CLICK THE LINK FOR THE VIDEO VERSION: https://youtu.be/mB59xwujaXo

Hello My Friends,

The title of today’s episode is: “STRIKE THE GROUND”

II KGS 13:14-19 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.  15 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. 16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands. 17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. 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. 19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

In the Word, all the different kings that were over Israel and Judah it lists their names and says they did evil in the sight of the Lord, or they did good in the sight of the Lord.  Every time they did evil, God removed his protection, and they ended up in war, being defeated in war, being taken captive…bad things happened.

In this passage I just read, they had been under the rule of someone who did evil in the sight of the Lord. The Syrian army had all but wiped them out.

Elisha was on his death bed when King Joash came to him to pay respect to the prophet.  He was concerned with the pending battles with Syria.  Elisha told him to open a window eastward and to shoot an arrow. This was a prophetic act; he was saying we are going to strike the enemy with your bow and arrow.  Elisha placed his hand on the kings to signify that he could not do it alone but needed God’s anointing. It wasn’t that the king couldn’t have shot the arrow alone. He was a warrior and had used a bow many times. But in order to win the battles ahead he needed God’s hand covering his.

Then in another prophetic act Elisha told Joash to take his arrows and smite upon the ground. Joash hit the ground three times and then stopped. Elisha was upset with him because he stopped. He told him he should have hit the ground five or six times, and it would have completely wiped out the enemy.

Some say the king stopped because he had sympathy for his enemy. I tend to lean to the other explanation, he was King, and used to people bowing to him.  He had to be a little arrogant and felt it unnecessary to humble himself and be obedient. He half-heartedly hit the ground three times, probably out of respect for Elisha and nothing else. Maybe he didn’t understand the significance of his prophetic act. Because he was not enthusiastic about the task he was given by God, he didn’t completely defeat his enemy.  We have to be enthusiastic about the things God asks of us.  We have to do them with all our hearts.

Verse twenty-five, of the same Chapter says that three times he went against the Syrians and three times he recovered the cities of Israel.  Just imagine if he had been more obedient.  What would have happened if had hit the ground with enthusiasm and many times? Elisha says that he would have destroyed the enemy.

After he went against Syria three times and recovered the cities of Israel the tide turned once again under the reign of Jeroboam II.

Take this to heart, we need to take control of things when we are strong. Because if we don’t the enemy will come back when we are weak and defeat us.  Each generation has a responsibility to the next to overcome generational curses or it will continue to be passed along to the next generation.

Learn from the kings of Israel and do what is right in the sight of the Lord. Tear down the idols and places of idol worship from past generations. Never be too proud to look silly if God tells you to strike the ground with arrows; it could be significant to the future.

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS