2 Kings Chapter 13:14-20
Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”
Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” Elisha died and was buried...
There are many verses in scriptures in the bible that I didn't fully understand, and thank God over the years my understanding has increased. This passage was one of that I did not fully understand. The prophet Elisha instructed the king to shoot arrows into the ground to demonstrate God's promise to the king of complete victory over his enemies.
After the king shot the arrows, Elisha disapproved of his actions; in fact Elisha became angry and told the king that he would not totally defeat his enemy and would only defeat them three times.
When the Lord tells you to do something and you do it, it should be because you have faith in Him and in what he wants you to do, but many times even though we do something that we are told to do by the Lord, we don't always have the faith to complete the task we we told to do. We allow our fears and doubts to cloud our judgement. Many times we don't want to believe that God can do what He says He will do.
It's just easier to believe the doctor's report. It is just easier to go along with what everyone else is doing. It makes us feel content to do nothing, when doing something will take us out of our comfort zone, but the Lord never said that we would not have to go through some trials and tribulations. We are transformed by using our spiritual muscles, and you cannot grow as a christian by playing it safe.
In the passage above, the king obeyed with his mind, but he may not have agreed with God's word in his heart. Elisha said if the king had shot more arrows, in other words if he had believed whole heartedly and shot more arrows of victory as he was instructed to do, he would have won completely over his enemies. The reason that the Lord asks us to worship and praise Him in our toughest times, the reason that we must declare the victory before it happens is because we are getting our hearts in tune with God's word and then the victory manifests because we believe it before we see it.
Remember, that just because you see certain people who are christians living the christian lifestyle that does not mean that they truly believe in Jesus Christ. You can talk the talk and walk the walk and still be lost. It is what we believe in our hearts about Jesus that makes the difference, and the way we live our lives reflects our love for Him. If you love Him, you will believe in Him and you will live out your life for Him.
I suspect that fear and doubt made the king in this scripture to hold back and be hesitant about the true nature of God's power and authority. Please do not let your own fears and doubts prevent you from doing what God is asking you to do, Bring your fears and worries to the Lord and ask Him to help you overcome them and to give you the strength to do what He has asked you to do, and He will answer your prayer.
