He Bypassed The Qualified and The Deserving?

Luke 4:25
I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
Luke 4:26
Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
Luke 4:27
And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

He bypassed the qualified and the deserving? Why would He do that? Is He the problem? Are, the qualified and the deserving, the problem? What is the use of qualifying and deserving then getting bypassed? These words of Jesus deserve a lot of attention. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

In our text today, Jesus tells the worshippers in a Synagogue that they have difficulty in believing that He is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61 because a prophet is not accepted at his home. Since a prophet would not get a good reception at home, Elijah was sent to the widow of Zarephath yet there were so many widows in Israel. Naaman was healed of leprosy by Elisha at a time when there were so many lepers in Israel. God bypassed Israelite widows and lepers. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

Zarephath was not an Israelite territory. The Zarephath woman was a gentile. A religious leader and even ordinary men maintained their respect by avoiding interaction with women in public and never with strange women in private. Elijah the prophet was sent to stay with a widow. A widow status was already carrying a negative connotation in that society. Elijah broke many boundaries. A foreigner considered not as loved by God as an Israelite. A woman considered of a lesser value than a man. A widow considered to be potentially cursed.

Many of our churches today would kick out Elijah from their fellowship for staying with a widow yet they are not married. By all means, what Elijah was doing was wrong yet God had instructed it. This widow of Zarephath did not deserve the miracle of unending food during famine and in addition a permanent record in scripture, but God chose her. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

God bypassed widows of prophets, priests, and other religious people. God bypassed so many widows of good reputation in Israel. God bypassed widows who looked like pillars of faith and exemplary. God went for one who even herself knew she didn’t deserve. God strangely chose the woman of Zarephath. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

Syria regularly fought against Israel. Syria was an enemy of Israel. Syrian soldiers were responsible for the abductions of innocent children and other war atrocities. Even the girl who led Naaman to Israel for healing is a girl who had been abducted during the war against Israel. Naaman a general was the symbolism of what Israel hated to the core. Under Naaman, Israel had suffered bitter experiences and wounds yet to heal. Israelites regularly prayed that God punishes their enemies and that included Naaman. Yet when God chose to heal leprosy, He healed Naaman. Israel had so many lepers but God healed Naaman. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

From the words of Jesus, we learn that since Israel was home to Elijah he would not have been accepted. Widows would have received him in reference to their domestic issues as Israelites. They would not appreciate Elijah as God did or as other foreign people did. Let me ask you, friends, must our own people go and shine away from home because we won’t accept them? We won’t give them the respect and space they need to perform yet others who know them less would trust them?

Many widows in Israel had a solution to their famine but contempt of Elijah stood in the way of their solution. Could you be suffering because of the contempt you have for local solutions? Are you going so far as to get a solution when one or two among you are competent to do it? Are you rejecting the solution because it’s from the locality? That is why God preferred the undeserving and unqualified woman of Zarephath. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

When Elisha healed Naaman he was living in Israel. Naaman sought Elisha for healing and he was healed. Lepers in Israel for whatever reason never sought Elisha for healing. Maybe they doubted his credentials. Maybe they thought he was too proud. Considering he never even got out of his house to meet Naaman. This guy may have been too proud. Maybe he came from an Israelite tribe that didn’t wield power and therefore going to him would give him political points in their power plans and struggles.

Whatever reason, the Israelite lepers never went to Elisha for healing. Yet a foreigner from Syria came and was instantly healed. God knew their issues that made it difficult for them to approach Elisha and God preferred to heal a foreigner and an enemy for that matter. God never approved their attitude and perception of His servant Elisha. On that basis, they continued suffering yet there was a solution next door.

Could you be going for builders too far when your neighbor is the best builder in the region? Could you be hunting a husband or wife from far and wide yet the best spouses are people around you? Could contempt of those around you by denying you the best that is in the world? Could you be searching for a good worker when you meet one daily, but your prejudice and contempt can’t allow you to think better than Israelites? Are you searching for ideas, yet you live with a bright mind that is consulting for the world and giving world-class ideas to the globe?

Could people around you have grown into excellent experts but you are stuck with their memories of childhood and past when they didn’t know much? Could the solution be next to you but spiritual blindness is causing you to go far and wide in search of what is next door? From the words of Jesus, if we do not accept our prophet, no other prophet will be sent. Many widows died of hunger. Many lepers died lepers. God was not going to change the local offer He had made by making Elijah and Elisha their neighbors. If we do not look around us, nothing better will ever come. Contempt of the locals caused God to reject them. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

The deserving and the qualified have a weakness of treating God like He is at their service and must do what they want. God remains sovereign. God does what He wants and is accountable to no one. When we treat God as being at our service, He tends to prove He isn’t. No prayer will force God to do what we want. No fasting, no commitment, no nothing will arm-twist God. We relate with God in His terms and not our terms. God’s terms were Elijah and Elisha. Israelites didn’t like God’s terms and He abandoned them. Their sense of qualification and deserving was their undoing. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

Even when you have been totally faithful to God and done your best spiritually, approach God with understanding that He does what He wants and not what you qualify for. Approach God with humility and surrender that recognizes that you can’t buy His actions. Israelites may have been blinded by the sense of entitlement. Never ever approach God with a sense of entitlement. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

Do you realize how many things we are missing and have missed in the past because God placed them too close to us? Because God allowed us to know it or them for many years. Aren’t countries with phony leadership hiring experts from foreign lands yet their own citizens with the same qualifications are suffering from unemployment? We are qualified for help and we deserve it, but our attitude of contempt of what God has placed around us is denying us what we deserve and are qualified for. He bypassed the qualified and the deserving!

Dear God, open my eyes to see opportunities and blessings that are around me. Save me from contempt of the local and that which I have known for too long. Help me see the value of those and that which is around me. Save me from the misleading sense of entitlement in everything and particularly spiritual matters. I deserve nothing from You, dear God, kindly favor me by your grace only, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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