THE DEATH OF ELISHA

Reading from 2 Kings Ch. 1 vs 14-25

You know you don’t have to have it all figured out before God right? I find that sometimes there’s a part of us that feels like we should at least have some things figured out and not need to always be crying and such. But when I read this is passage it seemed to be encouraging the opposite, firstly I was pretty sad when I read the heading because I’ve quite enjoyed the way Elisha was and how God used him. It was cool to me because he followed after one of the greatest prophets in the word and he just did his thing and was amazing at it. But as it is for all men, a time comes for each of us to die, the time came for the great Elisha. He got sick with an illness which the bible states is that which he’d die from. Now if you were alive in that time you’d know that if you really needed to inquire of God or hear from him or just get some kind of miracle, Elisha was who you’d go to but now he was on his death bed and the word spread.

The king of Israel Joash went down to see Elisha and he wept and cried before him saying “my father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” For some context the situation in Israel was bad, the king of Syria Hazael had been fighting them really hard, they were still worshipping idols and so God had like left them to themselves. So the king crying out like that was basically just saying like what would they do, they had lost almost all of their men and if everything continued how it was, they’d lose it all. He was basically begging Elisha to intercede or ask God to help them. I understand that they did sin but I appreciate the understanding they had that God was who to go to, he was someone you could cry to and he’d answer in miraculous ways. These guys were already disadvantaged and needed all the help they could get. It’s the opposite I spoke about earlier, we need to at any point be able to cry before God or just bring all things to him. It could be the smallest or most simple thing but bring it before God. It’s such a good posture to have, to be totally reliant on God, he will guide and answer you in ways you can never do for yourself. So never feel ashamed or second guess things, just cry out to him and know he is listening and will answer.

Then this was what he did, Elisha told the king to take a bow and arrows then told him to draw it. Elisha placed his hands over the kings’ hands and through the open window he had him shot eastward. He then said to him,” the lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria!” and said they’d fight them at Aphek till they make an end of them. This was good, God answered and told him what he’d do for them but they had to do the fighting. I think God empowers in this way, like he answers but it also requires your action. Elisha then told Joash to take the arrows and strike the ground with them. Joash struck the ground three times and then stopped and Elisha got angry with him saying, “ you should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times”.

This section got me thinking and had me see how we often are the reason why we don’t get to see the full magnitude of what God wants to do for us. Look, God says he’ll give them the victory over Syria but it’s now up to them to fight, Joash is then given an instruction, strike the ground with the arrows. Notice how it’s plural, there were many and this king just does three? I wondered why, maybe he didn’t get the point or it seemed like nothing or maybe it was a lot of energy to strike nothing but the ground but it was symbolic or a representation of the force or level at which they succeed. I thought to myself about how we hold back, you’re given an instruction and you talk yourself out of doing the full thing for whatever reason and you don’t realise you disadvantage yourself. Imagine if he shot all the arrows, he’d have completely defeated his enemy but now it would just be a few times. Please don’t be like Joash when you are instructed, shoot with all and everything you’ve got even if it feels like you’re doing nothing or too much, fight and go for the things, don’t settle, allow yourself to see the fullness of what God is giving you.

So Elisha did die and was buried and something cool happened, there used to be bands of Moabites that would go invade the land in the spring. Now a man had died and was being buried but the guys who were burying him saw a marauding band and just threw him into the grave of Elisha. I suppose they were afraid and wanted to run and hide and something amazing happened. When this dead body touched the bones of Elisha the man revived and stood to his feet, Elisha still doing miracles in death. That was truly amazing but also just shows the anointing and hand of God that was on Elisha’s life, for his bones to still carry that power is something that you can’t even explain. I pray we can all get to points where the presence of God or the Holy Spirit is so strong on us that just by us being present things begin to change. Think of peter and how people were getting healed when he just walked by because of how the Holy Spirit was working. I hope the Holy Spirit does get to work out amazing things through and in us.

Now in the times of Jehoahaz the father of Joash the king who was crying before Elisha, Hazael king of Syria really oppressed them. But God was gracious and had compassion on them and turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So he didn’t destroy them or cast them out of his presence, earlier I spoke about how these guys were worshipping idols, they were in a terrible place but God had mercy on them and chose not to get rid of them because of his covenants with their fore fathers. God will always honour and respect his covenants and promises, they were doing evil but he still protected them because of those who honoured him way before them. Makes me think of how the good things of those who came before us speaks for us today, like the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and even just those prayers and work of your grandparents or parents with the things of God. Even when we fail, the good others did can speak for us, may we also accumulate good for those to come so God will save and fight for them even when they struggle.

Hazael did die and his son Ben-hadad became king, Joash was able to fight him and take back the lands that Hazael had taken from his father Jehoahaz. Three times did Joash defeat ben-hadad and recover the lost cities, God will return what we lost in due time. From this you see that God will do only what you allow him to do, just as the arrows were shot so were the victories and so remember we have ourselves to blame if we decide to settle for less. Remember to cry out and bring all things to God, to follow the instructions that he gives with everything you have and keep doing good, it may save you or others later but do remember that Jesus Loves you always!