Share The News

They were four men whose plight no one would envy. Each had the scourge of leprosy and, consequently, had been ostracized from their fellow citizens. Adding to their present misery was the fact that an enemy’s army had surrounded their city and laid siege to it, seeking to starve out the inhabitants. It was a terrible and unloving time – a critical time. Some in the city had even resorted to cannibalism. Meanwhile, here sat these four starving lepers at the city’s entrance.

“Why are we sitting here until we die?” they asked each other. A valid question – and the more they deliberated about the matter, the more nonsensical their inactivity appeared. They reasoned that were they to remain sitting outside the city -- or even to enter it -- that they would soon starve to death. But wait! There was another option: “Let us surrender to the army… If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” And so, these four exiles proceeded to “come to the outskirts of the… camp,” and “to their surprise no one was there.” (You see, the Lord had caused the enemy to retreat and ‘run scared.’)

One can only imagine the shocked look on the faces of these men. They were so ecstatic that they gleefully went from tent to tent, collecting and hiding the spoil. (The enemy had withdrawn in such haste that they had left everything.) Oh how quickly the events had turned. In just an hour or two these four went from being the poorest men in Israel to being the richest! How happy they were. Happy, happy, happ-- UNTIL they came to themselves…

“Then they said to one another, “We are not doing what is right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent… Come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” Their thinking was, ‘How can we keep quiet while our countrymen back in the city are starving?’ They could not -- and thus the good news was shared, the hungering citizens of Samaria were saved, and all became well. (The story is found in God’s word, the Bible, in 2 Kings 7:3-16.)

Even a quick perusal of this account brings one to see many similarities between these men’s story and our own. We, as were they, are in dire straits. Our infirmity is not that of the flesh, however (leprosy and starvation), but of the spirit (sin) -- a disease which will destroy us eternally if gone unremedied (Romans 6:23). “Why are we sitting here until we die?” should be our question as well. That we must do something is inarguable (James 2:14-24)! If we venture outside the sin-sick camp and look elsewhere for mercy, perhaps we might find it. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

Have you found mercy? “The Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). If you have been mercifully saved from your sins by the blood of Jesus, then certainly you can more than appreciate the joyfulness and merriment of those four men. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

But wait! What have you done with your ‘good news’? It has been “the power of God to salvation” for you (Romans 1:16). What of those others who are still in your former condition? The same news can save them as well! Have you ‘gone back’ and shared the good news of the gospel message with them?

People in this area -- right here in this town -- are dying daily for lack of someone sharing the ‘good news’ with them. ARE WE “doing right”? Or, rather, are we selfishly hiding the gospel treasure from others?

Have you been hoarding God’s wealth? If so, repent. Make plans now to share the gospel. Teach someone today!


--Mike Noble