Good Things To Those Who Beleive

“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.” (2Ki 7:2 AV)

 

Unbelief is a serious thing!  In fact, it is the worst of all sins that will send the sinner to hell.  In Revelation 21:8 we see a list of sins for which the wicked are judged.  Unbelief is listed as one of those sins.  In our passage, a promise came to the King of Israel.  The capital city of Samaria (Northern Jewish Kingdom) was besieged by the Syrians.  Over time, the people were falling to starvation.  Two women came to the king with a dispute between them.  The one explained they had agreed to boil their children and consume them lest they died of starvation.  The first woman complied.  But when it came to the other woman, she would not take the life of her child.  The first woman came to the king thinking he would force the second to murder her own child.  So aghast was the king that he rent his clothes.  At that point, the prophet told the king that at this time tomorrow, there would be so much food and supplies it would be hard to give it away.  Then we read the reaction of one of the lords serving under the king.  To him, the promise was so fantastic as to be unbelievable.  In response, the prophet reveals to this lord he will see the fulfillment of it, but not enjoy the fruits thereof.  Almost like Moses who refused to believe God concerning the water from the rock and was forbidden to enter Canaan.

We know the rest of the story.  The Syrian army fled.  In the middle of the night, they believed they heard the noise of a great army of chariots.  They believed Israel had hired the Hittites and Egyptians to come out against them.  They fled in such haste, they left all their material belongings and victuals behind.  So, what happened to this lord?  Four lepers came upon the spoil and reported back to the city of Samaria of Israel’s good fortune.  After investigating and determining it wasn’t a ruse, the king released the city to fly upon the spoil.  He attempted to organize the process to make it fair and safe and placed this lord over the management of the process.  For people who are starving to death to the point they would turn to cannibalism, there is no orderly fashion when there is food in them there hills.  This poor lord was trampled to death!  He sat in the gate as saw the considerable wealth the lepers had presented, but when the time came to enjoy the fruit of God’s promise, he lost his life.

The basis of God’s blessings is primarily faith.  God requires that we believe Him.  To do otherwise is to insult the very nature and character of God.  I ponder how much we have lost because we do not believe God able or willing to do that which He has promised.  As stated before, belief is essential to salvation.  Those unwilling to believe on Christ for the forgiveness of sin, even when they see heaven while being judged by Christ, will never enjoy it.  This is just my opinion, but I think this is the difference between those saints who experience God’s hand more dramatically or miraculously and those that do not.  Those who lack the courage that faith and belief bring will never place themselves in a position where the LORD will show Himself mighty on their behalf.  “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him….” (2Ch 16:9 AV)  One has to wonder if, at times, we are not that lord who hears what God can do and sees no possible way which it can happen, this cutting himself off from the blessing which he could have enjoyed if he wasn’t so hasty in judgment