2 Kings 7:3-8 Now there were four lepers sitting outside the city gates.
“Why sit here until we die” they asked each other.
“We will starve if we stay here and we will starve if we go back into the city; so we
might as well go out and surrender to the Syrian army. If they let us live, so much
the better, but if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”
So that evening they went out to the camp of the Syrians, but there was no one there.
For the LORD had made the whole Syrian army hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the sounds of a great army approaching…So they panicked and fled into the night,
abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else. When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp they went into one tent after another, eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it. [Living Bible translation]
Summary:
In Biblical times leprosy was a terrible thing. It was incurable. It was contagious. People afflicted with leprosy were forced into social isolation. During Biblical times, a person with leprosy was forced to live outside the city gates. They were not allowed to attend “church.” The religious leaders of that time wanted nothing to do with them because they were considered ritually “unclean.” In fact, a person with leprosy was required to yell out “unclean, unclean” wherever they went, so that others could avoid contact with them. Lepers often had to rely on the charity of others for food and water.
In 2 Kings, four lepers, who had banded together outside the gates of their city, found themselves in what seemed to be a hopeless situation. Not only were they lepers, driven outside the city gates with a dreaded disease, but their city was in the midst of a famine and there was an enemy Syrian army camped nearby, threatening the city.
The four lepers gathered together and contemplated their situation. If they went into the city, which they were forbidden to enter, they would die from the famine. If they stayed where they were, they would starve to death because the city gates were closed as an enemy army was nearby. If they surrendered to the Syrian army, they could be killed.
Like “deer in the headlights,” these four lepers could have let their fear paralyze them. Or, they could have just argued with each other “about their situation,” again doing nothing. They could have blamed their families for abandoning them, their religious leaders for ostracizing them, causing them to resent what was happening but again no action. They could have just “given up,” stayed put and waited for death. They could have cursed or screamed about the “unfairness” of “their lot in life” or complained, “why is this happening to me.” In other words, there was a lot of ways the lepers could have spent what they believed was “the rest of their short lives.”
But, instead, they decided to act. They decided to be proactive. They decided to take a walk over to the enemies’ camp. They decided to step out on faith. Because even walking into the enemies’ camp would be better than just sitting, because just sitting and doing nothing was certain death. So, the lepers got up and got moving. After they started moving, they soon discovered that GOD had not forgotten them. And, just as GOD promised HE would do it in Psalm 23:5—GOD “prepared a table before [them] in the presence of [their] enemies.” GOD frightened the Syrian soldiers into thinking they were being pursued and the panicked Syrians soldiers ran and left everything --food, clothing, and their wealth. When the Lepers walked into the Syrian camp, there was no one there---only evidence of the goodness of GOD. By deciding to move, the lepers discovered GOD’s blessing.
Keep Moving
There are large groups of people in the world that believe they are in an “impossible” situation. The “impossible situation” that many of these “50+ year old” individuals find themselves is called “Getting Older.” In America alone, there are about 108.7 million people who are 50-plus! Many think of the “getting older” process like a kind of “leprosy” where they feel they are in a “losing situation.”
Some of the 50-plusers describe “losing their youth.” However, according to Twyla Tharp, the 78-year old dance icon, in her book Keep It Moving, Lessons For the Rest of Your Life, youth is not lost, rather a person’s “youth” stays where it is, it is just that the person who “moved on.” In other words, change happens.
Rather than getting “stuck” in the past or getting “stuck” thinking about the “negatives” of aging or how your world may be “contracting” (e.g., always talking about what you can’t do now vs. what you could do before, talking about “negative feelings,” clinging to the past, or your fears and feelings about family abandonment, church abandonment, or feeling that you should just stay in bed or do nothing), many experts, including Tharp recommend you just keep moving. Rather than “despair” about change, Tharp and others suggest embracing change. Look forward, embracing the possibilities ahead, and keep working at something (whether it be your weightlifting, your walk, your stretching, your joint mobility, or your mind to prevent memory loss or stagnation.) Go to lectures, do puzzles, plant something, exercise your curiosity, volunteer, exercise your creativity. Exercise.
If you a need specific reasons why you should keep moving, here are just a few:
- Regular physical activity reduces the risk of many adverse health outcomes.
- Physical activity can make daily life better.
- Some physical activity is better than none. Get a little more active every day.
- Most health benefits occur with at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking. Additional benefits occur with more physical activity.
- Both aerobic (endurance) and muscle-strengthening (resistance) physical activity are beneficial.
- No matter what your age, you can find a way to make exercise work for you.
- The health benefits of physical activity occur for people with disabilities.
- The benefits of physical activity far outweigh the possibility of adverse outcomes.
See, https://health.gov/paguidelines/moveyourway/materials/PAG_MYW_OlderAdults_FS.pdf.
CLAIM GOD’s PROMISES
If you keep on moving, you too may be able to claim a Psalm 23 blessing! According to Psalm 23
- I shall not want. Psalms 23: 1
- HE restoreth my soul. Psalms 23:3
- I shall fear no evil. Psalms 23:4
- Even if my walk involves a “rod” or a “staff,” they shall comfort me. Psalms 23:5
- No matter what happens, I will trust GOD for HIS overflowing blessings. Psalms 23:5
- GOD’s “GOODNESS and LOVE” will follow me “all the days of my life.” Psalms 23:6
- I have a LIVING, GUIDING, CARING SHEPHERD. Psalms: 23:1
Fight the urge to do nothing. Stay positive. And, have faith!
Keep moving, and BE BLESSED!
