God Speaking

“And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17)

The story of Elisha and his servant boy was always one of my favourite ones when I was a Sunday school teacher, to tell to a group of children. The special effects used in movies of today had nothing on what God could do to show his power and little boys in particular loved the idea of flames pouring out of the chariots and huge horses snorting and rearing to go. They also loved the way Elisha tricked the enemy by asking God to strike them all blind and then to proceed to lead them into the very town of those they wished to destroy. What always struck me, and still does, was the absolute trust Elisha had in the incredible power of God. He expected great things from God. He expected God to bring about miracles. He expected those great accomplishments to bring glory to the Almighty and they did. Have we perhaps forgotten the mighty power of the one we serve? Have we become timid about asking for anything out of the ordinary?

The Psalmists certainly were keenly aware of God’s power,

“Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” (Psalms 147:5)

The psalmists also learnt that the secret to bold prayer is knowing God’s heart and that prayer is the avenue we need to use to unlock that mighty power. The Lord Jesus Christ through his sacrificial death has allowed us to seek the ear of the Father; any barrier between the Creator and us has been destroyed. What an amazing privilege to be able to call upon one whose power has no limit. Sometimes we need to return to childlike trust in prayer to witness how the Lord longs to answer our boldest prayer.

Several years ago when we were living in Australia one of our friends had a little boy suffering from leukemia. His parents lived in the outback of Australia and he had never seen snow and as we lived near one of the few mountains that ever received snow, we had planned a holiday with this family in a cabin on the mountain. We were really disappointed to arrive without any snow in sight. Just before we were putting the children to bed the little boy ran out with his toy dump truck and said to his mother, “I am going to leave this outside tonight as I have asked God to fill it with snow for tomorrow morning” All of us adults were filled with dismay and we were all trying to think of some way to prepare him for disappointment in the morning. Probably God smiled at our lack of trust in him because the next morning our little friend ran straight to the back door and returned with his truck filled with snow. He was not surprised at all and we adults had tears in our eyes and marveled at the mighty power of God.

These beautiful words from the writer of Hebrews fill us with courage to trust the power of God for our own lives and help us to begin praying those bold prayers, expecting to see that power in action.

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 KJV)

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