HOW DID I GET HERE AND WHAT DO I DO NOW?
Day 5
"The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. Then they said to each other, 'We're not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping it to ourselves.'" - 2 Kings 7:8-9
What do we do when God finally answers the prayer?
What happens when the breakthrough comes?
What happens when the provision arrives?
What happens when the season we've been praying for finally becomes reality?
Most of us spend so much time praying for God to change our circumstances that we rarely stop to consider a deeper question:
What if God is more interested in changing us than changing our circumstances?
The four lepers had spent who knows how long living in lack.
They knew hunger.
They knew rejection.
They knew uncertainty.
They knew what it felt like to wake up every day carrying the weight of their condition.
And now, suddenly, everything had changed.
The enemy camp was empty.
Food was everywhere.
Resources were abundant.
Provision surrounded them.
For the first time in a long time, they had more than enough.
Imagine the excitement.
Imagine the relief.
Imagine finally eating until you were satisfied after living through a famine.
Imagine discovering tent after tent filled with supplies.
Imagine finding silver and gold when just hours earlier you were preparing for death.
Their response makes perfect sense.
They ate.
They drank.
They gathered treasure.
They hid it away.
They went back for more.
Honestly, most of us would have done the exact same thing.
After all, hadn't they suffered enough?
Hadn't they earned the right to enjoy this blessing?
Hadn't they endured years of hardship?
Yet something remarkable happens.
The story takes an unexpected turn.
In the middle of their celebration, conviction enters the picture.
They stop.
They look at one another.
And one of them says:
"We're not doing right."
Think about that moment.
Nobody confronted them.
Nobody corrected them.
No prophet appeared.
No angel spoke.
No voice thundered from heaven.
Yet something inside them began to change.
The blessing they had received exposed something happening in their hearts.
At first, they viewed God's provision as something to consume.
Then they realized it was something to share.
This is one of the most important lessons in the Christian life.
God's blessings were never intended to terminate with us.
They are meant to flow through us.
One of the greatest dangers believers face is becoming more focused on receiving God's blessings than reflecting God's character.
We begin praying:
"Lord, bless me."
"Lord, help me."
"Lord, provide for me."
"Lord, open doors for me."
And there is nothing wrong with those prayers.
God delights in caring for His children.
But spiritual maturity begins when our prayers expand beyond ourselves.
As we grow in Christ, we begin asking:
"Lord, how can You use me?"
"Lord, who can I encourage?"
"Lord, who needs what You've given me?"
"Lord, how can I become a blessing to others?"
The lepers experienced something deeper than provision.
They experienced transformation.
That's what God ultimately desires for every believer.
The goal of Christianity is not simply a better life.
The goal is a transformed life.
It is entirely possible for circumstances to improve while the heart remains unchanged.
A person can become wealthier and remain selfish.
A person can become healthier and remain prideful.
A person can become successful and remain spiritually immature.
God is after something deeper.
He is after the heart.
Throughout Scripture, God consistently uses blessings to reveal what is happening internally.
When Israel entered the Promised Land, God repeatedly warned them not to forget Him when they prospered.
Why?
Because prosperity often reveals character.
Abundance reveals what scarcity concealed.
When resources increase, what comes out of us often reveals what has been living inside us all along.
That is why moments of blessing can become moments of testing.
Will we trust God or ourselves?
Will we become generous or possessive?
Will we become grateful or entitled?
Will we see ourselves as stewards or owners?
The lepers initially acted out of survival.
That's understandable.
But eventually, God's provision began reshaping their perspective.
And that's what grace does.
When we truly encounter God's grace, it changes us from the inside out.
We begin caring about what God cares about.
We begin seeing people differently.
We begin valuing kingdom priorities more than personal comfort.
We begin understanding that everything we have ultimately belongs to Him.
This truth runs directly against the grain of our flesh.
Remember the theme we've been exploring all week.
Leprosy represents the condition of the flesh.
And the flesh always says:
"Mine."
"My time."
"My money."
"My gifts."
"My opportunities."
"My comfort."
"My plans."
The Spirit of God says something very different.
The Spirit says:
"It all belongs to God."
Every blessing.
Every resource.
Every opportunity.
Every talent.
Every relationship.
Every moment.
Everything.
One of the clearest indicators of spiritual growth is generosity.
Generosity reflects the nature of our Heavenly Father.
Think about God's character.
God gives.
He gave creation.
He gave provision.
He gave promises.
He gave mercy.
He gave grace.
Most importantly, He gave His Son.
The gospel itself is the greatest demonstration of divine generosity.
"For God so loved the world that He gave..." (John 3:16)
Because giving is part of God's nature, His Spirit continually works to cultivate that same character within His children.
The more we become like Christ, the more open-handed we become.
Not just financially.
Emotionally.
Spiritually.
Relationally.
We become willing to give encouragement.
Give forgiveness.
Give compassion.
Give time.
Give attention.
Give service.
Give ourselves.
The lepers discovered that God's blessing was larger than their personal needs.
And the same is true for us.
Every blessing God gives carries with it a responsibility.
Not a burden.
A privilege.
The privilege of participating in what God is doing in the world.
Perhaps that's why the lepers suddenly felt conviction.
As they looked around at all they had received, they realized there were people back in the city still starving.
Children were hungry.
Families were suffering.
People were losing hope.
And they possessed news that could change everything.
Keeping it to themselves no longer felt right.
That realization revealed a heart transformed by God's provision.
And perhaps that's a question worth asking ourselves today.
What has God entrusted to me that was never meant to stop with me?
Maybe it's financial blessing.
Maybe it's wisdom gained through difficult experiences.
Maybe it's spiritual gifts.
Maybe it's encouragement.
Maybe it's leadership.
Maybe it's a testimony of God's faithfulness.
Maybe it's simply the love and grace you've received through Christ.
Whatever it is, God intends for it to flow outward.
The Sea of Galilee is full of life because water flows in and flows out.
The Dead Sea is dead because water flows in but never leaves.
The same principle applies spiritually.
When blessings only flow toward us, spiritual stagnation follows.
When blessings flow through us, life flourishes.
That is what God was teaching the lepers.
And it is what He continues teaching His people today.
God's greatest work in our lives may not be what He does for us.
It may be what He does in us.
He wants to transform our heart.
To replace selfishness with generosity.
Fear with trust.
Scarcity thinking with kingdom thinking.
Consumption with stewardship.
Comfort with compassion.
Because when God changes the heart, everything else begins to change as well.
Today, pause and ask the Lord:
"Father, what blessing have You given me that You've intended me to share?"
Then ask a second question:
"What needs to change inside me so I can reflect Your heart more clearly?"
Those may be uncomfortable questions.
But they are the kinds of questions that lead to genuine spiritual transformation.
The four lepers discovered that the greatest miracle wasn't merely finding food.
The greatest miracle was becoming the kind of people who could no longer keep God's goodness to themselves.
And that is exactly the kind of transformation God desires in each of us.
