Listen to my conscience…

Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives. 
And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them. Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.” (2 Kings 7:3–20)

These four did just that. At first the king thought it was a trap to get his army out of the city where they would be vulnerable, but they discovered that the Syrians had left suddenly abandoning everything just as the lepers reported, so they plundered the abandoned camp. This had been predicted by Elisha who also said the gatekeeper would be trampled for saying God could not do this. He told that man, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

I’ve heard people without faith say God cannot or will not meet all needs. Sadly, some who say they believe also pray as if they do not expect much in reply. What touches my heart in this account is that God spoke through the human greed of the lepers. They were outcasts in that society and skeptics, certain that no matter what they did, they would die. However, in their plundering at this unexpected miracle, God spoke and convinced them of their sin and to do the right thing; share the bounty with those who cast them out.

This is what should make Christians different. Love enemies. Do good to those who hate us. Be like Jesus when He said, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Sometimes others misunderstand me and I feel frustrated, even alienated. I need to remember these four, and most of all what Jesus said as His enemies drove in the nails. God not only protects me from the Syrians by driving them out of my life, He also wants me to meet the needs of those who leave me out of their lives.

Jesus, too often I get annoyed when misunderstood, or stared at as if I had three heads. The lepers did the right thing by listening to You speaking to their hearts and telling those who rejected them about the bounty You provided. Forgive me and fill me with Your grace that I can be less touchy and more loving.