2 Kings 7:2

"Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof."

The city of Samaria was under siege by the Syrians. The situation was so desperate that 2 Kings 6 relates the agreement between two women to boil and eat their sons in order to make it through two more days. While the first woman kept up her end of the agreement, the second woman hid her son. The first woman appealed to the king concerning the second woman's actions.

Here in chapter 7 God speaks through the prophet Elisha and promises the king that on the very next day there would be more than enough food for the people. It is interesting to note that the prophet himself, a godly man, was there suffering in the same siege! The verse quoted above is the conversation between Elisha and a man upon whose hand the king leaned. His name is not given. But this man lets his imagination run wild with the promise of Elisha, and asks, "If the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?" That was the biggest thing he could think of that God could possbily do. The sobering answer from Elisha is, "You will see it, but you will not eat of it." The story goes on to tell how on that very night God frightened the sieging army such that they ran, leaving everything behind. All of ther food and gold and animals were left behind. And just as Elisha said, all of the city of Samaria had plenty to eat.

In Numbers 11, God promises Moses that He will provide enough meat for the Israelites to eat for a whole month. Moses is astounded. He asks God if they should slaughter all of their animals so that this can be provided. After all, they were in the middle of the wilderness. The only possibility that Moses saw was to do what he suggested. God's answer to Moses is, "Is the arm of the LORD waxed short?" And the story goes on to tell how that God provided quails for the people to eat. His arm was indeed not waxed short.

In Genesis 18 God promises Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son of their own. This is not so fantastic except that Sarah was already 90 years old, and Moses was 100. Sarah wonders at the promise, doubting that it could be possible. God's answer to her is, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" And 9 months later she gave birth.

How big is God? Is there anything that is beyond Him? He who created the awesome universe around us, is He confused, or unsure or unable? Yet we get into a difficult situation and wonder what is going to happen next. Something inside of us says that if God does not deal with the matter in short order He is either unaware, uncaring, or unable. But the above examples make it clear that none of these things are the case. He is fully aware, caring beyond our wildest imaginations, and fully able. So then what is going on? Clearly, God is far superior to us. He has a universe to run and plans to carry out. The plans He has include us. But in order to bring His plans into their full fruition at exactly the right time, we may have to wait. While we wait for God to work out His plans, He is at work in us to make us more like His Son. Even our waiting is used by Him to make His plans come to glorious completion. Romans 8:28 tells us that "... all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." So if we must wait, can we still trust Him?

What about that man in 2 Kings 7? The king put him in charge of crowd control at the gate of the city. In their desire to get the spoils from the enemy's camp, the people trampled this man to death. He saw it, but did not eat of it. And here is the other wonderful truth in these stories. God is good for His word. Samaria had food to eat. The doubting leader didn't get any of it to eat. The Israelites in the desert got enough meat to eat for a month. And Sarah had a son. God is good for His word!

In Job 13:15, Job says "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him ..." God is a great God. We are not fools to trust Him even unto our death. But He needs to teach us to do so. Waiting is part of that teaching process. We need to learn to trust Him at all times. Oh for faith to trust Him more!

HJK