Jessica Albritton, Family Connections Minister, LHBC
2 Kings 7:1-2
But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
Have you ever played a game of Peek-a-boo with a baby? You get really close to the baby’s face, cup your hands and cover your eyes to “hide.” After a few seconds you open your hands wide and exclaim “peek-a-boo!” Baby gets tickled and starts laughing, and after a few seconds you take your hands, cover your face again, and the game continues. The game of peek-a-boo is a lot of fun but did you know it also helps stimulate a baby’s senses, aids in building their gross motor skills, and encourages social development? Not only that, the game of peek-a-boo teaches object permanence, or the understanding that an object or event continues to exist, even when that object or event cannot be directly seen, heard, or touched. Most infants develop this concept between 6 months and a year old.
In the book of 2 Kings we see someone with a strong lack of spiritual object permanence. The king’s messenger comes to the prophet Elisha and strikes up a conversation. During the conversation the prophet makes an incredible promise, Elisha tells the messenger, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” A seah was about 8 gallons. Now imagine, 8 gallons of fine flour and 16 gallons of barley selling for a single shekel (around 31 cent), when just the day before a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and dove’s dung was sold for five shekels of silver. That’s some pretty drastic deflation in currency if you ask me. Verse 2 tells us the king’s messenger, an officer whom the king relied on, answered Elisha saying, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” You see the officer was looking all around and from what he could see there was just no way that this could happen. His heart wouldn’t believe what his mind couldn’t conceive.
Elisha warns the scoffing messenger God will have the last laugh. Elisha tells the messenger because of his unbelief, not only would he see it come to be, he would also not benefit from any of it. You see, when we limit God to what we can see, figure out ourselves, or do on our own, we will miss out on many of God’s blessings. Later on in the chapter we find that the prophecy did in fact come to be fulfilled. The Lord caused the army of the Syrians to hear a great noise of chariots and horses. At the sound of what was perceived as a great army, the Syrians assumed they were under attack so they panicked and left their tables with all their food and supplies still intact. The next day some leapers from the city wander into the empty camp and begin to plunder. After a while word gets out and everyone in the city comes out and begins to plunder. With the chaos of the plundering the value of the shekel became drastically reduced and a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel. Scripture goes on to recount the men of the city charging the gate and trampling the king’s hand costing him his life.
The king’s messenger had a lack of spiritual object permanence. He heard the promise of God but because he couldn’t make sense of it he choked it up to impossible. This lack of faith cost him his life. We can all get that way at times, can’t we? We find ourselves in a situation and think, as long as I can see some way for God to work it all out I will believe in His promises. But what happens when God’s promise seems utterly impossible, promises that are so outside the lines of what we can wrap our minds around? Why do we do that? Limit God to only what our flesh can figure out, what our minds can muster up? It’s crazy considering the fact that God is able to work outside the lines and has means that we know nothing about. Friend, God’s promises are true, he always keeps his word, even when we can’t understand His ways! Take heart today and rest in that! When God says something it will come to be, even when life’s circumstances are suggesting otherwise. Don’t let a little spiritual object permanence make you lose faith in the King of kings and Lord of lords!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Heavenly Father, strengthen my faith in You! Give me faith that can move mountains and help me to trust in You. Fix my focus on Your promises and remove the temptation to rely on the things I can see. Help me to trust when it doesn’t make sense and to have faith when I am lacking. In Jesus name, amen!
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Psalm 66:5- Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.