2 Kings 7:2 (NKJV) So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
At the time of this passage, Israel was facing a war with the Syrians and a famine. Elisha prophesied that the cost of living would be lowered the next day. However, the officer was doubtful about Elisha’s word because the famine was so severe that it was unthinkable and incomprehensible in his mind to believe that there could be a turnaround of the situation. It was very difficult for him to believe the word of Elisha when everything that he was seeing and experiencing was telling him it was impossible.
Today, we also need to be careful of people who cause us to doubt God. There is something called the crab mentality. If there is only one crab in the bucket, it can well escape, but if there are fifteen to twenty crabs in one bucket, none will be able to because whenever one crab attempts to crawl out, the other crabs will find a way to put it back into the bucket. The crab mentality is that nobody gets out. Similarly, there will always be a group of people who likes to discourage someone from doing greater things or having a breakthrough mentality. Therefore, if we really want to do something great and if we truly believe in it, we need to shut off these negative and pessimistic people who will attempt to discourage us.
This officer ridiculed the possibility of God’s promise coming to pass just when Elisha spoke the good news to develop faith in the people. Like the officer, many of us also struggle with having faith because we are too used to seeing is believing. While we do not deny facts and figures, we must not allow the natural circumstances to affect our faith. What the officer and the people of Israel couldn’t see after Elisha had given the word was that God was working behind the scenes to get the promise to come to pass. God would act if He had given them a promise that the famine would end the next day. In this case, God caused great fear to enter the camp of the Syrians, and for them to hear sounds of chariots so that the Syrians fled thinking that Israel had joined forces with the Hittites and Egyptians to come against them.
God will act in the spiritual and natural realms to ensure that His promise will come to pass. Although we might not be able to see in the supernatural or even natural regarding the works of God, He is working on delivering His promise to us. Therefore, do not entertain doubt!
Sermon Series: Step Out!
螃蟹心态
列王记下7:2“有一个搀扶王的军长对神人说：“即便耶和华使天开了窗户，也不能有这事。”以利沙说：“你必亲眼看见，却不得吃。”
经文所记之时，以色列正面临着与叙利亚的一次战争并有一场饥荒。以利沙预言生活费用在次日就会降低。然而，这位军官对以利沙的话表示怀疑，因为饥荒太严重了，他难以想象并且无法理解，不相信情况会发生逆转。以利沙的话令他难以置信，因为他所看到和经历的一切都告诉他这是不可能的。
今天，我们也需要提放那些让我们对上帝产生怀疑的人。有一种心态被称为螃蟹心态。如果桶中只有一个螃蟹，它满可以逃脱，但如果有十五到二十只螃蟹在同一个桶里，没有一只能够逃脱，因为每当一只螃蟹试图爬出去，其他螃蟹总有办法把它拉回水桶里。螃蟹心态就是“谁也别想出去”。同样，总会有一群人喜欢对寻求做更大的事或怀有突破之心志的人泼冷水。因此，如果我们真的想做一些伟大的事情，并且真心相信这点，我们需要避开那些负面和悲观的人，他们会试图打击我们的信心。
当以利沙传达这个好消息来培养人们的信心时，这位军官却在嘲笑上帝应许实现的可能性。像这位军官一样，我们许多人也经历到信心的挣扎，因为我们太习惯于“眼见为实”。虽然我们不否认事实和数据，但我们不能让自然环境影响我们的信心。在以利沙给了这个应许之后，军官和以色列人所看不见的是上帝正在为了实现这个应许而在幕后运作。如果上帝已经应许饥荒会于次日结束，祂就会行动。在这个例子中，上帝让极大的恐惧降临到叙利亚人的营地，并使他们听到战车的声音，以至于叙利亚人以为以色列已经与赫人和埃及人联合来对抗他们而慌忙逃跑。
上帝会在属灵和自然的领域中行动，以确保祂的应许实现。虽然我们可能无法在超自然甚或自然界中看见上帝的作为，但祂正在做工来履行对我们的应许。因此，请不要怀疑！
讲章系列：信心跨越！
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