Death Soup with a Pinch of God Element

Bitter Gourd Soup

From 2 Kings 4

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ - Matthew 11:28-30

Death Soup huh? That doesn't sound very appetizing!

I understand Halloween is around the corner but who on earth would try making a soup that is called Death soup? And this is a story from the Bible you say, really?

YES is the answer for all the above!

This story is from the second book of Kings chapter 4.

This story not only has death soup in it, it teaches us how a pinch of God element can change our entire story from death to life.

Enough beating around the bush, let's dive right into it.

A Protege to Prophet:

The hero of our story is none other than Prophet Elisha. Joshua is to Moses as Elisha is to Prophet Elijah. One day, when Elijah was running for his life, a seemingly normal day in the life of Elijah, God spoke to him in an amazing manner. You could say, God speaking to a human is in itself amazing, what can be more amazing than that?

1 Kings 19:11-13 says,

‘Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ‘

You see that? God spoke to Elijah not through the wind or earthquake or even the fire. He spoke to Elijah through a ‘gentle whisper’.

I don't know about you, this gesture of God moves me. A gentle whisper. God knows how weak and vulnerable we humans are, but because of the great love He has for us, He is willing to humble Himself and come down to interact with us…to commune with us and to have a fellowship with us… to a point that He gave His one and only son to die for us so that we can have access to Him. How amazing is that! Ok, this gentle whisper gesture is taking me on a tangent here, let's get back to our point.

In that conversation, God instructed Elijah to anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meholah(west of Jordan river), to succeed him as prophet. So Elijah found Elisha, and threw his cloak around him and Elisha in turn left his oxen and ran after Elijah. He only went back briefly to say his goodbyes and came right back. And from that time on, he followed Elijah as his servant. What a testimony!

Let's take a minute here to meditate on this point,

How are we today in answering God's calling? Are we running behind it like Elisha did? Or are we hesitant? Not to forget, Elisha is no normal farmer, he was a wealthy landowner. The Bible says he was plowing with twelve yokes of oxen when Elijah anointed him. He must have left behind a very comfortable life to follow the path God had chosen for him. Forget about life altering decisions, we are afraid even to follow the simplest of directions God calls us to follow. How are we when the Holy Spirit is prompting us to pray for someone, or to go out of our way to help someone, or when He convicts us that the friendship we have or the book we read or the shows we watch or the words we use are not holy in the eyes of the Lord.

Are we quick to follow like Elijah or are we afraid to leave our comfortable life?

Elisha spent the next several years as Elijah's disciple, until Elijah was taken into heaven. He loved Elijah like a father. He wouldn't let go of Elijah when he knew he was about to be taken up into heaven despite Elijah telling him to not to follow him that day. Finally when Elijah asked what he can do for Elisha, Elisha requested for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. And that he received!

From that time, Elisha began his ministry, which lasted about 60 years.

Wait a minute here! From the story we have read so far, there is no mention of a death soup anywhere, is there? Bible stories like Bible verses won't make much sense if we don't know the context. Imagine this situation- you witnessed two strangers quarreling and you tried to go in between them to mediate the situation. How well do you think the mediation is going to go? It's not even safe, let alone wise.

Context is the key

From the time Elisha started his ministry, he had done many many miracles. From what I understand Elijah was rather a 'larger than life' prophet and Elisha was more a prophet of the common people. He did deal with some powerful people but for the most part he was a prophet for the unnamed commoners! Like ‘the widow’, ‘a boy’, etc. But blessing others seemed to be the heart behind all his miracles. Like healing the waters of Jericho, multiplying the widow's oil, resurrecting the son of his host, multiplying 20 barley loaves to feed 100 men, curing Naaman's Leprosy, removing the poison from the soup...........aahhh...... there it is! We are in the right part of the story.

Our Story:

2 Kings 4: 38-41 says,

‘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."

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.

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.

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.’

Hint: This is where our recipe comes from.

This is a rather funny story to imagine at first glance. Elisha wanted to serve some food for the prophets visiting him and his servant accidentally cooked the stew with an unknown wild gourd that was horrible and everyone started yelling 'death in the pot, death in the pot' lol. It must have been really bad!

I have tried serving my kids spinach soup and they yelled something along the same line…lol

* I am assuming the gourd was not poisonous but confusing as the prophets ate a bit and were still alive. I think perhaps it was just an unbearable taste. I may be wrong on this but this just makes sense to me. Maybe extremely bitter, as some wild gourds tend to be. Bitter gourd for example. Though now we know bitter gourd is filled with health benefits, it tastes like crazy bitter, as its’ name implies.

But what Elisha did was truly a miracle. He sprinkled some flour into the pot and the undrinkable 'death' soup turned out to be a consumable one. Note, it didn't say it tasted good after that, but it was alright I guess.

What do you think Elisha did there? Did he happen to have some magic flour in his hands? No. But this story was listed under the many miracles Elisha did.

The key to this story lies in a previous miracle story performed by Elisha in 2 Kings 2. Elisha threw in some salt to the spring of water that was bad and unfit for irrigation in Jericho. This was due to a previous curse from Joshua. After he threw the salt he would say, THE LORD purified the waters and healed it and there shall no longer be death or barrenness. You see, the salt he threw in there didn't cure the water, it's the Lord.

Story unlocked. The flour Elisha threw in the soup didn't cure the soup, it's the Lord. It's never the salt or the flour, it's always the Lord.

Our Lord is the Lord who can reverse any curses into blessing. Just a pinch of God’s element can change an unbearable situation into a comfortable situation. This is not only true for the soup or the waters, it is also very true for our lives.

Application:

We might think the situation we are in is unbearable and something drastic has to happen for it to change. But in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said,

‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’

All we need to do is to come to Him with all our burdens, curses, defeats, fears and our mistakes, He and He alone is able to give us rest. Isn’t it funny that we usually tend go to Him for an answer to a problem but instead He gives us one-up. He gives us REST. Has your soul ever experienced rest? it will, when you lean on Him. Dont over think and complicate the situation. Go to Him like a child going to its father.

All we need is a pinch of salt or flour from the Lord. The solution is that simple. If alone we let it.

A pinch of God's element is all we need. our lives can change from death to life in a blink.

Nehemiah 13:2 says

‘for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.’

(The context of this verse is that the Ammonites and the Moabites didn't meet the Israelites coming out of the wilderness wandering with food and water; instead they hired Balaam to call down a curse against them. But God won't let Balaam curse them; instead he will end up blessing them.)

This is the kind of God we serve. When we abide in Him, and He in us, we can't help but to be both fruitful and joyful. (John 15:4-11)

As we are closing today, let's ask God, who is a God, who changes curses into blessings and fills us up with joy when we abide in Him, to change our current situation. Ask him boldly that in His will, your life too will be changed for good. Let’s ask and receive His rest. All we need is a pinch of God's element!

On to our recipe now,

Disclaimer: I used bitter gourd for this recipe as it tends to be VERY bitter as the name suggests. So the soup is also bitter. Though the soup is bitter, it comes with many health benefits. I am no doctor, so this is not an expert opinion, but health benefits from bitter gourd was a common knowledge when I was growing up.

Heads up: From what I hear, Its best to avoid consuming bitter gourd for people with digestive track problems. Instead you can substitute bitter gourd with other vegetables, like squash.

Benefits of Bitter gourd: (Research for more info please)

1.Controls blood sugar,

2. Helps in weight loss,

3. Boosts immunity, etc....

We can find bitter gourd in any Asian grocery store. I will add the picture of the gourd for reference. I usually don't like to write recipes that involve a trip to a speciality store. But just this once, we need to make one for the gourd.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 small bitter gourds

1/4 cup of red lentils

1/4 cups of chopped broccoli

1/4 cups of mushroom

1/4 cup of chopped onions

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup of chopped scallions

2 small pods of crushed garlic

1 jalapeno chopped without seeds

2 cups of chicken stock + 2 cups of water

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 cup yogurt

1 Tbsp butter

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. flour

1/8 tsp. salt or as needed

Method:

1. Peel and wash the gourd and discard the seeds. Slice it in thin circles and soak it in yogurt with a pinch of salt for 15 minutes. Discard the yogurt and keep the gourd. This process will reduce the bitterness of the gourd.

2. Soak lentils in water for 15 minutes.

3. In a heavy bottomed pan, add butter and once it melts add in onions, garlic, jalapeno and saute it until the onion gets transparent.

4. Add the gourd and lentils with the onion mixture and saute it for a couple more minutes.

5. Add in paprika, salt and flour, saute it for 10 seconds and then add chicken stock and water. The chicken stock will have some salt in it, so keep that in mind when you add salt. The flour and the lentils in the recipe will give some good thickness and density for the soup.

6. Let it all come to a complete boil and simmer it until the lentils are well cooked.

7. In another pan, add a tsp. of butter and saute the chopped broccoli and mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper till it's cooked. I like to do this step aside from the pot of soup as I like these veggies to have a firm texture while having the soup. But if you like the veggies to be well combined and mushy, you can add these when you add in the gourd.

8. Once the lentils are well cooked, add in the sauteed veggies, scallions and cilantro and switch off the flame. The cilantro and the scallions needn't have to be cooked.

9. Serve this soup hot on a chilly fall evening along with some dinner rolls.

Substitution: If you don't want a bitter soup (which is totally good for you by the way) you can substitute it with any other chopped gourds, potatoes, or meat.