No way out – what to do?
Series: Holy – Holy – Holy | Bible text: 2 Chronicles 20:15
We observe the different behaviour of two kings who find themselves in an almost hopeless situation. Can we learn something from them?
We have probably all experienced moments and situations in which we hardly knew what to do. It was exasperating. For some, such moments only last a short time, but for you they last a long time. You have a bigger problem – and others complain about little things. Some experience God’s help, but you don’t, although you are closer to God than many others! I find it interesting that we meet people in the Bible again and again who suddenly bump into something in life and look for a way out, unsettled.
Today I would like to contrast two kings from the people of Israel who both had to deal with hopeless situations in a warlike conflict.
King Jehoshaphat of Judah (Israel was divided into two regions at that time: the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel). Jehoshaphat is threatened one day by two and a half huge armies: the Moabites and Ammonites and a third, smaller army of Edomites. «There is a big crowd coming«Jehoshaphat is told. He is overcome by great fear. Justified, because his smaller army would have no chance against this enormous superiority!
We understand the fears when children of God are at the end of a seemingly hopeless situation. Fear cannot simply be suppressed. What does King Jehoshaphat do in his fear? He prays! A commendable solution, especially on today’s Day of Prayer! His next step is also worthy of imitation: he needs community and has a fast proclaimed throughout Judah. He seeks help. «From all the cities of the land the people flocked together to seek the LORD, even from all the cities of Judah.» (2 Chronicles 20:4 NLB). Jehoshaphat wants to seek God with them. He is to tell them what to do. Only HE can help us in this extraordinary emergency.
That is the best thing that can happen to you in your distress: to have people by your side who seek God together with you, who turn to God. That is worth its weight in gold! In the new courtyard of the house of the Lord, Jehoshaphat stands before the people and prays a long prayer, concluding with the following confession: «We ourselves can do nothing against this huge army that is coming against us. We no longer see a way out, but we trust in you»(2 Chronicles 20:12 Hfa). We also need to hear the following sentence: «All the people of Judah, with all the men, women and children, stood before the LORD.»(2 Chronicles 20:13 NLB). Amazing!
Change of scene: We deal with the second king in distress: King Joram of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Ben Hadad, the king of the Arameans, goes up to Samaria, the capital of the Israelites, with his huge army and lays siege to it. Samaria has now been surrounded for weeks or even longer. Hunger increases and food becomes more and more expensive! In 2 Kings 6 we read that a donkey’s head cost 80 pieces of silver, although there is not much meat on it! And a handful of dove dung (which means something barely edible) cost 5 pieces of silver. When King Joram is once again on the lookout on the city wall, he is shouted at by a woman: «Help me, my lord and king!» The king returns: «If the Lord does not help you, what can I do? I have neither food nor wine»(2 Kings 6:27 NLB). When the king hears from the woman that she has already become a cannibal from hunger together with another woman, King Joram tears his robe and shouts: «God shall kill me if I do not have Elisha the son of Shaphat beheaded this very day»(2 Kings 6:31 NLB).
We observe the following about King Joram in the impasse: He is no longer himself. He tears his clothes and shows himself in the undergarment of sackcloth. He can no longer be king. He evades responsibility. He abandons the woman. He has a mad rage against God. And because he cannot punish God so easily, Elisha, the prophet, has to take the rap. He pronounces the worst curse a man can let out: «God damn me if I don’t cut Elisha’s head off today.»
What do you do when you have a grudge against God? Cancel your church attendance? Throw the Bible into the waste paper? Take your anger out on others? King Joram actually goes to Elisha with an officer. As you do in tense moments, you change the subject!
Back to King Jehoshaphat of Judah. In the midst of the common prayer time in the temple courtyard, the Spirit of God speaks to the Levite Jahaziel. He receives a message for the people of Judah: «Hear, O king Jehoshaphat, and also ye people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD to you: Do not be afraid and do not lose heart in the face of this vast army, for it is not you who are fighting this battle, but God.» (2 Chronicles 20:15 NLB). In other words: «You just have to be there and you can watch. Do not be afraid. The Lord is with you.» They kneel down and worship God together! To this, a group of Levites sings loud resounding songs of praise. Singing and dressed in festive clothes, the Levite group goes into battle the next morning at the head of the army. «Give thanks to the LORD, for his mercy endures forever.»(2 Chronicles 20:21 NLB) they sing continuously. The war, which was not a war, is quickly recounted: First the Ammonites and Moabites get into a fight with the third army of the Edomites and bash each other’s heads in. Then the same thing happens between the Ammonites and Moabites. They murder each other – until no one is left. For the Judeans, only one thing remains: to collect booty. They get so much that it takes them three days to distribute it! The joy is enormous. They enter Jerusalem at home rejoicing and praising.
King Joram of Israel is on his way to Elisha to vent his anger on him. Elisha sits at home with the elders of the city and prophesies to them that now the king, together with an officer, will soon come to kill him. No sooner said than Joram is there and scolds: «The LORD has brought this calamity upon us! Why should I hope in the Lord any longer?» (2Kings 6:33 NLB). Why, why… Why does he ask Elisha and not put the question to God, e.g. like the Korahites in Psalm 42: «Why have you forsaken me and why must everything be so dark around me and I suffer the violence of my enemies?»(Psalm 42:10 NLB). Elisha brings light into this darkness with a prophetic word: «Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: Tomorrow at this time in the gate of Samaria five kilos of wheat flour or ten kilos of barley grain will be for sale for one silver piece.»(2 Kings 7:1 GNB).
The officer accompanying the king doubts «This is impossible even if the Lord were to make windows into heaven!» Elisa’s answer: «You’ll see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any more of it!«What happens next begins with four lepers who are forced to stay outside the city gate. One of them asks: «Shall we just stay here until we die? Or do we go into the city and die there because of the famine? But we could also go to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we stay alive. If they kill us, we die there. When they go to sleep, they make their way to the camp of the Arameans and find that the army camp is completely deserted. How did this happen? God spread the noise of war with his ingenious sound system so that all the Arameans heard it without exception. They then thought that Israel had received reinforcements from at least two sides, the Egyptians and the Hittites. They are frightened and run headlong, leaving everything where it is. The four lepers go into the first tent and fill their bellies first. The four of them have a leper party! Then they collect silver, gold and clothes, hide them in their shelter and go to the next tent. Before they get there, they say to themselves: «Come on, the others need to know too. We’ll go into town and tell everyone».
The night watchmen wake the king and inform everyone. But Joram doubts: It’s a trap! The Arameans are waiting in hiding until we leave the city and then they can surprise us. The king sends two wagons with horses to scout, but in vain: no Arameans far and wide! Now the people are unstoppable. At the city gate there is such a crush that the king’s officer is trampled to death, just as Elisha had promised him. Full and enriched, the people return and indeed: In the gate of Samaria, five kilos of wheat flour could be bought for one silver piece, or ten kilos of barley grains for the same price!
People in a hopeless situation. Two kings in a hopeless situation, one prays, believes and does something. The other gives up, does nothing; stands completely helpless on the city wall and has nothing to say. Joram started well as king and destroyed the temple of Baal and the altar of Baal. But he stuck to other gods and did many things that were not pleasing to God. Two kings who could not be more different, but both reigning in God’s divided people. Two kings who, with their subjects, are extras in two extraordinary wars! Two kings who miraculously experience God’s grace and mercy. Give thanks to the Lord, for his mercy endures forever! Should we say that one deserved it and the other received it undeservedly? That would be a stupid, completely false statement. No matter how good you are, how hard you try or how hard you try to be a decent person. As far as following Jesus is concerned, you can’t earn anything. You cannot do enough good deeds to tip the scales in your favour. You cannot earn his help in hopeless situations. Have you ever experienced God showing you a way out of a hopeless situation? Opened a door for you that you never expected? Without you having prayed for it? Or the opposite: You prayed yourself hoarse, but God did not show you a solution. But in retrospect, you can gratefully say that God spoke to you through this trial.
«My thoughts – says the Lord – are not to be measured by your thoughts and my possibilities are not to be measured by your possibilities. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so far do my thoughts reach beyond anything you think up, and so far do my possibilities surpass anything you think possible.»(Isaiah 55:8–9 GNB).
Amen
Possible questions for the small group
Read the Bible text: Luke 15:11–32
- List people from the Bible who were suddenly in a hopeless situation.
- How can you deal with fears that rob you of sleep? (Experiences)
- What do you find more or less easy in a difficult situation? Ranked from 1 – 3: being close to God / praying / sharing hardship with others
- Have you ever been angry with God? How did that manifest itself for you?
- What does it do to you that the «unspiritual» Joram experiences the same help from God as the «pious» Jehoshaphat?
- Why are observing and comparing among us Christians sometimes so clingy?
