Session 9 2 Kings 7:1-15

DESPERATE (2 KINGS 7:3-8)

the desperate plan hatched by four men with a skin disease.

3 Now four men with a skin disease were at the entrance to the city gate.
They said to each other,
“Why just sit here until we die?
4 If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there
because the famine is in the city,
but if we sit here, we will also die.
So now, come on. Let’s surrender to the Arameans’ camp.
If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

5 So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans’ camp.
When they came to the camp’s edge,
they discovered that no one was there,
6 for the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear
the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army.
The Arameans had said to each other,
“The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us.”
7 So they had gotten up and fled at twilight,
abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys.
The camp was intact, and they had fled for their lives.
8 When these diseased men came to the edge of the camp,
they went into a tent to eat and drink.
Then they picked up the silver, gold, and clothing and went off and hid them.
They came back and entered another tent, picked things up, and hid them.

Discuss:

Focus on verses 3-4.

• How can desperate times place people in a position to see God work?
• what are some ways God works in both ordinary and extraordinary fashion? (p. 79)

Identify:

Surprised by God at Work.
verses 5-8
identify the people who were surprised in these verses
and how they were surprised.

Discuss:

• When have you dreaded a situation and realized later that the Lord had already taken care of it before you ever arrived?
• How did that situation compare to the experience of the four lepers? (p. 79)

Transition:

The four men who were facing death suddenly found themselves
with an abundance of supplies.
Their surplus created a dilemma.