great with kids and very affectionate.  What I remember about her most though was the way she obeyed my father-in-law; whatever he told her to do... she just did it.  One day he told her to guard the front porch of the farmhouse with a stern: GUARD, SUZIE!!!  My brother-in-law tried to get past her for hours, but was stopped by her fierce growl and snarls.  He kept trying to enter the house, but she did not relent until her master said to stop!  What a dog!!!  Just goes to show you that you shouldn't mess around with danger!  Consider for a moment, the prophets in the old testament; how dangerous they were!!!

2 Kings 2:9-25 (WEB)
9) It happened, when they had gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me.”
10) He said, “You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”
11) It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12) Elisha saw it, and he cried, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” He saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces.
13) He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
14) He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, “Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?” When he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha went over.
15) When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho over against him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
16) They said to him, “See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. Perhaps the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up, and put him on some mountain, or into some valley. He said, “You shall not send them.”
17) When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send them.” They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched for three days, but didn’t find him.
18) They came back to him, while he stayed at Jericho; and he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t go?’”
19) The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land miscarries.”
20) He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” They brought it to him.
21) He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or miscarrying.’”
22) So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
23) He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldhead!”
24) He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Yahweh. Two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.

25) He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Two famous prophets, yet completely different.  Elijah defeated 400 Baal prophets at Mt. Carmel and yet ran from Jezebel.  Elisha, his servant and successor was a prideful vain man, who used his power flippantly. I thought of Elisha when I saw the dog in the picture because somethings you don't mess with; whether it be a zealous watchdog or a vain prophet... both can get you hurt!!!  I have always liked the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, which says:  "Fear God, and keep his commandments".  Better safe than sorry!!!!!!!