2 Kings 13:18–19: “Then [Elisha] said, ‘Take the arrows’; so [Joash king of Israel] took them. And he said to the king of Israel, ‘Strike the ground’; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, ‘You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it. But now you will strike Syria only three times.’”

August 7th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Up to this point, Joash the king of Israel (not to be confused with Joash the king of Judah) had done only what Elisha asked of him, but now Elisha wanted to test the king’s faith. Elisha carefully told him in verse 17 that persistency was going to be needed against their enemy, Syria. So he instructed the king to strike the ground, but did not tell him exactly how many times to do it. The point was the king shouldn’t do only what the prophet said, but should have faith in God himself. Elisha was very confident that God would help them against the enemy, but was the king of Israel?

The application here is that we can’t make it on someone else’s faith or relationship with the Lord. The king, without being told how many times, chose to strike the ground 3 times. This both disappointed and angered the prophet. Because the king only had a little faith and didn’t expect anything great, the results would be small and below what God could have done. Consequently, they won only 3 small victories against the Syrians, and it led to a mediocre spiritual life for Israel under King Joash. The legacy of this king was a so-so, average, run-of-the-mill life. He could have become a great king if he had trusted the Lord, but he never fully lived for God. This makes us ask the question: What about us? Is our faith great and wholehearted for the Lord, or is it only mediocre? How will our children, both spiritually and physically, see our walk with God? What legacy will we leave them?

“LORD, make us the men and women of God that You desire us to be. We want to ‘strike the ground’ over and over again for Your kingdom.”