Energy, Enthusiasm, Zeal, Excitement for Striking the Ground for the Lord? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Kings 13:19,

"The man of God [Elisha] was angry with him [Jehoash, king of Israel] 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.'"

Israel had been at war with Aram. When Jehoash, king of Israel went to see the prophet Elisha, who lay sick, Elisha told him to take some arrows and strike the ground with them. When Jehoash did so, he struck the ground just three times. We are told Elisha was angry with the king because he only struck the ground three times.

Elisha then told the king that because he only struck the ground three times, he would only defeat the Arameans in three fights. He went on to say that had Jehoash struck the ground five or six times he would have completely destroyed Aram.

As a prophet, Elisha represented the Lord and when Elisha asked the king to strike the ground, it was from the Lord. The Lord was asking Jehoash to strike the ground and it would be the Lord that would bring about the number of military victories relative to the number of times the king struck the ground with the arrows - the text leaving us the assumption Jehoash had no idea of the connection between his actions that day and the impact it would have on Israel's military victories over her enemy provided by the Lord.

At the end of the chapter we read that Jehoash defeated the Arameans three times and recovered Israelite towns that had been previously taken by them, verse 25. But... Aram was not destroyed.

The natural question I have is why the connection (unknown to the king at the time) between striking the ground and the number of military victories being determined by the number of times the ground was struck by Jehoash?

A thought that comes to me is that since Jehoash was being asked to strike the ground by the man of God, Elisha, Jehoash manifested his level of enthusiasm and energy, his level of zeal and excitement for doing the things of the Lord in the simple display. Unfortunately he didn't display much at all. Consequently when he displayed little for the Lord, the Lord would do little for his reign as king relative to military victory over his enemies. Earlier in the chapter we read, "He [Jehoash] did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them." Verse 11.

How about us today? Do we have energy and enthusiasm for the Lord? What is our level of zeal and excitement for the Lord? How does that manifest itself in our lives? How might our answers to these questions represent what the Lord may be doing/not doing in our lives in apparently unforeseen ways?

Just a thought... how many times would I, would you, strike the ground?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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