Leash Your Unbelief.

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!” – 2Kgs. 7:2 NIV

Leash Your Unbelief_17012021

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The king of Israel had just sworn to kill Prophet Elisha if he was to lay his hands on him. This was because it was Elisha that advised him to feast and allow the army of the king of Aram to leave when he was presented with an opportunity to wipe them out. More so, Elisha was Israel’s prophet at the time and so should be able to explain why they will get to that stage and he does not have any divine solution to a problem the king was convinced had the approval of the Almighty God – 2Kgs. 6:8-33. Both reactions can still be seen as that of someone who believed in the ability of God to protect His people with the only limitation being his reliance on man that Elijah is, to serve as the intermediary. That was however not unusual then, as it was the norm to get God’s opinion at those times through the Prophets.

Prophet Elisha however disregarded the emotional outburst of the king of Israel as he set to reverse the situation by seeking the Lord on behalf of the Israelites. He indeed got a solution as he came back to make a prophetic declaration that the economic situation will make a complete and positive turn around within 24hrs – 2Kgs. 7:1. So the king was right after all, to be furious with Elisha because, anyone who knew and  acknowledged this spiritual ability of Elisha will probably react worse wondering why he did not intercede earlier, but he did eventually intercede and hope of a better tomorrow was delivered. Everyone probably believed except a highly placed officer in the King’s palace who made the comment that is the foundation scripture for today’s devotion. He was so sure about the impossibility of such a declaration coming to pass that he actually spoke heresy. His reaction to the declaration of Prophet Elisha can be summarised as follows:

1. He concluded that such an economic turn around could never happen by what he probably felt was the mere pronouncement of a man like Prophet Elisha.
2. He could not see the Almighty God, even in all His greatness, being able to pull off such great feat, as even the opening of the floodgates of heaven, which in his own opinion was the best the Almighty God could do, would not be able to resolve the challenge that the famine presented, at least not that quickly.

It turned out that he was wrong as indeed the kingdom of Israel witnessed that promised economic turn around but not before Prophet Elisha had reacted to his comments. The Prophet asserted his statement about what was going to happen within 24hrs but just that the highly placed official of the king in reference will witness it but will not benefit from it. He had gotten himself into a mess for not keeping his unbelief on a leash. It may be acceptable under such circumstances, not to believe, but what will never be acceptable  was for the unbelief to be expressed at all, more especially in the manner that tended to undermined and ridicule the greatness of the Almighty God.

There are so many Christians today who have been rendered  psychological and emotional wrecks due to the long standing experience that seemed to have remained a permanent feature of their lives. They have been under this negative situation for so long that they have come to accept it as the norm. For some, it may not be the length of time of which the unwanted situation has been in occurrence but their personal assessment of the situation makes them feel it is bigger than any solution that they may know or can imagine. In both situations, the victims would have accepted the situation as their faith and so begin to adjust with plans on how to live with the negative situation. As much as one may not want to blame such people, it is very important to emphasise that such unbelief should be kept on a leash and not allowed to get into the zone of doubting the ability of the Almighty God, as such unleashed unbelief is what will produce the kind of comment that the official made while reacting to the pronouncement of Prophet Elisha. With the Almighty God, all things, yes! All things are possible. Do not allow your assessment and over-rating of your situation lead you into pronouncing heresies as the repercussion could be similar to that of the senior official of the king of Israel.

Unbelief may be bad enough but ridiculing and maligning the reputation of the Almighty God cannot and will never go unpunished. Many today will remain in their situation not only because of unbelief but also because of the disrespect they allow their unbelief to bring to the reputation of the Almighty God.

Consider what you stand to lose with your unbelief and make a choice to believe. Those comments made in expressing your unbelief could just be why everyone that is your colleague seem to be enjoying the blessing, whilst you are being trampled upon and are spiritually, if not physically dead. A Prophet Elisha may not need to react to your unbelief as all those comments made in the secret are open before the Lord whose reputation you are maligning, and the subsequent punishment could just be what you are witnessing or experiencing in your life. Make up your mind to believe today or at the least keep your unbelief on a leash. You may just be on your way to experiencing that long awaited miracle. May that will be your testimony very soon in Jesus name. Amen.