OCTOBER 7,  2 Kings 2:23-24 

Today’s account is a very sad one. It is about God’s punishment of some little children from Jericho. What did they do wrong? The Bible says that some little children went after Elisha when he was on his way to Bethel. They mocked him with these words, “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” Elisha then turned around and pronounced a curse on them. Immediately, two female bears appeared. They chased the children and mauled 42 of them to death. It was God who sent the bears. Do you think they were too harshly punished?

No, they deserved the punishment because God never makes mistakes. His judgment is always right. In the past, God spoke to the people through His prophets. Now, we have the Bible. Prophets were God’s messengers of His word. Now, we are beginning to see how seriously the little children had sinned when they mocked Prophet Elisha. Elisha was unhappy because he was insulted. Insulting the prophet is tantamount to insulting God and His Word. Prophets were representatives of God. Their sin was that they mocked God and His Word. What they said showed no fear of God but only unbelief in their hearts. Likely they were children of idol worshippers. God knows the condition of every heart.

There are no prophets like those in the Old Testament in the world now. God has given us the Bible which is divinely inspired. It is the perfect written Word of God. We ought to honour God and His Word all the time. To doubt God’s Word is to call God a liar! We must never do what those children from Jericho did. So, when God sends us pastors, elders, missionaries and Sunday School teachers to teach us the Bible, let us respect them by paying attention to their lessons!

1. How do you regard your Junior Worship teacher?

2. Do I try to apply lessons learnt?

3. How do you treat God’s Word?

4. Do you treasure the Bible, and read it as a privilege?

5. Do I try to read my Bible everyday or only when troubles come my way?

Thought: May I treasure God’s Word and messenger!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may we always honour Thy word for Thy word is truth. Help us to respect all our Sunday School teachers. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.