All the Way!

2 Kings 13:10-19

¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years.

¹¹ He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.

¹² Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

¹³ So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

¹⁴ Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows.

¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on 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 Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.”

¹⁸ And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped.

¹⁹ Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

Mixed into the history of the kings of Israel and Judah we have story after story of God’s pursuit of His people. In today’s reading, the writer of Kings recites the details of yet another opportunity given by God to His people (and more importantly, their leaders) to return to Him and trust Him completely. Once again, they fail. We’ve already been told that Joash was not a godly leader. He followed in the ways of idolatry set out for him by his forefathers and God does not play a big role in his life. But at one point in his reign, he turns to God via Elisha because Aram is breathing down his neck and he faces defeat. God is very gracious to Joash and promises him victory over his enemy. But then, when asked to continue the symbolic actions that would prove to God that he had decided to trust fully in the Lord, he fails to surrender completely. Instead, like always in the past, he gives over just a little bit. He never trusts 100%.

There are probably millions of people around the globe who would tell you that they are Christian because the trust that Jesus died for their sins. And in the strictest definition of the word, they are right. But they trust God with their eternal salvation and nothing more. That seems a bit odd at first, for we are taught that we must trust in God for eternity and that is true. But God also invites us to trust Him with our lives here as well. When given the opportunity to shoot those arrows into the ground, Joash should have emptied his quiver! But instead, he holds a few arrows back, just in case he needs them.

What are we holding back, just in case? Self-reliance is drilled into us from birth on so it is only natural that we would make sure we had the resources available to take care of any given situation. But what if we made a change and went “all in” as they say in poker (so I’ve been told). What if we shot all of our arrows into the ground, emptying our quiver so that we were forced to rely on a holy and all-powerful God instead of ourselves? Frankly, it would be scary. But it would also be exciting and exhilarating. We would get to see God work and there is nothing better than that!