"The God of Impossibilities! -1"

A weekly Devotional" by Gbile Akanni

And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver…

Then Elisha said, hear ye the Word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said; Behold, if the Lord will make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold thou shall see it with thine eyes, but shall not eat thereof.

And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate; and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city and we shall die there: and if we sit here we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us we shall but die.

And they rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horse, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel had hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the king of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.

And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, we do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace; if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us; now, therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household.

So they came and called unto the porter of the city; and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was not man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tent as they were. And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's house within.

And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants. I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed :)and let us send and see. They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste.

And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.” 

2 Kings 6:24-25 and 7:1-16 KJV

There was a time in the history of the children of Israel (when Elisha was the prophet), that the Syrians began to oppress them to the extent of the deplorable condition we read in 2Kings Chapter 6 verse 25. There was such a severe famine in the land that people began to kill and eat their children. This is only a brief background to the story in 2 Kings Chapter 7 verses 1-16, which is the primary passage for our consideration. Ordinarily, the Syrians and indeed all the then nations of the world combined together would never have been a match for the nation of Israel who were God's covenant people. But backsliding and sin brought this terrible condition of defeat upon them. The presence of God that used to go with them to fight their battles had folded up.

“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight except their Rock has sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?”Deut.32:30 KJV

But when it was time, God arose in His own wisdom to deal with that situation.
This can apply to families and individuals as well. Sin brings a lot of woes and agonies. It leaves people vulnerable to perpetual bruising by their enemies.
However, it does not matter how terrible, how tight, how devastating, and how far the devil has already gone with your life, when God decides to solve the problem. He has a thousand and one ways to do it. Even when there seems to be no possibilities and all doors seem to be closed, no hindrance, no hurdle, nothing can stop Him. He is God. He said,

“...I am the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?”Jer.32:27 KJV

God can turn around situations that look hopeless. When the king of Samaria saw the helpless situation of his people, he decided to turn to God. He went to Elisha the prophet of God. As the king was approaching, Elisha only needed to turn to God, and receive a word … he began to prophesy and said,

“....Thus saith the Lord, tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.”2 Kings 7:1 KJV

That seemed impossible from the look of things. Remember, there had been famine: there was no rain, so there was no food; everything had been dry for several months. And it was at that point that Elisha came up with such a prophecy. Even the officer on whose hands the king leaned could not help but opened his mouth, and seemingly said,

“Excuse me, don't cajole us, we are not small babies. Don't use psychology on us; even if all the heavens became windows, and God decided that through the windows He would be dropping food, how can it be? Don't cajole us, don't excite us.”

And Elisha, by the Spirit of God said, “in fact you shall see it with your eyes but you shall not eat of it.”

Note what happened to that man because of unbelief! Unbelief will make some people perpetually poor in their lives. Over the years you might have been subjected to torments, as you go through hardships and problems in your life. You could even have become addicted and accustomed to difficulties. Problems have become your companions. You have so learnt to relate with austerity and difficulty that you have decided to be psychologically satisfied with it. It is sad to say that hardships, problems and adversities have a way of adapting a man's mental attitude until in his mind he is no longer capable of seeing anything good. It was Solomon that said:

“Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad…”Eccl.7:7 KJV

But that notwithstanding, when God comes to intervene, it does not take any effort for Him to turn situations around. If the Lord decides and says, “By this time tomorrow your destiny will change,” it will definitely change. What it takes God to change a situation is not more than a Word from His mouth.