Death in the Pot
Updated: Jun 11, 2021
2 Kings 4
39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.
40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.
41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot
I have either never read this Scripture before, or I read “over” it and didn’t take heed to its importance. My pastor preached an amazing sermon from this text a few weeks ago. I love it when God inspires a message from scripture that hadn’t previously inspired me. That’s why we need to be in church. We can be, and should be, led by the Holy Spirit in our personal Bible Study. But He has called preachers to preach for a reason. Anyway, I digress.
The people were cooking a big pot of food, and someone went out and brought in some wild vine or gourd that wasn’t known. Evidently it was poisonous and now there was “death” in the pot. But then they put meal in the pot, which neutralized the threat and made it safe. The pastor compared the pot to the church. He said that we allow things in our church that we shouldn’t, that isn’t of God, and it brings death. The meal represents Jesus because that’s what we need to fix the poison.
This analogy doesn’t just work for the Church, but for the individual Christian. What unknown, ungodly thing have you let in your life? Watching or reading things you shouldn’t? That doesn’t just mean something that’s pornographic or Satanic; it means anything that puts your mind somewhere it doesn’t need to be.
Hanging out with friends with bad habits? Being slack with Bible study, prayer, church attendance? Conversations or friendships you keep secret from you spouse? These things may seem small, but if you don’t neutralize their effect with a little meal, they will grow into something that will bring death… death to you witness, spiritual death to those you hurt with your witness, even physical death. The answer is Jesus. The answer to everything is …. Jesus!
