Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 Kings 22, 2 Kings 1-5
Devotional Thought
Every one of us lives with the quiet temptation to consult something other than God when the future frightens us. In 1 Kings 22, King Ahaziah falls through a lattice in his upper chamber and sends messengers to Baal-zebub at Ekron to ask whether he will recover — and Elijah meets them on the road with the question that indicts every anxious heart: is there no God in Israel? The king wanted a forecast; God offered Himself. Soon after, Elijah’s mantle passes to Elisha, and the ministry that follows is a cascade of mercies: the widow’s oil multiplied, the Shunammite’s son raised, Naaman’s leprosy washed away in the Jordan, Gehazi’s greed struck with the same disease he had tried to sell a cure for. Even the borrowed axe head floats, because God cares about the small debts of poor men. These chapters insist that the living God is not a distant rumor but a present help, nearer than the oracle we are tempted to consult.
Notice how often the text turns on a question of trust. Ahaziah trusted a Philistine god and died. Naaman nearly trusted his own offended pride and almost missed his healing. The king of Israel, when Samaria was besieged, trusted his own panic and blamed the prophet. Yet in every scene, the word of the Lord proves true, and the person who simply obeys — dipping seven times, pouring oil, borrowing vessels, going to the Jordan — finds more than he asked for.
September is a hinge month, the season when summer’s ease gives way to school routines, cooler evenings, and the low hum of worry about what the coming months will hold. It is precisely the season for Ahaziah’s question to be turned around: is there no God in *your* house, in *your* diagnosis, in *your* finances? The God of Elijah and Elisha has not changed His address.
And the gospel shines through these old stories. Naaman, an outsider, is cleansed not by his own greatness but by a word he almost refused. The Shunammite receives her son back by grace, not by merit. The axe head rises because God is kind to men who cannot afford to lose what they borrowed. This is the same kindness that would one day raise a greater Son and send His Spirit to dwell in ordinary people.
So today, before you reach for the phone, the horoscope, the worst-case scenario, or the opinion of everyone but God, do what Elisha’s servants did: go and ask the Lord. He is not silent, and He is not far.
Reflection
- When you are frightened about the future, what “Ekron” do you instinctively consult — and what would it look like this week to bring that question to God first?
- Naaman almost lost his healing because the cure seemed too simple and too humbling. Where might God be asking you to obey something small that you have been dismissing as beneath you?
Prayer
Lord God of Elijah and Elisha, You are the living God, and there is no other. Forgive us for the many times we have run to lesser voices when trouble came, as though there were no God in Israel. Teach us to bring our fears, our illnesses, and our small debts to You first. Give us humble hearts like Naaman’s servants, willing to obey Your simple word. Thank You that Your kindness reaches even the outsider and the poor. Be near to us in this changing season, and let our trust in You be evident to everyone around us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.