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.” 2 Kings 13:14-19 NIV
Jehoash was not a righteous king and often did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Yet he had enough faith and wisdom to realize that he needed God’s blessing to win the battles he was going to face. He panicked when he heard that the prophet was sick and might die, for God’s favor always flowed through the prophet. He feared because he knew that the chariots and horsemen of Israel had already been depleted as a result of his father’s sin. All that was left was 50 horsemen and 10 chariots. One thing Jehoash did right was run to God for help. And God, acting in mercy, gave him a chance to make things right again.
Elisha placed his righteous hands on the king’s hands and told him to shoot the arrow, which symbolized the victory God would bring him. I’m so thankful for the righteous people God has brought into my life to “hold my hands” during the times I’ve struggled spiritually! Next, Elisha told the king to take the arrows and strike the ground. He obeyed, but only struck the ground 3 times. You would think his hope would have been renewed after shooting the arrow and that he would have beat the ground vigorously until the prophet finally stopped him! Yet that wasn’t the case. His half-hearted effort angered the prophet, and so it should have.
Here’s a guy who had sinned continually against God and was being given another chance to make things right, yet he stopped short of doing what he needed to do. He missed the opportunity God had graciously given him because he failed to keep going, to press through. Why? Perhaps he just didn’t realize the importance and finality of the moment. Sometimes we miss what God has for us because we get distracted and miss the importance of the moment. This was his time, his moment to gain the victory; to work at it with every ounce of energy he could muster.
Maybe he thought the whole exercise was unnecessary and didn’t understand why he was asked to do it. When God gives you a plan to fix your life, work at it with all your might, even if you don’t understand the importance of every step! Maybe he was so absorbed by the problem, he just couldn’t see any way out. He was obviously focused on the problem when cried to Elisha, “the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Sometimes we get so beaten down by our mistakes that we just don’t believe we will ever gain the victory so we just stop trying. We may continue to go through the motions but we don’t have enough faith to endure when the enemy attacks. Whatever the case, Jehoash knew what he had to do, but failed to give it the effort required.
This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.” Isaiah 48:17-19 NIV
God is faithful in directing our paths, but too often we just don’t pay attention. The problem isn’t that we don’t know what we need to do, it’s that we just don’t do it. As a result we miss out on the amazing things God has planned for us. Let me encourage you with this thought. If you are a believer in Christ, God wants to give you victory in this life! Don’t give up and don’t stop “striking the ground” before you win the battle. Fight hard and give it your whole heart. Don’t miss out on all that God desires to do in and through you!