Like a good bowl of soup or stew that hits the spot, this short story in 2 Kings, chapter 4, verses 38 to 41 is that kind of story. It's says so much for such a short story. This reminded me of words we speak. It is subtitled in my Bible as "Death in the Pot."
"And Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, "Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets."One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it. He said, "Then bring flour." And he threw it into the pot and said, "Pour some out for the men, that they may eat." And there was no harm in the pot."
You might ask, "what does this have to do with words?" This was my observation of this story. In verse 38, it says there was a famine in the land. I believe famine can represent us when we are not reading God's Word daily and especially not reading it for ourselves. You can't live off of preaching only. So many Believer's don't read because they don't understand the Bible. It reminds me of when I was introducing my children to table foods. They didn't like it at first, but the more I kept serving it to them, they began to develop a taste for those foods. So it is with reading the Bible.
Elisha tells one of his servants to prepare some stew for them. The servant uses vines, herbs and gourds to put into the stew without knowing what they were (ignorance and illiteracy). Then he served them to the sons of the prophets. Now this servant had no idea what he was cooking, but after eating it, the men realized it was poisonous. The men cried out saying there was "death in the pot". As I began digesting this, the Holy Spirit began to show me that like food that becomes apart of our bodies after eating, so do the words that others speak to us. What are others serving you, when it comes to words and is it poisonous to your spirit? What music do you listen to? What do you watch on t.v.? What movies do you see? What kinds of books are you reading? All these are snacks and meals that we ingest everyday. Proverbs 18:21 says "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat it's fruit." Whether we recognize it or not, we do live on good and bad words, whether we receive them by what we are listening to or by watching or reading. On second thought, what are you serving others?
Elisha responds, by telling them to bring flour and pour it in the stew. That would seem a little strange to put flour in it. But that is when I recognized the importance of that ingredient. Isn't flour the main ingredient for making bread? In John 6:48 Jesus said "I am the Bread of Life!" I believe that flour is a representation for Jesus and he is life. Only Jesus overcame death!
I want to encourage you to be cautious of what you allow into your spirit. Even out of ignorance, negativity, gossip, curses, etc., those words become apart of who we are. You are what you eat. But know that if you are in the Word of God daily, (it is our daily bread) it will absorb any words of death that might be served to you. As you read the Word of God pray that you will receive every morsel that God wants to feed you. Be more aware of what you are being served each day. Spend more time nourishing your spirit on the Word of God. This is a life changing meal. As the an old Campbell's soup slogan says, "Good for the Body. Good for the Soul." God's Word is that and more, it's just M'mmmmm good!
