One day the leaders of the town of Jericho visited Elisha. “We have a problem, my lord,” they told him. “This town is in pleasant surroundings, as you can see. But the water is bad, and the land is unproductive.” Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl with salt in it.” So, they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring that supplied the town with water and threw the salt into it. And he said, “This is what the LORD says: I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or barrenness.” – 2 Kings 2:19-21 

Background

Jericho was a beautiful place – surrounded by mountains and hills. One day, men living in Jericho approach Elisha the prophet. They were complaining about bad water from the city’s water supply. People who drank it were dying and falling ill. The land was also unproductive. What does Elisha do? He asks for a new bowl and for salt in it. Then, Elisha took the bowl, went directly to the spring source, and sprinkled salt in it. Immediately, the water was purified. People stopped dying, getting sick, and the land was healed. Even today, this spring in Jericho remains pure. 

Today’s contaminated water 

Jericho represents the world, Jerusalem as God’s kingdom. Today, we see the world’s waters are becoming more defiled. Many are blindly consuming it because it tastes sweet. The more it’s consumed, the more spiritual death, illness, & barrenness (emptiness) occurs.

Interestingly, while writing this post I received an invitation from Stantisha B. She looks quite friendly. She kindly invited me (and apparently 100’s of others) to her 18+ adult-only site where I can drink this water with her. No thanks.

Another offer of water recently arrived in my newsfeed: How to make $100 mil in my business using a secret new scheme. No thanks.

I received another offer yesterday to drink. This one was about a how certain political party wants to permanently control the government, socialist agendas are collapsing our economy, and how apparently former French president Sarkozy has been convicted of corruption. No thanks.

Lust, greed, & power – these are simply different streams flowing from the same contaminated spring source.

Like the men who complained to Elisha, many today are complaining to the Lord about the bad water. Some want to get out of Jericho (the world). However, I come with encouraging news – Christ wants us in it!

God’s salt purifies 

What Elisha did then is what the Lord wants to do today – use salt to purify the water.

He wants to take His new bowl (the body of His new covenant) with His salt in it (you & I) and sprinkle and spread it into the dirty water. The salt goes to the water, the water doesn’t go to the salt.

We are His salt, called to purify it. Where do we start? First, we run to it, not away from it. We go to it not with complaining, judgment, or condemnation, but with the love of the Father. Oh, how He so loves the world. He loves my new friend Stantisha B. who has the water in her. I don’t know her, but God does.

As His salt hits the water’s surface, He wants to dissolve us in it. How? He incorporates our:

• Words in the water to bring it to life and blessing 

• Presence in the water to preserve it 

• Prayers for the water to have to hope

Not for the water itself, but those drinking it. 

A Word of correction 

I believe in this hour God has a word of correction for us concerning this matter. 

1) He is growing weary of our complaints about the dirty water and its problems. We keep holding up glasses of it to Him and to others in public saying, “look at this! This is terrible! Can you believe this corruption and filth!” We keep voicing the problem but are failing to see that salt, not complaining, is His solution. Regarding government, God doesn’t want to “drain the swamp”. He wants to purify it with salt.

2) Some of the dirty water is getting inside the Lord’s bowl. Instead of His salt in the water, the water is getting inside His salt. This is rendering it useless. Shall evil overcome good, or good overcome evil? He offers us His water so we won’t thirst for Jericho’s.

3) Jerusalem (His people) wants breakthrough. But we will not get it without first breaking through the wall between us and Jericho’s (the world’s) water. As salt we are called to be in it.

Christ’s Call to Action 

We’ve all drank of the water ourselves. It triggered death and emptiness in us too. But it was Christ’s word, presence, & life which purified us. Now that His salt is in us, He wants us to do unto others and He did unto us. To go to the Stantisha’s of the world as salt and with the love and great news He has them. 

Let us arise and go straight to the contaminated sources.