Almost there

“If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” (2 Kings 7)

Hello, my friend…

It is my pleasure to share the next few minutes with you. Today we have an interesting scripture to consider. I hear often from people how long they have been praying about situations in their lives – and I totally understand. How many years did my late mother-in-law pray for her grandchildren before most of them came around. She lived long enough to see it. Yet we know her prayers live on long after she has passed away. The prayers we offer live on even if we don’t live to see their fulfillment.

I’m sure Moses prayed those forty years while he was tending his father-in-law’s sheep in the desert before he went back into Egypt to become their deliverer. I would imagine that Abraham grew weary praying to God about his promised son. Daniel, I’m sure, prayed as they lowered him into a pit full of hungry lions. John the Revelator prayed to God as he spent (give or take) a year in exile on the Isle of Patmos. I, personally, have prayed for years over situations in my life and have only recently begun seeing a return on those prayers. Maybe you, too, have bent your knees for what seems like an eternity – all the while Satan is whispering lies into your ears about how God doesn’t love you anymore, you don’t deserve what you’re asking, etc.

In our text today, we see four friends who were banished outside the city walls because they had contracted leprosy. Now their city lay besieged by enemy forces, and has been for awhile. It has been long enough, as a matter of fact, that extreme famine has become the scourge: people boiling donkey heads to eat, women were killing their children and cooking them, and other acts of desperation. Most of us have never reached that level of want (thank God)! These four men now sit discussing what to do. If they remain where they are more than likely they will be overrun by enemy forces and die in the violent attacks. If they try to return to their city (violating the Mosaic law), they will certainly starve to death. The only other option they have is to go into the enemy camp and turn themselves in. Even if they did nothing, death was their certain.

Maybe you’ve been there. It could be you are there now. You have prayed, you have quoted scripture, you have traveled and had evangelists pray for you, you may have even gone to someone who specializes in casting out and binding demons. All to (what would seem to be) no avail. All I can offer you is to stand with you and pray together with you that God will answer your prayers. You are in good company. I’m sure John suffered some pretty traumatic long-term effects after having been boiled alive in a pot of oil before he was exiled. Moses, I’m pretty sure, had given up hope of ever returning to his family and “home.” We read that Elijah, that fiery prophet of the Old Testament, even prayed to die. The woman with the issue of blood had spent all she had and seen every doctor she knew of, yet was no better. It was only when she reached the end of her efforts that she violated Jewish law to penetrate the crowd around Jesus to merely touch the hem of His garment. Even Jesus, hanging on the cross, cried out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” You are in good company, my friend.

It is the heartfelt cry of our hearts that God hears the most clearly. Yes, He does often answer before it reaches crisis stage; yet, sometimes he makes Job wait 9 months before the answer comes. It isn’t that God is heartless, He isn’t a sadist, He does not get any pleasure in seeing the suffering of His saints. He does, however, love it when we finally reach the end of our strength and yield to Him. The Bible says that His eyes roam to and fro throughout the earth looking for those He can show His strength through.

My friend, the journey has been long. You are exhausted. You are losing your grip on hope. I encourage you to lay your burden down at His feet. Confess you need Him and Him alone. Doctors are good, but even they admit their knowledge and abilities only go so far. Medicine is good, but it has its limits. But the Word of God is powerful, it is all-powerful, and it has no side-effects! Combined with the prayers of others standing with you, mixed with your faith, God will grant the answer you have long-sought. All in His good time, of course. If you are ready to give up, He is ready to receive your burden. That is why Christ died on the cross for you and me. That we might have life, and that more abundantly.

Be blessed, today, dear one.