Death in the Pot!

“Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, ‘Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men.’ One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, ‘O man of God, there is death in the pot!’ And they could not eat it. Elisha said, ‘Get some flour.’ He put it into the pot and said, ‘Serve it to the people to eat.’ And there was nothing harmful in the pot.” 2 Kings 4:38-41 (NIV)

As a young bride, I once picked a poisonous mushroom and tossed it in the bucket with the others. My husband’s family loved morels and picked them every year. They had taught me the difference between poisonous mushrooms and safe mushrooms but I had missed one of the bad ones. A family tragedy was averted when my mother-in-law spotted the false morel and fished it from the bucket along with a repeat lesson on how to tell the true morel from a false one. I’ve never forgotten.

In this Scripture passage, something bad gets into the stew and poisons the entire band of prophets. What a victory for the enemy that would have been—to wipe out the entire band of prophets in one fatal swipe.

God intervened. A single measure of flour stirred into the stew changed it from unhealthy to healthy, unsafe to safe. I don’t know the scientific explanation for how the flour changed the stew, but I know it was a miracle.

God loves to do this. He specializes in changing “poisonous” things in our lives to something good. He sends a dose of the Holy Spirit to transform the death-bringing pot to something life-giving. Maybe it’s a divorce and the bitterness of its aftermath. It could be a difficult work situation or an unexpected death or illness. Whatever it is, God sends the Holy Spirit to neutralize the anger and hurt. Like the prophets in this passage, we need only to call on God—tell him about our death-bringing situation and ask for His help. He will touch the pain and turn it into a testimony. He’ll change confusion to peace, hatred to love, and hurt to healing.

Dear God, please see my “death-in-the-pot” situation. Bring life to this otherwise poisonous circumstance by your Holy Spirit’s power and strength. Amen.