Pressure Cooker

This woman said to me,

“Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.” 

So we cooked my son and ate him.

The next day I said to her,

“Give up your son so we may eat him”;

but she had hidden him.

2 Kings 6:28-29

It’s shocking that the complainant is not ashamed to admit, to the King, that she ate her own son.  Presumably, she wants the King to coerce another woman to sacrifice her son to be a meal for both of them.  Desperation will make people do things that were once unimaginable.

Do you remember the Indiana Jones franchise?  One staple of that type of movie is the scene where our hero is trapped in a room; and then the walls start to close in.  If our hero doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be crushed to death.  Some movies will add steel spikes to the wall, so the hero will be stabbed & then crushed.

This society has become an Indiana Jones movie, and the walls are closing in.  People are working harder for less money & benefits.  People are being paid with debit cards and are finding it harder to open bank accounts.  People are tired, and a feeling of fear and desperation has long settled in.  Now, with the government shutdown and “debt ceiling” talk, the fear is just deepening.  The desperation is mounting.

A time like this may present an opportunity to witness.  Watching the news is almost like watching a horror movie.  I simultaneously find it interesting and scary.  Every now and again, I have to either take a break from the news, or try to end my day with someone who is preaching God’s word.  It’s comforting to know that I have a God in heaven that owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10) and is willing and able to provide for me.  I don’t have to get worked up about what’s going on in the national or international economy, because I’m the daughter of Elohim, creator of the earth, and owner of everything in it. 

Other people need the same assurance.  I’m committing to look for opportunities to share the gospel with people and relieve them of the sense that the wall are closing in.  No one needs to “eat” their own.  I’m committing to letting other people know that, in their time of distress, Jehovah Jireh will answer. 

“I have had enough Lord,”

he said

“Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

Then he lay down under the tree & fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said,

“Get up and eat.”

He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals,

and a jar of water. 

He ate and drank and then lay down again.

I Kings 19:4-6