2 Kings 6:12-22                                        The Work of Prayer

We haven’t looked into the Old Testament recently, so I wanted to this week. I looked at these verses because I recently read what John MacArthur wrote in his Our Sufficiency in Christ, “…a widespread lack of confidence in Christ’s sufficiency is threatening the contemporary church.” Too many Christians don’t see an immediate resolution to their prayers, or they see a resolution that is different than they wanted, and in either case, they see God as lacking in response to their needs. As we read through this chapter, we can see that the greatness of God’s power, knowledge, and sovereignty is the dominate feature.

As we read, we can notice that other than Elisha, no other character is named. To me this says my focus as I work through these verses should be on God. As I do this I see three things we can learn about God and how he deals with our troubles.

First, our God is omniscient, that is, God knows all things; past, present and future. In our story, God knew what the Aram king wanted to do, and what he was doing. Verse 12, “Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

God knows when someone wants to come against you. God knows when the deceiver is going to send something to cause you trouble. But as we read the rest of this chapter, we can see that before anything or anyone confronts us, God has a solution.

Now before we go any farther, we need to understand something. God knowing all also applies to us. If we are loving spouses here, but back home we are rude and uncaring; God knows. God knows and we are foolish to think we can hide anything from him. He knows our words, our actions, and our secrets. But God doesn’t know all so he can bring you trouble, he brings help. James writes about how we should approach troubles, James 1:15, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault…”

Second, our God is omnipotent. No matter how big or how small your problem, God can handle it. Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan tells of a woman who asked, “Dr Morgan, do you think we should pray about little things, or just the big problems?” “Madam,” he replied, “can you think of anything in your life that is big to God?” God spoke the universe into existence, nothing we ask is too big for God. God created the atoms and molecules, nothing we ask is too small for God to be concerned with.

As we read farther, we might be tempted to say, “Great for Elisha, but things don’t work that way for me.” And this gives us our third lesson about God; God is sovereign, and he protects his own, according to his will.

Here we see God immediately solving Elisha’s problem, but there’s an important little fact here we shouldn’t miss; Verse 13, “(Elisha) is in Dothan.” What’s so important about the town of Dothan? Dothan is the same town Joseph went to to find his brothers, and we know it’s there that his brothers sold Joseph to a caravan heading to Egypt. We all know the story, Joseph spent years as a slave and prisoner, but ultimately rose to be second only to the pharaoh.

Our readings verse 17, “Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” And in Genesis 50:20, Joseph tells his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done.” What is important about the town of Dothan? It teaches us that sometimes God does answer your prayers immediately, and sometimes God makes you wait because it serves his purpose. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t care, it just means God has a plan, a plan that serves his kingdom.

In our reading Elisha and his servant could see the army of God around them, preparing to do battle for them. Joseph, he didn’t see any army around him. And even though he spent years in agony, he knew God was sovereign and directing his circumstances. For us, whether God fixes things now or later, our responsibility in faith is to acknowledge he is God, and he is in control.

As we’ve seen before, Elisha’s servant is another unnamed person, so therefore, he can stand in our place. Elisha’s servant saw the enemy soldiers and was afraid, they were his reality. We can be like this man. We determine our reality by our senses. If it can be seen or touched, if we can hear or smell it, it must be real. The reality this man didn’t recognize is that God and his army was there with him ready to battle for him. What we don’t always recognize is God and his army is around us ready to come to our aid, ready to do battle for us.

 Verse 17, “And Elisha prayed…” Verse 18, “Elisha prayed to the Lord…” Whether now or later, Elisha shows that it is through prayer that God works for us.

Let’s look at the results of Elisha’s prayers; the servant’s eyes were opened. The soldier’s eyes were closed and then later reopened. Elisha’s prayer was not for he or his servant to do something they knew how to do, nor to use some ability they already possessed. Elisha prayed for God to do something, to do something that was humanly impossible. I don’t pray, “God, give me time to paint the house,” that is entirely in my control to arrange the time. When I pray, I pray, “God, open their minds and hearts to the cross,” because that is something I cannot do, only God can do that.

The last thing I saw is in relation to the Aram army, their eyes were closed, then God opened them after they were surrounded by the Israeli army. And then, when they could all be killed, Elisha called for them to be fed a great feast. Sometimes God will humble the self-confident sinner. God will let them walk into trouble. He will let them become powerless and spiritually impotent. Only then will God open their eyes to their desperate situation. And instead of destroying them, instead of sentencing the sinner to hell, God offers Christ’s salvation. God offers heavens banquet table through Christ Jesus. Like the soldiers could have been killed but were shown gracious mercy. We could be condemned to hell but are shown God’s mercy and grace.

I’ve said many times that the Old Testament shows us how God interacts with us and his plan for our sin. Today’s reading is an example of that. Today we see God is our all-sufficient resource in times of trouble. God knows who and what will come against you, and he already has a plan for your benefit. God will protect and help you according to his plan. But he will wait to act until we give honest prayer. And whether he fixes the issue now or later, he is God and he is in control.

We are shown that the reality of what we see and hear may not be the reality God sees. Through Elisha’s servant we can understand that the reality we perceive is nothing compared to the spiritual reality of God.

And last, the greatest thing God does for us, the greatest thing for us to know, is though we may not deserve his grace and mercy, that is exactly what God offers us.

God bless you all,

Amen.