The Bible Edge
Random Thoughts of a Spiritual Nature II
II Kings 13:18
And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice and stayed.
Elisha was sick unto death; Joash, king of Israel came to see him one more time. The king treated Elijah, the man of God, honorably. Elisha used a bow and arrow to pronounce the prophecy that Israel would defeat the Syrians, Israel's sworn enemy. Elijah told Joash to take the arrows and smite the ground, which Joash did. He took those arrows, struck the ground three times, and stopped. Elijah then became upset and pronounced that Joash should have struck the ground five or six times instead of just three. Furthermore, he said that because of this lack of complete obedience, Israel would only smite Syria three times instead of utterly defeating them.
Today it seems that there are believers in Christ that are just like Joash. They begin well, but do not continue well. They read the commandments that Christ gave to his disciples, and they began to obey them, but all too soon they quit. We can learn something from Joash's encounter with Elijah which is this: continue to obey until the Lord makes an end.
Once, to illustrate this truth, I brought a pinata into the service and asked several church members to hit the pinata to get the candy out. Everyone that was called on only hit the pinata once. Then I called a hungry preacher boy that was enrolled in college, and he started beating the pinata continually until the candy finally spilled out. I had not told them to only hit the pinata once they just assumed that they only had one crack at it.
The lesson is this, never stop until the job is done. Continue to obey until Christ says stop or until he gives the victory.
Amen, and Amen!
William T. Howe, Ph.D.
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