Embracing God's Hope At Hard Times

2 Kings 7:2 – “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”

These are the words of the officer to prophet Elisha. What was the officer actually trying to mean? He was trying to say to Elisha, it is impossible. What you are saying is impossible and can never happen. He goes on to elucidate the level of impossibility. And he says, look even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, what you say will not happen.

The words of the officer echo the hopelessness he was going through. Utter hopelessness! No way my situation can change. No way I am going to see a better future. It is impossible!

Are you going through a similar hopeless situation today? Do you say it is impossible for a miracle to take place?

Let us see what is the context here.

2 Kings 6:25: There was a severe famine in Samaria. The Syrians had besieged Samaria; nothing was available now in Samaria. The famine was so severe that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.

A shekel is worth about 15 gm of silver. So just to buy a donkey’s head, you need 750 gm of silver. Moreover, no one would dare eat a dove’s dung. But the famine was so severe that people wouldn’t mind eating that. But even that was unaffordable. The price of just one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings was worth 75 gm of silver. Would you give 75 gm of silver to buy just a quarter of dove’s droppings?

And as you read further, you find some heart-breaking events taking place.

Vs 28-29: Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.”

The situation was so pathetic that a mother who begot a child was willing to boil and eat him. Will a mother ever do that? Imagine the extent of famine in Samaria!

This was the hopeless situation the entire nation was going through. Day by day, death was only coming closer to them. Parents might have watched their little ones dying before their eyes due to lack of food. Desperate need everywhere… distressing and horrendous!

At this juncture, the king of Samaria seeks to kill prophet Elisha. The king believed that God was responsible for this situation in the nation. So in his anger, he wanted to kill Elisha.

When the king’s messengers arrive, Elisha proclaims God’s word.

2 kings 7:1 - Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.

Elisha foretells a miracle that would end the famine.

There are three things about this foretold miracle that amazes me.

1. a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel

Consider the enormity of blessings. Eighty shekels for a donkey’s head and five shekels for one-fourth of a dove’s droppings… now in contrast just a shekel for a seah of fine flour and a shekel for two seahs of barley

Normally when a famine situation changes, the prices will come down little by little. Food products will become increasingly available day by day.

But here, the prophet speaks of a drastic change, which was not just hard to believe, but rather impossible to believer. Therefore the officer exclaims, “Look, even if theLord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”

2. Tomorrow….

The second amazing thing is that the timing of the miracle. Totally unbelievable! The miracle would take place and will take place tomorrow.

In the first place, it was hard to believe that a miracle of such an enormous scale would occur. Now, when it is said this miracle would take place tomorrow, it was even more difficult to believe. Had Elisha said the miracle would take place next year, everyone would have but believed. Perhaps if he said the miracle would take place next month, someone would have dared to believe. But he says, tomorrow. How can such a great miracle take place in such a short span? Impossible!

There is generally a human calculation to when a particular thing can take place. And many times, we want God to go by our timing. Here the officer would have calculated. For this situation to change, it would take a minimum of this period. By tomorrow, impossible! And he articulates his thoughts, “Look, even if theLord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”