Kids Letters From God
Letter From God 18
The Lord God's Wake-Up Miracles
For Failing Israel
WRITING "LETTER FROM GOD" 18
Book 18 begins with the Lord’s prophet Elisha — God’s replacement for the prophet Elijah. Elijah with his wake-up Carmel showdown and now Elisha with his wake-up miracles, showed the power of the true Lord God of Israel. As we traveled with Elisha on his circuit through the northern kingdom of Israel, we experienced his wake-up miracles.
Elisha traveled from the small huts of the people to the palaces of the kings. He knew it was important to teach the people and call them back to the Lord. Elisha was a tower of strength for believers who remained loyal to the Lord God.
Most of the priests in Israel had fled with their families to the southern kingdom of Judah. Elisha and the students from the prophet seminaries were the teachers who taught the people who were interested, helping them worship the Lord with sacrifice offerings. Today we are studying the same stories from God’s letter that Elisha and the prophets taught from scrolls.
As we traveled with Elisha, we saw the miracles that were given to encourage the students from the prophets schools. The students were helping the Lord God give the Israelites every opportunity to turn back before receiving more suffering.
On the cover of book 18 we see the Shunammite woman and her son. Her son, who died, was brought back to life with a wake-up miracle from Elisha.
Another wake-up miracle was the healing of Syria’s top general, a military hero. General Naaman was cured of his leprosy by the powerful Lord God of Israel! This was a miracle for not only Israel but for the surrounding Gentile nations. This healing was the huge news that the merchants spread as they traveled in that part of the world.
We recall the story of Rahab in Jericho who hid the spies under the stalks of flax on her roof. She became a winner believer by listening to the stories of the merchants as they came through Jericho singing the songs of the Levite priests. King David was her descendant!
God’s plan continued on with the wake-up miracles. At the end of the book after the death of Elisha, we read about the surprise miracle of Elisha’s bones.
These miracles were not only for failing Israel, but they are lessons for our nation today. Are we studying, storing and using the messages from these stories in our lives? Are we serving the all powerful Lord God Creator or are we creating our own idols to worship?
Of interest to the teachers may be the story of the dinosaurs at the end of the book. A fun project would be to print out the pages from the web page and have the kids color them. Enjoy!
