Poisoned Yet Pardoned (2 Kin. 4:38-41) (Part 7)

WHEN DO THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS REALIZE THE STEW IS POISONOUS?

“And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” (2 Kin. 4:40)

• THE BIBLE SCHOOL STUDENT DOES NOT REALIZE, AS HE IS GATHERING THE WILD GOURDS, THAT THEY ARE POISONOUS.
• WHEN HE BRINGS THE WILD GOURDS INTO THE KITCHEN FOR PROCESSING, AT LEAST ONE OTHER STUDENT DOES NOT KNOW THEY ARE POISONOUS.
• “Then one . . . came and sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were.” (2 Kin. 4:39)
• “They [the gatherer of the gourds and at least one other cook] did not know what they [the wild gourds] were.”
• Lesson: When you need counsel, it matters whom you consult!
• Don't consult someone else who doesn't know.
• Just because two agree in ignorance doesn't mean they are right!
• Consult someone mature, someone knowledgeable, someone experienced, someone with wisdom.
• IT IS NOT UNTIL EVERYONE BEGINS EATING THAT THEY REALIZE, “THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT.”
• What once looked good, felt good and smelled good now doesn't taste good.
• Lesson: Sin always leads you to a time when you must "taste"; what seems “better” at the start is often bitter in the end.
• Lesson: Sin leads only to bitterness, sourness, disappointment, emptiness and death.