by Will Ueland

Sometimes life can be overwhelming. Work can provide tight deadlines, provoking co-workers, or demanding clients. Family can bring with it relationship stresses, health issues, or financial burdens. As I examine my life, and all of the turmoil that it contains, I sometimes ask myself, "Where is the peace of God?" God promises that He is with us always, but it is easy for me to not believe it the moment life becomes tough. Despite having difficulty with recognizing the fact that God is always near in my own life, it is easy to see the contradiction of the Israelites' blindness to the presence of God even after He had continued to show himself to them. God consistently proved Himself to be close to the nation through Elisha by keeping the king of Israel from falling into the hands of the Arameans (2 Kings 6.8-10). Yet as soon as Elisha became encircled by a large army, his servant questioned the protection of the Lord (2 Kings 6.15). Now I can only imagine the things that this servant had seen thus far serving under Elisha, including witnessing the resurrection of a child! And yet, despite all of these miracles and being saved thus far from the Arameans, the servant doubted God's protection the moment things seemed insurmountable. It is so easy for me to condemn this servant's lack of faith, but when I examine my life, I see that the same doubts pop up time after time, even when I'm not encircled by an invading army. My affection can change as quickly as a light switch the moment I feel uncertainty in my life. This uncertainty leads to stress, and even doubts that God will sustain me during this time, or that He's even around! Why do I do that? If I'd just take a moment to reflect on all of the times that God has already provided for me, then I wouldn't have to deal with the stresses and fears that so quickly infiltrate my mind. Just as Elisha physically showed his servant that they were not alone (2 Kings 6. 16-17), I need to continually remind myself of the presence of God.

Upon the capture of the Aramean army through the power of God, the king asked Elisha if they should kill these invaders (2 Kings 6.21). I'm first surprised that the king asked for permission from the prophet to perform this seemingly military decision. I guess my gut reaction would have been that the Aramean's army deserved to be punished for their continual raiding of Israel and threatening of the king, so they should just do it. Can you imagine if America was attacked and the President was being chased around the country by assassins? What do you think would happen to these assassins if they were caught? I'm pretty sure they would not be provided a feast and returned to their homeland! I guess this is why we are to bring all requests before God, because sometimes our gut reactions are very short-sighted. I would have assumed that the Arameans would have just started to raid Israel again, so I would have thought that the better answer would have been to kill the army. However, an act of kindness proved to provide a better answer. No life was lost and the Arameans stopped raiding Israel after being shown this act of kindness (2 Kings 6.23). Today I am going to examine areas of my life that I have not brought before God and ask for His guidance and for Him to reveal Himself to me. I pray that my short-sightedness be lifted, so that I can understand God's plans with respect to these areas.

A fellow traveler,
Will