5/17/2011 5:43:33 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time
Focus: He made a great
mistake
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 13:15-19
Message of the verses: “15
Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows." So he took a bow
and arrows. 16 Then he said to the king
of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." And he put his hand on it,
then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. 17 He said, "Open the window toward the
east," and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot!" And he shot.
And he said, "The LORD’S arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over
Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed
them." 18 Then he said, "Take
the arrows," and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel,
"Strike the ground," and he struck it three times and stopped.
19 So the man of God was angry with him
and said, "You should have struck five or six times, then you would have
struck Aram until you would have will a destroyed
it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.’”
Jehoash
went to the very sick prophet Elisha to find out what he was to do in order to
defeat Syria and Elisha instructed him to shoot an arrow into the sky, which
represented God’s victory. The king did
this, but then he made a great mistake when Elisha told him to strike the
ground with the remaining arrows. The
king did this but only three times and this angered Elisha, for he wanted the
king to strike the ground five or six times to insure complete victory over
Syria. Jehoash’s faith was ignorant
faith and therefore he did not realize that he needed to strike the ground more
than three times. To this error Dr.
Wiersbe writes the following: “It isn’t enough
for us simply to know God’s will and
obey it, as important as that is, but we should also understand God’s will and ways (Eph. 5:17; Ps. 103:7). The commandments and acts of God reveal to us
the character of God if our spiritual eyes are open (Eph. 1:17-20). This is how we understand the ways of God and
how better to serve Him, and this is how the Lord increases our faith.”
Eph. 5:17 “So then do not be foolish,
but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
Ps. 103:7 “He made known His ways to
Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.”
Eph. 1:17-20 “17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the
knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope
of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints, 19 and what is the surpassing
greatness of His power toward us who believe These are in accordance with the
working of the strength of His might 20
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and
seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: After reading this my thoughts are in the
form of a question as to how many times I would have struck the ground with the
arrows. I guess the point in all of this
is that the king should have realized that it was the will of the Lord for him
to strike the ground more than three times with the arrows. I am sure that there are times in my life
when I do not follow all of the will for my life that the Lord has revealed to
me and so I miss understanding more about the character of my God and thus miss
ways of serving Him better. These are
very sobering thoughts for me this morning.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Seek to better understand the will of God for my
life so that I can better serve Him.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
3.
Realize the battle that I am in and therefore put on
the full armor of God.
4.
Give myself to the Lord this day for worship and for
service.
5.
Seek the Holy Spirit to search my heart for
unconfessed sins so that I may confess them to the Lord.
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