http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2012-13;%202%20Chronicles%2024&version=ESV
2 Kings 13:15-19: "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."
In 2 Kings 13, we read of the death of the prophet Elisha. Right before Elisha's death, he tells Joash to strike the ground with the arrows.
The way the text reads to me, Joash is probably saying what is all this about? And so he hits the ground half-heartily. As a result of this, Elisha says Joash will only defeat the Syrians 3 times, whereas if he would have struck the ground 5 or 6 times he would have struck down Syria until he had made an end of the country's power.
Joash was half-hearted in his obedience to God in this matter. And as a result, though he was blessed with victory over the Syrians 3 times, he could have been blessed even more. God wants to bless us. He wants to shower us with blessings!!! However, we must follow hard after Him. We must be obedient to His Word and the leanings of the Holy Spirit on our hearts.
Joash is a great example for us in that when we follow the Lord with a half-heart, our blessing that we receive may not be as big as it could have been.
I am in no way espousing any kind of prosperity Gospel here. I am not saying obey and you will get a rich reward. What I am saying is, obey God, trust in Him, and let Him surprise you with His blessings.
They may be temporal blessings. But the most important blessing we have is an intimate relationship with Him. When we are obedient to God, we draw closer to God and He draws closer to us. (James 4:8)
We will never understand all of God's Word, and we may even question why He wants us to do certain things. But we must remember that God is God and we are not.
Live your life with a whole hearted obedience towards God.
As the old hymn says,
"Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
Soli Deo Gloria.
Today's Post was submitted by Russ Shellhamer.
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