DON'T LIMIT GOD (PART 4)
"Take the arrows. ... Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times" – 2 Kgs 13:18-19.
Most times, our failure to seek God's mind on issues that affect us can lead us to receive things from Him that are far below His will for us. We can get our human best and yet fall far short of what God wills for us. This can be very sad. It's like a man falling short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). We sometimes find ourselves in this situation.
When we get to heaven at last, we're going to be amazed as we discover that what we boasted about here on earth as grandiose and tremendous achievements for the Lord are far below what Heaven willed for us. Then, we will discover that for the better part of our lives here on earth, it was either that we wasted or we under utilized the graces of God that have been made available to us in Christ Jesus for exploits to the glory of His name.
In 2 Kings chapter 13 from verse 14 to 19, we have an amazing story of king Joash of Israel and Elisha, the prophet of God. Elisha was sick unto death and the king paid him a visit. The Bible tells us what followed next:
"And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon 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 arrow of the LORD's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them." - 2 Kings 13:15-17 (KJV).
To king Joash, this was very soothing because this meant deliverance for Israel from Syrian bondage. But there was another part of the transaction that caught my fancy which has some bearing on our discussion for today. It's about how king Joash limited God by his actions and missed out on God's best. The Bible says that after the arrow of the LORD'S deliverance had been shot by the king, the prophet requested of him to smite the arrows upon the ground. The king smote thrice and stayed. The prophet was angry with the king, saying that he should have struck five or six times, for a reason: which is Israel's complete decimation of the Syrians. I'm in love with the Good News translation:
"This made Elisha angry, and he said to the king, “You should have struck five or six times, and then you would have won complete victory over the Syrians; but now you will defeat them only three times.”- 2 Kings 13:19, GNT.
To Joash, by sticking thrice, his thinking was that he had done very well. But soon, we discovered that wasn't God's will for him in his encounter with Syria. Although he would defeat the Syrians three times, this fell short of God's will for king Joash and Israel. His will was a "complete victory over the Syrians" and not a three times defeat!
I would say that king Joash got what he believed God for, but he didn't get God's best! There's a lot of difference between getting what you believe God for and getting God's best. It's the same thing as comparing God's permissive will with God's perfect will. The latter, we know, far exceeds the former in every aspect! Nothing is as painful as knowing that you missed out on God's best, though it was within your reach! What is a three times defeat of the Syrians in comparison to "complete victory" over them?
The lesson we learn from this is that we should never do things that will serve to limit God in matters related to our lives. At all costs, let's endeavor to find out God's mind over every situation that affects our lives. This character was what endeared David to God as the man after His heart because he wanted to please God always (Acts 13:22). For instance, couldn't king Joash have sought from the prophet how many times he should smite the arrows upon the ground? Wouldn't that have put him in God's best for the situation?
PRAYER:
Dearest Heavenly Father, I seek to know Your will in order to enjoy Your very best for my life, in Jesus name.