In part 2 of our discourse, or series, we saw the effect of obedience to direct divine instructions. We shall go-ahead to look at and see the result of obedience to indirect divine instructions, indirect instructions from the mouthpiece of God.
I hope you have read part one and part two of the series for a better understanding. GO HERE to read part two.
The first example of obedience to indirect divine instructions is about the man called Naaman as can be seen in 2 Kings 5:1 “Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master Because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
The first divine instruction was from the mouth of a slave girl. See 2 Kings 5: 2 – 3 “And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife.
Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” Naaman heeded the advice of the slave girl.
See what happened when Naaman came to Prophet Elisha as can be seen in 2 Kings 5:9-11’Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”
But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
Naaman in his pride and arrogance nearly missed out in obeying the instruction from the prophet if not for one of his servants who finally convinced him of the need to obey God’s divine instruction.
See the advice of one of the servants in 2 Kings 5: 13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more than, when he says to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?”
In 2 Kings 5:14 says, So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Naaman was able to be recovered of his leprosy when he obeyed God’s divine instruction through God’s prophet Elisha.
The second example of indirect divine instruction can be seen in what happened in 1 Kings 17: 10-17 where Elijah went to dwell with the woman of Zarephath.
God instructed Elijah in 1 Kings 17:9 saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
In 1 Kings 17:10, “So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink.”
1Kings 17:11 “And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
1 Kings 17:12 So she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
1 Kings 17:13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me and after make for thee and for thy son.
The divine or spiritual instruction was for the woman to prepare her last meal for Elijah first. Please know that God’s divine instruction most at times does not appeal to our mental reasoning.
If it is in today’s world, we would castigate Elijah that he is a false prophet, that he stole the widow’s last meal.
But the woman by faith obeyed the divine instructions of the man of God Elijah. The result is seen in 1 Kings 17:15 “So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days.
1 Kings 17:16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.
What if the widow had not obeyed the divine instruction from God through Elijah? It is obvious that the widow and her son would have died of starvation.
Most a time, our problems in life maybe because we fail to recognize and obey divine instruction simply because we despise the source of the instruction.
All that I am trying to point out here is that your obedience to divine instruction from genuine men/women of God (prophets of God) may hold the key for your divine intervention.
Job puts it this way in Job 36:11 “If they obey and serve Him, They shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures”.
In the same vein, King Jehoshaphat summarized it in 2Chronicles 20:20 where Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”
Before I end this post, I must try to balance an issue here, some sincere children of God, in trying to be obedient to divine instruction has falling prey or victims to dupes and sorcerers.
To this end, we must train our Spirit man to be able to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit because many sorcerers and fraudsters have floated churches which they are using to defraud or dupe people.
Please try to balance these posts with the previous post captioned, Beware of Anointed Lying Tongues in Church Pulpits.
The answer is been able to discern the Spirit that is speaking per time, whether the voice of the Holy Spirit or voice of the demonic spirit. Shalom!
