Over the last few months, God has asked me to do a lot of waiting around. To be completely honest with you, waiting is not one of my strong points! I’d much rather be doing something productive than waiting around. Waiting seems like such a waste of time, and an unpleasant one at that.
Seeing as last week I finished the Ten Commandments course, I decided that for these few weeks until Christmas, I wouldn’t start a new course but would instead write about waiting. That’s what we’re doing in these weeks up until 25th December, isn’t it – waiting until Christmas! So I’m going to write a short reflection each week about waiting for God.
This week, we’re going to look at a passage from 2 Kings. But before we get to it, let’s put it into context.
The context: Siege
The verse I’ve chosen this week is from 2 Kings 6, which tells the story of how the King of Aram marched against Samaria:
Now it happened afterwards, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his military camp and went up and besieged Samaria. Now there was a great famine in Samaria. And behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
2 Kings 6:24-25, LSB
The city was under siege, and therefore there was a great famine. (It was not unknown for a siege to last months and even years – an enemy army could bring a city to surrender by cutting off its food supply).
The king of Israel decided to walk around the wall of the city. A woman stopped him to ask for his help, and he replied: “If Yahweh does not save you, from where shall I save you?” The king and his people had become desperate, and they were even resorting to horrific measures such as eating their own children. They had given up on God ever helping them and had started to do terrible things. The king seems to have given in to a counsel of despair and does not believe that God will help.
Note: the name Yahweh is the personal name of God as revealed in the Old Testament. If this is new to you, you might appreciate the session on God’s Name in the Ten Commandments course.
The verses don’t mention the people calling out to the Lord and asking for his help, perhaps they simply assumed that it would do no good to cry out to him (in spite of clear evidence to the contrary, as God demonstrated many times throughout Israel’s history).
“Why should I wait any longer?”
This brings us to the passage I wanted to look at today:
While he was still speaking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “Behold, this evil is from Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”
Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of Yahweh; thus says Yahweh, ‘About this time tomorrow a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” And the royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of God and said, “Behold, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Then he said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.”
2 Kings 7:1-2, LSB
The king sent the message: “This evil is from Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?” In other words, the king is saying – “God sent this evil upon us; why should we wait for him to deliver us? The cavalry is NOT coming, we will not be rescued. We might as well give up now.” The king simply assumes that God will not help them, apparently without even asking God for help.
But Elisha’s answer is extraordinary: he says “about this time tomorrow”, there would be an abundance of food – it would be sold cheaply at the city gates. Put yourself in the situation and think if you could have believed it: if all you could see around you was famine and starvation, could you believe that God would provide food? Clearly, the king’s servant didn’t believe, and voices his doubts: “If Yahweh should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” Looking across the city at starving people, it seemed impossible to believe that the very next day people could feast on cheap food. And yet, this is the message that God gave to Elisha.
Notice also Elisha’s reply to this man: “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it.” We read later on in the chapter (v20) that this man is trampled at the gate and dies before he has a chance to eat any of this food. Throughout the Bible, God is not pleased with people when they disbelieve his word and his power – e.g. when Zechariah refuses to believe that he will have a son, and is made mute until the birth (Luke 1:20).
Having sketched out the events, let’s move on and finish by thinking about the lessons we can learn for today.
Lessons for us
#1: Sometimes we have to wait, and we don’t know why
Why did God bring the Aramean army to besiege them? We’re not told. Perhaps it was to test the people, to see whether they would trust in him or – as the king of Israel did – refuse. Perhaps it was to teach the people a lesson about trusting (and not trusting) in him. The text does not give us an explanation.
For some reason, God leads us through times of waiting in our lives, and we don’t always know why. When it comes to the Christian life, there are rarely neat, pat, answers – although we will often be able to look back and see how God has used a particular thing for good in our lives. The point is not to wonder why something is happening but to seek the Lord through it.
#2: God’s power steps in just when everything seemed hopeless
The king was ready to throw in the towel and give up. His people were suffering, there was no food in the city and people were giving up in despair. And yet, it was at that exact moment that God chose to step in and bring change.
There’s a saying: “It’s always darkest just before the dawn.” Although this is not from the Bible, I believe it is true: God often does seem to let things get to the point where you think all is lost before stepping in. It helps us to acknowledge that it is his power alone which can change our situations. God’s power is limitless – there is never a situation which is too dark for him to step into. Whatever you are waiting for, know that God’s power is able to do it. There is nothing that God cannot do. One of my favourite verses in the Bible – actually one which is repeated several times – is Mark 10:27: “all things are possible with God”. We must remember that, however hopeless our situations may look, they are never hopeless to God.
#3: We must believe and not doubt
As with the king’s servant, we mustn’t question or doubt God’s promises. Let me be clear: this does not mean that we should never struggle with doubts about God! Many godly people in the Bible struggled with doubts – simply read the Psalms. However, they dealt with their doubts through prayer and praise, rather than indulging their doubts. I have a lot of sympathy with the man who said to Jesus, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
If God has placed you in a situation where you need to wait, trust him. If you are struggling to trust him, ask him for help – every day, every hour, whenever you need it. God’s power and might will be revealed at the proper time. If he has called you to wait, he will also fulfil his promises.
At my confirmation service, the bishop preached on this verse from 1 Thessalonians: “Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). God is faithful, he will do it. Even if he takes a while – he will do it. Trust in him.
