KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES || Lesson 10 

KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES – Lesson Ten

KNOWING THE GOD OF MIRACLES AS TEACHER AND COUNSELOR:

Psalm 32:8 – I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Note Isaiah’s prophecy: Isaiah 9:6 – For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Example re Counselor: 2 Kings 8:1-6 – ¹Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” ²The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

³At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. ⁴The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” ⁵Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

V.1 – Elisha had said – This was the GOD OF MIRACLES giving “counsel” through His prophet, Elisha.

The woman whose son he had restored to life – See 2 Kings 4:8-37.  (V.32-37 – ³²When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch.  ³³He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD.  ³⁴Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm.  ³⁵Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

³⁶Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.”  ³⁷She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.)

Example re Teacher: Matthew 4:23 – Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Matthew 7:28-29 – ²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Note Luke 4:14-15 – ¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.  ¹⁵He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

Paul knew the GOD OF MIRACLES as Divine Teacher and Counselor.  Note: Galatians 1:11-12 – ¹¹I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.  ¹²I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:7 – Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

General Application: Let us thank the GOD OF MIRACLES for all His “wonderful counsel” given in the Scriptures and ask Him to help us to obey.

Note: Psalm 81:13-16 – ¹³“If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, ¹⁴how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!  ¹⁵Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.  ¹⁶But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

James 1:19-27 – ¹⁹My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.  ²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.  ²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Let us also ask Him to help us to imitate Him in teaching and counseling, in accordance with: Colossians 1:28 – We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 – ²⁴And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. ²⁵Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the  hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.