Death in the Pot

Not my title.....that is what it says in black and white in my version of  2 Kings 4:38-41 (NIV)

📖  Death in the Pot
38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”
39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot. 

These obscure verses were just brought to my attention.  Not something I recall seeing before.  Once I read it ....my brain started whirling...or "stirring"!😉
What do we bring to the pot?...what "death" do we add to the mix?
First of all do we bring denial?   Denial of who Christ is and what He has done for us....because that does lead to death...eternal separation from our God.
📖 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

But even if we have acknowledged and accepted Christ, 
📖 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 2:21

do we still venture out on our own, seeking what we believe to be the "key ingredients" to our life pot?
Instead of following THE recipe.
Do we bring complacency,  bitterness,  hardness of heart, anger.
Do we bring apathy, pride, self-centeredness?
Even the smallest of these will cause a rank tasting pot of stew!
I can envision hard, bitter, unpalatable chunks bringing distastefulness to the whole thing.
Pluck them out!

📖 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Ephesians 4:31


AND let God bring His ingredient, that is what makes the whole pot appealing, life sustaining.
If we think of flour added to a sauce or stew....once added and mixed in you can not sift or strain it out...it becomes one.
📖 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Painting by Rachel

        And there was nothing harmful in the pot. 

📖  The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore. Psalm 121:5-8