Wednesday, April 9, 2014
You're really not into this...
Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”
(2 Kings 13:14-19 ESV)
Joash knew that when Elisha passed away things would not be the same. Yet his respect for God's prophet, and his belief in the Word of the Lord given through him was not strong. He went through the motions with little emotion. He wanted Elisha's blessing, but he really did not want it enough. He held back. That's what we often do. We say we trust God; we say we want to go all out for him, but when the time comes to show it, we hold back. Let us hold back nothing from obeying God and living fully for Him today.
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