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2 Kings 7:1-2 Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD.  This is what the LORD says:  About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”  The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”  “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

As I pondered on these verses and read through the account of this familiar event in this chapter of Scripture, I felt challenged to assess the extent of my own faith and trust in God’s Word.  Elisha had a clear message of hope from the LORD himself for the starving besieged inhabitants of Samaria as they felt so defeated and helpless at the mercy of the all-powerful Aramean [Syrian] army surrounding their city and cutting off their supplies.

I thought of the words of a song I’ve sung often: “I will trust my Saviour, Jesus, when my darkest doubts befall; trust him when to simply trust him seems the hardest thing of all.  Jesus, only Jesus, help me trust you more and more; Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever yours.”  I really identify with the phrase, “trust him when to simply trust him seems the hardest thing of all”.  I can’t always be sure of what God’s plan and will are for my future circumstances, but I must confess that there are times and situations when my fallen, ‘science’-influenced mind puts a limit on just what he can do!  Yes, I’m too often just like the “officer on whose arm the king was leaning” – and as I read on I find that he suffered for his lack of trust in God’s Word, just as Elisha had warned (verse 17).

There are many circumstances, in my own life and in the lives of friends and loved ones, when my own very ‘logical’ calculations don’t align with the Sovereign Lord’s mysterious providence, and I sing with much feeling, “I will trust my Saviour, Jesus, when my darkest doubts befall; trust him when to simply trust him seems the hardest thing of all.  Jesus, only Jesus, help me trust you more and more; Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever yours” – especially the two words, “help me”!  The  ‘officer’ thought it was scientifically impossible for Elisha’s prediction to come true … and he suffered the consequences.  Gracious, Sovereign Lord, please protect me from my sin-affected mind!

– Bruce Christian