2 Kings 13:15-19: a reflection

15Elisha said to him, “Take bow and arrows;” and he took bow and arrows for himself. 16He said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow;” and he put his hand on it. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. 17He said, “Open the window eastward;” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” and he shot. He said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you will strike the Syrians in Aphek until you have consumed them.” 18He said, “Take the arrows;” and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground;” and he struck three times, and stopped. 19The man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, but now you will strike Syria just three times.”

In one of the stranger scenes in Scripture, the dying prophet Elisha has King Joash shoot an arrow out the window as a sign of victory over Aram, and then tells him to strike the ground with the arrows. The king strikes three times and stops. And Elisha is angry: You should have struck five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram completely, but now you will strike it only three times. The king's halfhearted, half-measure response limited the very victory God was offering.

Notice what limited the blessing: not God's unwillingness, but the king's stopping short. He struck three times and quit, when he could have kept striking. There was no reason to stop; he simply did not press on, did not give it his full, persistent effort, and the incomplete effort brought an incomplete result. What was offered in fullness was received only in part, because the king did the minimum and stopped.

There is a challenge here, sobering if we take it seriously. God sometimes invites more than we lay hold of, and our halfhearted, minimal, stop-short responses can leave real blessing on the table. Where the king could have struck five or six times, he struck three and quit. Do not stop short in what God invites you to, in prayer, in seeking him, in pursuing what he has set before you. Where he invites wholehearted, persistent engagement, do not settle for the minimum and stop. Strike five or six times. Do not leave in the ground the blessing he was ready to give in full.

Lord, the king struck the ground three times and stopped, and his half-measure limited the victory you were offering. Keep me from stopping short in what you invite me to, in prayer, in seeking you, in pursuing your purposes. Where you invite wholehearted, persistent engagement, help me not to settle for the minimum and quit. Let me not leave in the ground the fullness you are ready to give. Give me a heart that presses on.