On Saturday night I was reading scripture, praying, and meditating - doing my final preparations to lead worship on Sunday - and I landed in 2 Kings 6. I was looking for the story where Elisha tells his servant not to be afraid, that "those who are with us are more than those who are against us," and then prays that the servants eyes would be opened the chariots of fire which covered the hills surrounding the armies of the King of Aram. I read through it and jotted a few notes to myself about how it would tie in with some of the songs we were singing on Sunday (you know, normal stuff), when I had the hankerin' to turn the page and continue on in chapter 7. (For those of you "non-Texans" out there, hankerin' best translates as "spontaneous desire.")
You see, Chapter 6 leaves you in a bit of a cliff-hanger. Shortly after the story of the chariots of fire on the hill, we find Elisha and the people of Israel under siege in Samaria by, you guessed it, the King of Aram. Things were bad in the city...a small bag of grain sold for an enormous sum of money, and people were eating whatever they could find - donkey's heads, their children (look it up! it's true!), etc. Chapter 6 ends with the king's messenger bringing this message to Elisha: "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?" And that's how the chapter ends! Yikes! (You see, GOD - not Hollywood nor Shakespeare - invented cliff-hangers!) So what happens next?! I HAD to know...so I kept reading.
***DISCLAIMER - For all you purists out there: Yes, I know that the Bible was not written with Chapters and verses, so the original text reads like a contiguous story. However, WE HAVE chapters and numbers, so it reads like a cliff-hanger to me. And since I believe that God planned the Bible from the beginning of time, I will still solidly claim that He invented cliff-hangers! LOl!***
ANYWAY, at the beginning of Chapter 7 Elisha tells the king (basically) that tomorrow the siege will be over and there will be an abundance of food. An army officer who was assisting the king said, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" Elisha calmly replied, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!"
Now, there's an abundance of things we can learn from this - not the least of which is to think before we speak and not stick our noses into conversations in which they don't belong. What stuck out to me most, though, was that the officer's desperation seemed to fuel a lack of faith in God's power. Look carefully at his words..."even if the Lord should open the floodgates of heaven, could this happen?" By this statement, he's basically saying, "even if God gave it everything He had, He still couldn't do what you're saying." Ouch. Those are the careless words of a man, spoken in the most desperate of situations.
Today, we really don't "get" what a siege was. I've read up on it a little, and I still really don't comprehend the scene. Try to think about it, though. You're locked up in a castle with no way to re-plentish your food supply. Regular attacks and bombardments came and went; sleep was hard to come by - and certainly not good and sound sleep. Life under siege was horrid. Existence was excruciating; and as a soldier, he surely knew what waited for them at the end of the siege. After being starved for many days (sometimes months), those who lived long enough to see the final onslaught would be little match for the invading force and they would be mercilessly wiped out. Men, women, and children would be killed - often in gruesome ways. Some would become slaves, most nearly all would die. In his shoes, I can only imagine the desperation, exhaustion, and hopelessness he felt as he spoke those words: and he pays for it. Look at Elisha's response, "Oh yeah. You'll see it happen - but that's it. You won't experience it."
The story goes on that God causes the soldiers in the Aramean camp to flee and all their provisions are left behind. The army officer stands at the city gate and sees that it is true, but is trampled to death by all the hungry people trying to get to the food. He saw it, but he did not eat of it.
How many times have I been in that army officer's shoes? How many times have I spoken careless words in the middle of a stressful situation? How many times have I doubted that God would deliver me when I could see no realistic solution to my problem? (How many times have I stuck my nose into conversations in which it didn't belong?!) Too many, I'm sad to admit.
When we're in these extreme stress situations, WE SIMPLY MUST view them through spiritual eyes. In the day to day realm, hopelessness can prevail; with spiritual eyes, however, hopeless situations are caused by spiritual forces working against you. And to Whom do we turn when the evil one attacks? Of course! We must lift our eyes to the hills, for our help comes from the Lord, the Creator of the earth. WE SIMPLY MUST retrain our mind to see stressful, hopeless situations for what they truly are - a way to build our faith and for God to show his glory.
As Elisha prayed for his servant, I pray for you, me, and all of us...that whatever our situation, that our eyes will be opened to see Your strength in the spiritual realm. And that we will be faithful in our actions AND our words, so that we will not only see God's deliverance - but taste it too!
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2 comments:
Gary, if you'd only read that scripture earlier and blogged on it a few days ago, you could have eliminated some of my own distress...see my blog posting today:
http://www.tamawestman.com/My_Blog.html
Don't you just love guilt trips! :)
Good words, great insight. Thanks.
Love that you're updating the blog regularly--and with the very things I need to read. Thank you Gary!!
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