Dry times have a way of slowly siphoning off our faith and confidence in God. When the air of life is fresh and the view is exalted and unobstructed, our songs of trust ring out in perfect pitch and magnified volume. Yet, should some of the dust of delayed provision, unanswered prayer, lingering weakness and ceaseless stresses intrude into our oasis, we can easily find ourselves confessing without believing. We still say that God is great, but we are not confident that He will be great to us. We hold to our creed that Christ will never leave nor forsake us, yet we carry secret alarm that we cannot seem to hear His voice or sense His presence. We would never say that God does not bless, but we deeply struggle to mark those active blessings in our own lives. In the deepest parts of valleys like I’m describing it is possible for us to become aware of the blessing going on around us and outside of us while never experiencing the joy of being benefited by it. Sometimes the reason for this is undeniable: our own unbelief.
“But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a {7 quarts} of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and {14 quarts} of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” – 2 Kings 7:1-2
This account from nearly 3,000 years ago reveals an interesting scene. God was disciplining His wayward people for their wanderings from Him. He allowed their enemies to advance upon them and overtake them. The people were walled up inside a city with the enemy encamped around them on the outside of the walls. There had passed a long time with no provision and sustenance and now they were close to the point of death with no hope. Into this bleak setting, God raises up Elisha the prophet with a word from the Lord. He declares such an extreme turnaround and reversal of fortune that the result would be an abundance of provision within 24 hours. Now stop and think about this: God sends word to you that your most imposing situation and most overwhelming nightmare will not only disappear but be replaced by abundance before the setting of the sun on the morrow. God was not playing around with His people. He intended to reverse the curse and shower their languishing lives with some impossible to calculate blessing. Among the people who heard the report from the Lord’s servant was an influential member of the king’s cabinet. We might call him the Secretary of Defense as he was clearly a high ranking man with military credentials. When he heard Elijah’s promise his response was one of doubt and skepticism about the ability and willingness of the God of Israel. He chose to disregard the message and messenger and clung to what he saw. What was the reward of his diminished view of the Almighty and His word? Elijah told him that he would witness the prophecy coming true but would not be allowed to partake of it himself.
And so here we are. God’s nature and character is that of goodness, blessing, holiness and generosity. He’s a giver and never has to be anxious about running out – therefore He is a very generous giver. He has made clear in His word that He delights in providing, protecting and prospering those who follow Him. God is not a reluctant, reclusive Father. He is proactive in grace and delights in reward and favor. He is at work around you this very moment and He reserves the right to address repeatedly that thing in your life that looms as a giant of impossibility in your mind. He may very well have ordained that personal Goliath of yours in order to teach you how to trust Him in spite of what you see, feel or are experiencing. So will you trust Him today? Are you preserving yourself from the possibility of disappointment by choosing to assume that there will be no intervention by God, no rescue from Him? Is your unbelief possibly a defense mechanism that prevents you from the potential of heartbreak should what you desire not come to pass? The captain upon whom the king of Israel leaned had become so disconnected from who God is that his response to Elisha’s prophecy of reversal could be summed up in a flat, skeptical reply of, “Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see it.” He would certainly see it the next day but never get a chance to be blessed by it whether he believed it or not.
Join me in pestering the Almighty for powerful things. Bother Him for blessing. Speak incessantly to Him about your needs and lay your desires before Him to see if they will be approved. Surely He is sovereign and does not need to be reminded of anything by the likes of you and me. Yet He is also a Father who delights in the dependence of His own children so it pleases Him when you seek His hand. When you come into the presence of a great king, do not fail to ask of Him significant things. Do not insult Him with paltry petitions. Bring the hardest things first and most often. As Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord for blessing, do not turn loose of your hope and confidence until God grants you a new name with which you will walk with Him, marked forever with a new stride which testifies that you wrestled with God and came away with His touch. What about the rest of the story from the passage above? The captain of Israel’s army died in the city gate the very next day. How did his death come about? As God fulfilled His word and provided the blessing that was needed, all of the people in the city ran hastily to obtain it and proceeded to trample the captain to death. An ugly scene indeed for that poor man.
Failing to believe God is always an ugly scene. No need for us to miss this lesson ever again.
I like it when you expose my fear.
Having prayed for only non-material things for four years,…I just took a risk and asked God for the one temporal thing our whole family longs for.