Starting To Dig by Brother Curtis Hansen

         Good morning. We are going to be reading from the book of 2 Kings chapter 3 for our scripture. I wanted to lead off with that as a Christian, if you have children you are raising up the correct way, they should not have to fight the same curses, spirits or evils that generations before yours did. You can arm yourself with the knowledge to break down those strongholds, and you can provide a way through your walk for your children to follow as they get older.

        We will start reading in verse 13 of chapter 3 this morning. We will go back to the beginning so you can see the setting and background for what leads to this situation written about in the scripture.

        13 And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.

        14 And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.

        15 But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.

        16 And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches.

        17 For this saith the Lord, Ye shall to see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.

        18 And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.

        19 And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

        20 And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

        21 And when the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood in the border.

        22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood:

        23 And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoils.

        24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smithing the Moabites, even in their country.

        The first point I want to make this morning is that it will flow when it is supposed to. You can pray, intercede, plea a double rush on God to move upon a situation you may be in, but he is going to move on his own time. He is not beholden to our requests as if we were the master and he the servant. 

        There is a phrase that's said by people usually as kind of dismissing something positive or grumbling about an individual success "It must be nice..." That phrase is pretty annoying in it's pettiness. In this scripture we see the water was suddenly in the valley. What seems all of a sudden or instant had been slowly brought by work and obedience. There are things in your life when you do a self evaluation where you skim the surface. You know there are much bigger things below that surface, but you don't want to take the time and effort to address them. Some of that time is going to involve a lot of prayer and fasting. It is being dedicated to get down under the surface and really work on those deep rooted issues.

        What seems to happen sudden came from gradual and incremental decisions. It isn't all bad things or shortcomings or faults revealed as you dedicate time to the Lord but there are good things and qualities that are revealed. Let us go up to verse 1 of this chapter, because there are some things which we need that lead up to this event.

        Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.

        2 And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made.

        3 Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. 

        Now Jehoram was the son of King Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab was very wicked in the eyes of the Lord with his worship of Baal. Jehoram had the sense to put those idols away, yet, he was still not on the right path. Putting away the heinous sin, while keeping other sin you view as common is wrong! Sin is sin!

        4 And Mesha king of Moab was a shipmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.

        5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

        6 And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time and numbered all Israel.

        7 And he went and sent Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses.

        8 And he said, which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom.

        9 So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them.

        So here we have the king of Israel, Jehoram brokering an alliance with the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat. The country of Moab had began to rebel against Israel after Ahab's death. Now, Jehoshaphat was considered by God to be a good and Godly king. Together, the two kings join up with the king of Edom with the plan of confronting Moab. However, the journey takes seven days through the wilderness and is setting up the counsel with Elisha as we read starting in verse 13.

        10 And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!

        11 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.

        Here we see the good and Godly king Jehoshaphat say on this journey, before we go further, we need to check in with God. Is there a prophet? Among their group walked Elisha. When reading this, I thought it was a good thing Jehoram had put away his dad's idols to Baal. Elisha had just taken the mantle of Elijah in chapter 2 after Elijah had been taken up in a chariot of fire. 

        12 And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

        Now, Elisha knew what Ahab and Jezebel had done to Elijah, and also he knew that they were worshippers of Baal. In life, you can't slowly and gradually make bad decisions. In this story, Elisha didn't bear hug Jehoram and say to him "You know, you aren't like your dad! It isn't your fault you still work in sin and the Lord views you as wicked! I love the sinner and hate the sin! Let me help you!" There was no acceptance or grace. There was intercession.

        Let's talk about the wilderness or the desert season. The three kings went through the desert to do battle before the word of the Lord came. They exhausted their supply of water after 7 days. The instruction was to dig ditches in the valley, given by Elisha. No wind nor rain lent to the mirage the Moabites saw the following day. The Moabites knew that these kings were opposite of each other and probably would be at each other's throats in the wilderness. This wasn't a test of faith to the kings. 

        What you see and what God says. You see dry hard earth, no wind is blowing nor is there any rain falling. In the wilderness where you are being tried, you shouldn't expect God to just pluck you up into safety. There's nothing stopping you from bridling your tongue and talking down about others when you are in the wilderness. That action just makes your environment worse. Despite the reluctance Elisha showed at first to Ahab's son Jehoram, he called for a minstrel and sought direction from God because of his respect for Jehoshaphat. A simple command to dig ditches and a word was spoken.

        See where you are at and know what God can do in that situation you are currently in. "Thus says the Lord" doesn't change where you are in life. It is a series of choices made to a "suddenly" You can't go about digging ditches in secret and then be surprised by a suddenly in your life. If you are interceding for your family to god, stick to the principles he has provided in the scriptures. It matters where you are digging in the desert.

        Before intervention there comes instruction. What is God asking you to dig? If you showed up in the morning at the tail end of this story, you would probably think that God had really moved. You see the suddenly without seeing all the work. What are you surrendering when you dig? Is it the desires of your heart? Is it the expectations on how you are going to fulfill the desires of your heart? The desires aren't the issue but how you go about to get them is the issue. We have desires for a "thus says the lord" in our life which will be fulfilled. Any miracle written about in scripture wasn't just a suddenly or a surprise.

        When you let the water flow is when you allow it to happen. Follow the calling God has given you in your life. The path has things planted which are there to try your faith and see how you handle them.

        It is going to flow when it's going to flow. How are you going to handle the "no"? If you get enough of too many "no"'s you will identify with the answer more and to disappointment. That isn't where your faith needs to dwell. Do more if you expect more. Give more to God to bring in an increase. I will be digging until God does it. You know the dry areas of your life because you avoid them. Keep yourself digging.