2 Kings 7 tells about 4 lepers who were sitting outside the gates of Samaria, a city besieged by famine. One day, as they pondered their plight, they decided to do something about their hopeless situation. Willing to take their chances with the enemy who’d surrounded the city, they headed to the Syrian encampment. With hunger driving them beyond their fear of capture and death, they limped toward the military base and right into the middle of a miracle.
In the natural, their steps were likely faltering, given their predicament, but in the spirit, they were majestic. Scripture reveals what the lepers couldn’t see--God’s perspective. God magnified their steps to sound like mighty warriors marching against the Syrians. As evening faded into twilight, the hungry lepers plundered one empty tent after another, feasting on fully prepared meals the Syrians had left behind in their hasty departure and collecting treasure to burry for a later date. While the night grew darker, they accumulated the blessings their faith had led them to.
When our desire for change is greater than our fear of possible problems, then we are more apt to step out in faith…and experience God’s intervention. Our action could be feeble at best, but God can work miracles through the frailest effort. We may not see how he does it; it would likely not make sense to us. But indeed, God will provide the supernatural if we will but take a trembling step that declares our hope in him.
The lepers had trudged the distance in hopes of food. They found that and more at the end of their journey. Faith doesn’t always provide the details of the journey or its outcome, but it does hope for what is not yet completely revealed. Its end result is always more than enough. God’s provision is abundant, above what we ask or think. For the lepers, that realization interrupted their song and dance. The notion that the purpose of excess is to bless others with similar problems remains true. Scripture says we are to comfort others with the comfort that we ourselves have received. What God does to bring joy to our midnight hour becomes a testimony of what He can do for others. The lepers enjoyed their blessing in the night, but by morning, an entire city had been released from the stronghold of famine.
For the lepers starving by the city gate and for our own impossible situations, there awaits a victory for the choice of faith and a blessing that far surpasses the need. It may look like looting enemy military tents and sharing the bounty with an impoverished city. But it will always sound like the testimony of when God came through and we celebrated at midnight.
Tip/Tidbit: A recent testimony prompted this title. I received an answer to a prayer I had believed God would provide in 2017 on the evening of December 31. All year, I had hung on to the hope of a miracle. My hunger had driven me to vulnerability with others, and therein lay the unexpected, a miraculous promise, a prophetic word from God that declared, “I am pushing the cause of the problem out of your body right now.” It was the last day of the year, and somehow, that made it all the sweeter, a drink at the end of a long, dry journey. It was my midnight celebration, my comfort that’s meant to be shared. I hope my testimony encourages you, for if I can receive a word of hope and healing for 2018, so can you.
As you receive God’s blessings this new year, how might you share them with others so that they, too, can benefit from what God has done in your life? What other testimonies have you heard that inspire your faith to receive more from God?
In the natural, their steps were likely faltering, given their predicament, but in the spirit, they were majestic. Scripture reveals what the lepers couldn’t see--God’s perspective. God magnified their steps to sound like mighty warriors marching against the Syrians. As evening faded into twilight, the hungry lepers plundered one empty tent after another, feasting on fully prepared meals the Syrians had left behind in their hasty departure and collecting treasure to burry for a later date. While the night grew darker, they accumulated the blessings their faith had led them to.
When our desire for change is greater than our fear of possible problems, then we are more apt to step out in faith…and experience God’s intervention. Our action could be feeble at best, but God can work miracles through the frailest effort. We may not see how he does it; it would likely not make sense to us. But indeed, God will provide the supernatural if we will but take a trembling step that declares our hope in him.
The lepers had trudged the distance in hopes of food. They found that and more at the end of their journey. Faith doesn’t always provide the details of the journey or its outcome, but it does hope for what is not yet completely revealed. Its end result is always more than enough. God’s provision is abundant, above what we ask or think. For the lepers, that realization interrupted their song and dance. The notion that the purpose of excess is to bless others with similar problems remains true. Scripture says we are to comfort others with the comfort that we ourselves have received. What God does to bring joy to our midnight hour becomes a testimony of what He can do for others. The lepers enjoyed their blessing in the night, but by morning, an entire city had been released from the stronghold of famine.
For the lepers starving by the city gate and for our own impossible situations, there awaits a victory for the choice of faith and a blessing that far surpasses the need. It may look like looting enemy military tents and sharing the bounty with an impoverished city. But it will always sound like the testimony of when God came through and we celebrated at midnight.
Tip/Tidbit: A recent testimony prompted this title. I received an answer to a prayer I had believed God would provide in 2017 on the evening of December 31. All year, I had hung on to the hope of a miracle. My hunger had driven me to vulnerability with others, and therein lay the unexpected, a miraculous promise, a prophetic word from God that declared, “I am pushing the cause of the problem out of your body right now.” It was the last day of the year, and somehow, that made it all the sweeter, a drink at the end of a long, dry journey. It was my midnight celebration, my comfort that’s meant to be shared. I hope my testimony encourages you, for if I can receive a word of hope and healing for 2018, so can you.
As you receive God’s blessings this new year, how might you share them with others so that they, too, can benefit from what God has done in your life? What other testimonies have you heard that inspire your faith to receive more from God?
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