There’s an odd passage in the Old Testament, told in 2 Kings 13, as the prophet Elisha is nearing his death. Joash, king of Israel, has come to pay his respects to this man of God, and during the visit, Elisha instructs the king to take a bow and arrow and shoot the arrow eastward through an open window. The king does as instructed, and Elisha explains that the arrow was the Lord’s arrow for victory over neighboring Syria. Elisha then tells the king to strike the ground with the arrows. Again, King Joash complies, striking the ground three times with the arrows and then stopping. However, when he stopped, Elisha expresses displeasure that the king had not struck the ground five or six times, for (unbeknownst to the king) each strike of the arrow was meant to signify a victory over the Syrians, with six signifying a complete and final victory.
I find this odd, because even though Joash didn’t fully understand what he was being asked to do, he did it. Asked to shoot an arrow, and he shot it. Asked to strike arrows on the ground, he struck the ground. And he struck the ground more than once, so he went beyond the obvious minimum number of strikes. Yet the prophet of God was angered because he stopped short of where he could have gone – even though there was no indication of how many strikes should have been made. Ultimately, Elisha knew that God was willing to bless Joash with an even greater victory, but Joash unknowingly failed to take a large-enough leap of faith.
A similar lesson is shown earlier in 2 Kings, where Elisha instructs the widow of a prophet to gather many empty jars from her neighbors. God then miraculously allows a small jar of oil to be multiplied, filling all of the empty jars that had been collected and only running out of oil when the final empty jar had been filled. Had the widow gathered even more empty jars, it seems likely that the miraculous provision would have extended even to those jars. Ultimately, the size of the miracle depended upon the size of the leap taken by the widow in obtaining empty jars.
These examples, as well as my regular ruminations about God, cause me to wonder how many blessings we have left on the table, simply because we didn’t leap far enough when given the opportunity. Whether it was out of fear, modesty, or some other reason like laziness, did we fail to ask for something that would truly glorify God, requiring Him to not only show up but to also show off? If the chief purpose of man is to glorify God, which suggests that we have been given the necessary tools to glorify Him, then shouldn’t we strive greatly and leap boldly, leaving our comfort zones far behind as we seek to do all that we were created to do?
It is when we reach the limits of our human abilities that God demonstrates His power. Frankly, some of you may be at that point right now, and it will take God’s strength just to get you through today. But for most of you, you have not yet reached the edge of what is feasible. Therefore, if you are walking humbly with the Lord, be willing to leap further than you think possible, because you are with the One who specializes in the impossible and it is in your willingness to not be constrained by your own limitations that will allow God’s fullest blessings to be on display.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron