Two impossible situations. Two different responses.
The prophet Elisha was faced with a woman in a difficult situation. The woman’s husband had died, and a huge financial tragedy was looming for her family. Elisha responded to the need by simply asking a question, “What shall I do for you?” (2Kings 4:2). As the story progresses we read about a woman taking a jar of oil, God multiplying this oil, and as she poured out the oil into multiple vessels and sold the oil, her needs were miraculously taken care of.
The king of Israel was faced with a request from the Syrians. The request was a simple one, to heal General Naaman of his leprosy. Simple? Try impossible! And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me” (2 Kings 5:7). The king’s response was a little closer to my typical response to a difficult situation: Yikes! Panic! Yet as the story unfolds, Elisha steps in, God heals Naaman, and once again everything works out.
How could Elisha’s response be so different from the king’s? Elisha knew that the solutions to the impossible weren’t found in Elisha, the solutions are found in a God. Elisha didn’t have to fix anything. Fixing is God’s job. We just have to trust Him. Facing the impossible? How do you respond?
