2 Kings 1-3 It's rough being a Prophet and Bald!!

April 21st, 2 Kings 1-3

       Word to the wise, don't mess with God's prophets. First of all Elijah's taxi from heaven comes to bring him home. Flaming chariots and horse swoop down and take him away. Quite an experience for Elisha who was walking right next to Elijah at the time. It is certainly a confirmation of the prior conversation  in Chapter 2.
       The idea of a pile of clothes after the rapture maybe comes from this passage. Elijah left his cloak behind. Elisha struck the waters of the Jordan river with it and the waters parted, followed by a series of miracles. The prophets of the day saw this as a confirmation of Elisha's place after Elijah.
       Like all prophets, powerful displays of God are followed by teenagers making fun of you because your bald. As much as we're used to people rudely calling one another names, in the OT this absolute disrespect of  a receding hairline cause Elisha to place a curse on the 42 young people. A couple of bears show up and maul them. Truth is stranger than fiction!!
       Chapter 3 demonstrates a parallel to our day. People seem to know where to go when they need help, they just don't go there very much. I'm not sure if God is honored in... "being the last resort if everything we've tried hasn't worked." If we can't think of any other way then we'll call on God. I encourage all of us to have a knee-jerk reaction of ..."God, I need your help here with....