2 Kings 7 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

According to God’s perfect yet unfathomable will, He brought the Syrian troops to besiege the capital city of Israel for a number of months which led to such a great famine in Samaria that two women had vowed to eat one another’s sons in order to survive. When the king heard this gruesome report, he flew into a rage against God’s prophet Elisha who had told him to wait upon the Lord in the midst of this great trial. At first, he had hastily given the order to decapitate Elisha for urging him to trust in the Lord rather than settling with the Syrians, but then repented of his decision and sought the counsel of the prophet once more asking him why he should wait any longer given the dire circumstances. It was then, at that desperate moment, that Elisha informed him of a divine reversal that was set to take place on the following morning which would bring plentiful food and other resources which would cost next to nothing. But the king’s captain doubted God’s Word in this matter, saying, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And because he doubted, he would not receive anything good from the Lord.

It’s not often that this unique expression “windows in heaven” is used in Scripture, but when it is, it can refer to either a blessing or a curse, a great mercy or a long-deserved judgment. Moses uses the expression in Genesis 7:11 when God opened the “windows of heaven” to pour forth the torrential rains that would flood the earth. Likewise in Isaiah 24:18, the prophet foretells a day of judgment coming upon all the earth in which the Lord will open the “windows of heaven” in judgment. On the other hand, in Malachi 3:10 the prophet encourages people to trust the Lord in their giving, putting him to the test to see if he will not “open the windows of heaven” for them and pour down a blessing until there is no more need. It is the expectation of this last example that the king’s captain lacks when he doubts that God could ever supply the needs of the city even if He were to open up the very windows of heaven and cause manna to fall from the sky. As an Israelite he ought to know that this had actually happened before every day for forty years.

Of course, in this case, the Lord would not rain down blessings from above but merely plunder the booty of His enemies below by instilling fear into their hearts causing them to leave behind all that Israel would need and more. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think! Today we sometimes we miss out on God’s blessings because we simply don’t ask God for what we need and desire, whereas in other instances we miss out because we don’t think that God can help us in our time of need. Because the situation looks so bleak and hopeless, we simply can’t fathom how the Lord could bring something good out of something so bad and evil. Yes, God could have rained down manna from heaven but instead he chose a different tactic. And surely, that wasn’t the only one at his disposal. In God’s infinite wisdom and power, He could have blessed Israel and met her needs in a wide variety of ways. Truly, He can do abundantly more than all we ask or think. So, whatever it is that you’re facing today, give it over to the Lord in faith and wait upon the Lord to show you that His arm is not as short as you think it is, nor is his ear so dull that he cannot hear your requests. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouting, so give it over to the Lord in praye