007 in Dothan
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Fidelity
007 in Dothan
by Mike Benson
A frustrated sovereign
Scripture describes it as attempted guerilla
warfare. Ben-hadad tried to carry out a series of
assaults against the citizens of Israel (2 Kings
6:8). "Tried" is the operative word, because every
time the king of Syria sent out a war party in
ambush, he found enemy troops inexplicably
guarding the camp he had intended to capture (vv.
8-10). The inspired text says this happened "not
just once or twice" (NKJV), but that Ben-hadad's
plans were foiled repeatedly.
The monarch came to the conclusion that there was
either (a) a spy, or at the very least, (b) an
intelligence leak within his own war cabinet.
Somebody was obviously "feeding" Jehoram -- his
Israelite counterpart -- information, so he
summoned his military counsel together in an
effort to expose the traitor (vv. 11-12). Ben-
hadad inquired, "Will you not show me which of us
is for the king of Israel?" (v. 11b).
As it turned out, no one from Syria had disclosed
the king's plans. The informant was actually
Elisha -- the prophet from Israel -- in HIS
Majesty's secret service. Like a character from a
James Bond movie, the man of God had a divine
"surveillance camera" (cf. Proverbs 5:21; 15:3;
Zechariah 4:10) in the king's bedchamber and was
therefore privy to his most secret conversations
(v. 12). Every strategy concocted within Ben-
hadad's heart was revealed to Elisha by God who,
in turn, conveyed such to the Israelite king in
Samaria.
Armed with this new information, Ben-hadad turned
his attention away from attacking a nation to
capturing an individual (v. 13). Think of a deck
of 52 playing cards, not with photographs of
various high-ranking Iraqi officials, but with
Elisha's face on every single card! The Syrian
ruler sent a large force to surround the city of
Dothan under the cover of darkness (a village
about 12 Roman miles north of Samaria -- cf.
Genesis 37:17) and apprehend Elisha (vv. 14-15).
A fretful servant
Early the next morning, Elisha's servant awakened
and discovered the Syrians entrenched about the
city (v. 15). He seemed to have known that the
soldiers had come for his lord and cried out in
fear, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" (cf.
Exodus 14:10-14). Like American forces searching
for Saddam Hussein, the army had located the great
prophet and was under orders to take him prisoner
(v. 14).
Elisha knew that a very great danger existed, but
he also knew something of the militia arrayed in
his defense. He calmly told his servant, "Do not
fear, for those who are with us are more than
those who are with them" (v. 16). That may have
sounded reassuring, but at that particular moment,
no allied troops could be seen in the vicinity.
Elisha then prayed that his servant's eyes might
be opened (v. 17). The prophet's prayer was
immediately answered, and suddenly his aide beheld
a massive, heavenly detachment of horses and
chariots of fire (v. 17b; cf. Exodus 3:2; Numbers
22:22-31)! This was a vision of deliverance!
A faithful saint
Consider for a moment the servant's pitiful cry,
"Alas ... what shall we do?" You can almost hear
the alarm in his voice, can't you? He could only
see an imminent attack; he could only see the
problem. Brethren, we must strenuously guard
against a similar mentality in the church today.
Despondency sees only the multitude amassed
against us, and fails to consider the Divine host
that is marshaled on our behalf. The Bible says,
"... If God is for us, who can be against us?"
(Romans 8:31b). Do we really believe that ...?
Our problem is in the perception of the physical
instead of the sight of the spiritual. It's not
that we lack sufficient funds, or manpower, or
space, but VISION! We need to stop thinking about
what we can't do and get a glimpse of what God can
do through us (Philippians 4:13)! The New
Testament teaches, "While we do not look at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are
NOT seen ..." (2 Corinthians 4:18a; emphasis
mine-mb). "For we walk by faith, NOT by sight" (2
Corinthians 5:7; emphasis mine, mb).
Years ago, a grade-school class was told to go
home and count the stars in the sky as part of
their science lesson. Students came back with
wildly dissimilar answers. One child said, "A
couple of hundred," another said, "Ten thousand,"
while yet another offered, "One million." Finally,
the teacher asked one little boy who had not yet
spoken up. "How many stars did you count?" she
inquired. The boy replied, "Three." "Only three?!"
the teacher exclaimed. "How did you only see
three?" He said, "I guess we just have a small
backyard."
Beloved, let me humbly, but forcefully suggest
that we need a big backyard today; we need a great
vision -- one that is worthy of the "King of kings
and Lord of lords." I'm not thinking in terms of
some miraculous manifestation (cf. 1 Corinthians
13:8-10; Ephesians 4:11-13); I'm talking about
faith and focus. The eye of faith sees Divine
presence, whereas the eye of fear sees desperate
problems. God is on our side and He's never lost a
single battle! Amen?! Once we come to terms with
that truth, we'll stop wringing our hands in doubt
and start using them in fervent and devoted
service (Hebrews 12:2).
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