2 Kings 7:2 (NIV)
2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of
God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens,
could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes,"
answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"
God loves to show up at the time when
everything looks completely hopeless. He loves it when his children are
confident in His Word regardless of what the circumstances look like. Consider
these following examples of hopeless situations;. Abraham and Isaac in Genesis
22, Feeding 20,000 with five loaves and two fish, . Feeding 7,000 with seven
loaves and three fish, Being stoned and left for dead in Acts 14, Being dead
and buried for four days in John 11.
God is always for the underdog. He does not
work much with those who are self sufficient, he works among those who have no
other place to go. As for this soldier in our text he was the support for the
King of Aram. How much better could it get than to be known as the one who
supports the King. He must have thought of himself as some sort of protector
and deliverer and it went to his head.
Listen carefully to his boasting. "Even
if God opened the windows of heaven, could this happen?" Basically he was
calling Elisha, the representative of God a liar, or at least a dreamer with no
substance.
I wonder if you are in the place of those who
were living in Samaria. Do you feel like your life is under siege of the enemy?
DO you find your resources completely dried up? Are you beginning to think
about taking things into your own hands and giving up on trusting in God's
promises? All of these things were happening in Samaria. There was no food,
they were under siege by a pagan king and things had been this way for quite
some time. There was no visible evidence that God or anyone else for that
matter was going to come to their rescue.
Let's face it, those living in Samaria had no
reason to even think that God would provide for them again, look at their
lives? There was open cannibalism being practiced. Pagan idols were plenteous in
the land and a powerful pagan King was laying siege to them and he was winning.
Into this situation Elisha enters and
proclaims that tomorrow everything will be better than anyone could possibly
dream. It would all happen in less than twenty four hours. By every possible
indication what Elisha proclaimed was impossible. This is just the situation
that God loves to work in.
Awakenings and revivals are born out of such
situations. When God's people are desperate God finds a way to show up. I
wonder how he might show himself to you today. BE of good cheer God is at work
even right this very moment even though you cannot see him. We will see
tomorrow just how he is at work in our midst.
Finding Hope under Siege,
Pastor Phil