Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Kings 6:2-3

"Let us go, we pray thee, unto the Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be pleased, I pray thee, to go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go." — 2 Kings 6:2-3 (ASV)

Let us go, we pray thee, to Jordan, and take from there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell.

And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.

His presence would be an encouragement to them; his holy conduct would make their work more pleasant, and they would also feel as if they were more truly working for God when they had the presence and the support of God's servant. He, on the other hand, was quite ready to go. God's ministers, if they are what they should be, are quite ready to help in any kind of work. We find Paul the Apostle picking up sticks to make a fire, and we find Elisha going with his dear friends to the forest when they went to cut down timber to make a house.

We sometimes regret that spiritual work should so often have to come into contact with commonplace things, and yet it is so. Young prophets must have a house, and when we gather a congregation we must build them a meeting-house. In this country, we cannot meet every day in the open air, and we often regret this. Yet I believe it is meant by God to be a discipline for His Church. If the Church cannot come into contact with common life without its spirituality being endangered, so much the worse for its spirituality.

It must be flimsy stuff if it cannot bear the wear and tear of common life.