Day two hundred ninety-three
“My prayer is that something in me would be “open to heaven,” for the truth is that we all have as much of God as we truly want.” ~ A.W. Tozer
2 Kings 13
I was all ready to move on when I came across the above quote and it took me back to chapter 13. Maybe I am just having a hard time saying goodbye to Elisha, but there is another lesson that he teaches us before he dies that I want to share.
In the last post we left off with Joash weeping over the thought of Elisha dying. Well Elisha does an interesting thing here: He says to the king, "Take a bow and arrows and draw it back." Elisha gets behind the king, puts his hands on his and tells him to open the window and shoot the arrow eastward towards Syria.
Elisha interprets the meaning of this little exercise in verse 17: "The arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them."
In essence what Elisha is saying to the king is, "This is the Lord's deliverance, I am not the chariot of Israel, God is the chariot of Israel. The same open window in front of me is in front of you. I am dying, but God is not dying. Joash you need to understand that if you turn to the Lord, trust in the Lord, deliverance is yours. The God who has worked so powerfully through my life is the same God who wants to work in your life!"
The same thing is true for us today. God has not changed. He has as much enthusiasm to touch people and work in their lives as He ever has. We too have windows of opportunity! The same window of opportunity to see the power of God that was opened before these two men is opened before us today!
So Elisha says to Joash, "Shoot the arrow through the window and believe the promise of God, believe the promise of victory and of deliverance. For you must strike the Syrians until you have destroyed them."
Then Elisha does something else that is unusual. In verse 18 he tells Joash to take the remaining arrows and to smote or strike the ground with them. Joash does it three times then stops. And Elisha gets angry and tells him that he should have struck the ground 5 or 6 times, then he could have totally defeated the Syrians. Why would Elisha get so angry?
Striking the ground was a sign of Joash's commitment to how he was going to appropriate the promise of God for victory. The open window was symbolic of the opportunity, the striking the ground was symbolic of Joash's commitment, Joash should have realized that. The problem is Joash is half-hearted in his commitment and in his response.
Elisha is angry at the king because of his half-hearted commitment. It was true that the nation didn't have the resources to conquer the enemy, but they had God on their side. He was willing to meet them in their weakness and insufficiency, but he wanted their whole hearts.
This is one of those self-evaluation moments where you look back on your life and you see yourself making the same mistake as Joash. How many opportunities has God given me that I let pass me by because I was only into it half-heartedly? Too many to count I am sure! Why do we let these windows of opportunity pass us by?
For me, I tend to forget that these opportunities exist. Mostly, I am not paying attention to what is going on around me and I don't recognize the opportunity when it is there. I miss them because I am not looking for them through spiritual eyes. I am working on that.
Then there is the fact that I don't always have the faith I need to take the risk. Not just faith in God, but in myself. I often focus on my weaknesses and let fear of failure guide me instead of believing that God will make up for anything I lack. I just need to take the chance and have faith in Him. I am working on this too!
Imagine the impact on your life if you would recognize, acknowledge, and take action in these opportunities. How much closer to God would we be? How much spiritual strength would we get from believing and doing?
I think the Lord often feels like Elisha did when he deals with us. He is giving us all these opportunities and we just don't get it! God wants to bless us, he wants to work through us, but he wants us to do it whole-heartedly. He is the same, it is us that needs to change. Like the quote at the beginning of this post said, "we all have as much of God as we truly want." I need to want God more!
“My prayer is that something in me would be “open to heaven,” for the truth is that we all have as much of God as we truly want.” ~ A.W. Tozer
2 Kings 13
I was all ready to move on when I came across the above quote and it took me back to chapter 13. Maybe I am just having a hard time saying goodbye to Elisha, but there is another lesson that he teaches us before he dies that I want to share.
In the last post we left off with Joash weeping over the thought of Elisha dying. Well Elisha does an interesting thing here: He says to the king, "Take a bow and arrows and draw it back." Elisha gets behind the king, puts his hands on his and tells him to open the window and shoot the arrow eastward towards Syria.
Elisha interprets the meaning of this little exercise in verse 17: "The arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them."
In essence what Elisha is saying to the king is, "This is the Lord's deliverance, I am not the chariot of Israel, God is the chariot of Israel. The same open window in front of me is in front of you. I am dying, but God is not dying. Joash you need to understand that if you turn to the Lord, trust in the Lord, deliverance is yours. The God who has worked so powerfully through my life is the same God who wants to work in your life!"
The same thing is true for us today. God has not changed. He has as much enthusiasm to touch people and work in their lives as He ever has. We too have windows of opportunity! The same window of opportunity to see the power of God that was opened before these two men is opened before us today!
So Elisha says to Joash, "Shoot the arrow through the window and believe the promise of God, believe the promise of victory and of deliverance. For you must strike the Syrians until you have destroyed them."
Then Elisha does something else that is unusual. In verse 18 he tells Joash to take the remaining arrows and to smote or strike the ground with them. Joash does it three times then stops. And Elisha gets angry and tells him that he should have struck the ground 5 or 6 times, then he could have totally defeated the Syrians. Why would Elisha get so angry?
Striking the ground was a sign of Joash's commitment to how he was going to appropriate the promise of God for victory. The open window was symbolic of the opportunity, the striking the ground was symbolic of Joash's commitment, Joash should have realized that. The problem is Joash is half-hearted in his commitment and in his response.
Elisha is angry at the king because of his half-hearted commitment. It was true that the nation didn't have the resources to conquer the enemy, but they had God on their side. He was willing to meet them in their weakness and insufficiency, but he wanted their whole hearts.
This is one of those self-evaluation moments where you look back on your life and you see yourself making the same mistake as Joash. How many opportunities has God given me that I let pass me by because I was only into it half-heartedly? Too many to count I am sure! Why do we let these windows of opportunity pass us by?
For me, I tend to forget that these opportunities exist. Mostly, I am not paying attention to what is going on around me and I don't recognize the opportunity when it is there. I miss them because I am not looking for them through spiritual eyes. I am working on that.
Then there is the fact that I don't always have the faith I need to take the risk. Not just faith in God, but in myself. I often focus on my weaknesses and let fear of failure guide me instead of believing that God will make up for anything I lack. I just need to take the chance and have faith in Him. I am working on this too!
Imagine the impact on your life if you would recognize, acknowledge, and take action in these opportunities. How much closer to God would we be? How much spiritual strength would we get from believing and doing?
I think the Lord often feels like Elisha did when he deals with us. He is giving us all these opportunities and we just don't get it! God wants to bless us, he wants to work through us, but he wants us to do it whole-heartedly. He is the same, it is us that needs to change. Like the quote at the beginning of this post said, "we all have as much of God as we truly want." I need to want God more!
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