The people of Samaria had hit bottom. They had been besieged by the Arameans for so long that the least desirable types of food and the smallest sources of fuel were considered priceless (II Kings 6:25). Mothers were agreeing with one another to kill and eat their own children – and they wanted the government to enforce such vile contracts (II Kings 6:28-29). And the king blamed Elisha, the prophet of God, for all his problems (II Kings 6:31).
Maybe you can understand how the Israelites felt. Maybe you’re wrestling with a chronic sickness with little hope for improvement. Maybe your family is in fragments and you have no idea how to restore it. Maybe you’ve lost your job or you’re seeing your retirement savings destroyed by inflation. Maybe you look at the hatred rising all around us and the partisan politics that feeds it and you just don’t see how things can get any better. And maybe you blame God for all these problems.
It was into such utter despair that an unexpected message came to the people of Samaria: the siege had been lifted, and the Arameans were gone. But it all sounded too good to be true. The King wondered if the Arameans could have just withdrawn a short distance, lying in wait to capture the desperate Israelites as they poured out of the city, seeking food and water. And after all, the news came from some lepers, ritually unclean social outcasts – not exactly the most reliable sources. Should he take the risk and open the city gates?
And maybe that’s how you feel about the good news of Jesus Christ today. He claims to be your loving Savior, the One Who paid the debt that all your sins deserve. He claims to be your powerful Lord, the One Who rules the world in perfect justice and righteousness. He claims complete control over everyone and everything in the world. And He claims to have broken the power of sin and death, the sources of all your greatest fears.
But it all sounds too good to be true. How can God possibly be all-powerful if the world seems to be so completely out of control? How can God possibly be all-loving when poverty, sickness, hatred and violence stalk our streets? And how can you possibly trust those who bring the message of Christ when they are so unclean, so unholy themselves?
The King’s servants urged him to let them investigate what the lepers had said. After all, they reasoned, they were all as good as dead anyway. Why not risk a few men and horses to check out the news, however impossible it might seem to be (II Kings 7:14)?
Why not indeed? For in reality, the King of Israel and his people had already been liberated from their enemies – but they needed to trust the good news and walk out of the city walls that had become their prison. In the same way, Christ really has risen from the dead, breaking the bonds of sin and death once and for all. Christ really is in charge over all the crazy, chaotic circumstances of our lives. Will we trust Him enough to walk out of the prison doors He has opened? Will we trust Him enough to govern our lives according to His law of love? Will we experience the freedom and peace and justice that He offers to all His people?
The King of Israel told his servants to “Go and see” if the good news could be true (II Kings 7:14). Jesus invited His disciples to “Come and see” what He was all about (John 1:39). Why not take Him up on His offer? For, really, what do we have to lose?
II Kings 7:10-16 (NASB)
10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor the voice of man, only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.”
11 And the gatekeepers called, and told it within the king’s household.
12 Then the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone from the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall capture them alive and get into the city.'”
13 And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let some men take five of the horses which remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send and see.”
14 They took therefore two chariots with horses, and the king sent after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”
15 And they went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment, which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king.
16 So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then 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.
