Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told. Elisha told him, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Elisha laid his own hands on the king’s hands.

Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.”

Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.”  2 Kings 13:15-19

Early in my career, I was a shy and modest.  I was very good at what I did, but at times would be hesitant to raise my hand for things that I knew I was one of the best for.  “Let someone else get the opportunity and the accolades,” I would think to myself. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in retrospect, it probably was not the best thing.  You see, there are times where we will shy away from the spotlight for the wrong reason. For me, it was because I was too modest. I wanted to do something I knew I would be successful at, but because I was worried about what others would think, I shied away from it.  

Today, I’ve continued to be modest but yet supremely confident in my abilities.  It’s as though I understand God gave me gifts to share with the world. I approach opportunities now not for my own glory but instead that God may receive the glory through my efforts.  You could say I have learned to never be shy when God presents an opportunity.

We should always look at opportunities as a chance to glorify God giving everything we have toward it.  I was led to this story of Elisha, who is not a well-known prophet but has amazing stories of how God performed miraculous feats.  Here, he was telling the king of Israel instructions to ensure their victory. The king does the first thing, which was shoot a bow in the air.  Then next, Elisha asked him to strike arrows against the ground. Note that Elisha did not say how many times to strike it into the ground. I focused on the king and the number of times he struck the arrows.  Why only three times knowing that the Lord was with Elisha? Why wouldn’t he continually beat it into the ground? Perhaps he was like me; modest being afraid he was asking for too much or fearful of what huge expectations might happen should he do it too many times.  Whatever the case, three times was clearly not enough from Elisha’s perspective. How often are we too fearful of what God expects of us? Do we limit ourselves by our own expectations and shy away because we, like the king, are too modest in our expectations of God? The point is that we are to as Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”  We do not serve God to be meek before others. Our goal is to be present, willing to take on the smallest tasks and the seemingly impossible feats. This is not for our glory but instead so that others will see what an awesome and powerful God can do in one’s life.

There is nothing that our God cannot handle.  My pastor this weekend asked when Moses got to the Red Sea, did he worry that this would be the end of the journey for the Israelites or did he look with confidence to the God who had freed them from centuries of bondage from the Egyptians?  Sometimes, we focus too much on what we think can be done and not on what God can do. Let us remember to push for what He sees in us and not what the world would tell us. What ambition does God have for you that you are putting off today?  How can you more answer to His calling and not the world’s expectation? My prayer is when God gives us an opportunity, we do as a pastor once said, “And strike, and strike, and strike,” until we can strike no more. Amen.