Continuing our series on Elisha, Man of Miracles. You can read the first post, Borrow Not a Few here and the second one, A Little Chamber on the Wall here!

Elisha. This guy, let me be respectful, this prophet of God, learned from the best. Elijah was his mentor, his teacher, the one who he would brag to others, “…taught me everything I know!” He learned from the best.

But as we will find out in this story, and I love it about these two, they both had a bit of an attitude, and it will make you chuckle at how they used it.

First off, there are three kings who want to take on the Moabites: Jehoshaphat, king over Judah, Jehoram, son of Ahab and Jezebel, who was king over Israel, and a “representative” for the kingdom of Edom. We see earlier in the chapter there was no actual king in Edom at this time.

They assume this will be an easy victory. Who wouldn’t have confidence in three against one?!

As they journey through the dry desert region of Edom, disaster strikes. They run out of water for their animals and themselves. This is not going to be good. You cannot win a battle without water!

“So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched on that roundabout route seven days; and there was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them. And the king of Israel said, ‘Alas! For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.’”

Remember Jehoram was the son of the wicked King Ahab and his “even-more-wicked-there-should-be-a-movie-about-her”, Jezebel, whose name today is synonymous for evil. Jehoram remembers what happened to his parents when the judgment of God was poured out on them and he is certain that the fate of the three kings is impending doom.

“But Jehoshaphat said, ‘Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?’ So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, ‘Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.’ And Jehoshaphat said, ‘The word of the LORD is with him.’ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.”

Elisha “just happens” to be in the area. No! This is a divine appointment by the hand of God! They were examples to them and reminders to us of our need for God today.

Here’s where it gets good. Elisha comes, but appears reluctant. As a matter of fact, he even pokes fun at the kings! This reminds us of a time that the prophet Elijah challenged 450 prophets and worshipers of the “god” Baal to see whose god was “bigger”. Elijah had a bit of an attitude in that story when he tells them to get two bulls. He will sacrifice one; they kill the other on an altar with trenches all around it. Whichever God answers by fire is who they will ALL serve.

Then he begins to taunt them a little. They had already been calling on their god for hours with no results. No fire under the sacrifice. Nothing was even beginning to get warm.

If you enjoy the Bible at all (and we should!) you have to be amused at some of the things Elijah says to them:

• Cry louder, maybe he can’t hear!

• Maybe he is meditating.

• Perhaps he is busy.

• Maybe he has gone on a journey.

• He could be sleeping and you need to awaken him!

Of course Elijah’s God answers with fire and consumes everything on the altar!

Elisha, perhaps, had also borrowed a little of Elijah’s humor:

“Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.’ But the king of Israel said to him, ‘No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.’ And Elisha said, ‘As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you, nor see you. But now bring me a musician.’ Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.”

Elisha is basically saying he will only help because of Jehoshaphat, the only one of the three who had any respect for the God of Elisha. Otherwise, “…go on back to your own gods and see what they can do for you!”

Then, as a little side note, he asks for a musician to play for him. This was not unusual then as a prophet or man of God would sometimes ask for a minstrel to play for them, as did David for Saul, when they wanted to hear from God. It is the same for us today. We might turn on praise and worship music as we pray to take us into the presence of the Lord. As we worship, the Spirit of the Lord will come upon us as it did for the prophets so many thousands of years ago!

As the musician plays for Elisha, he hears from the Lord regarding the situation of the three kings.

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’ For thus says the LORD: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’ And this is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.”

Dig ditches???

I am sure the kings were expecting God to just send water down from heaven and relieve their animals and refresh the men preparing for battle. But no, God wanted them to put their faith into action. “You dig the ditches; I will send the water to fill the trenches!”

According to what Elisha said, there would be no wind, no rain, and no dramatic storm that would bring the water that was needed. He just said that God would fill the trenches!!

Not only that, he said it was a simple matter, another version says, “…it is but a little thing…”

This is coming from the same God who parted the Red Sea! To Him it IS but a little thing!

God was going to send the blessing but they had to provide the faith by digging the trenches. Surely they were exasperated at the thought since they had been without water, been traveling in the desert for seven days and near exhaustion. But God did not ask them to do something they were not capable of doing. The blessing was on the way and they needed to prepare for the overflow!!

Will we put aside our own desires in order to make sure the miracle can come?

What about our titles? Just because they were kings didn’t mean they were not to be involved in the digging. Jehoram, Jehoshaphat and the “king” from Edom had to be a part of the miracle too. Better yet, they were CHOSEN to be a part of God’s plan!

“Now it happened in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that suddenly water came by way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.”

A flash flood! If they had not dug the ditches and formed those trenches, then the water would have completely passed them by! But simply because they obeyed the man of God, those ditches were completely filled and provided all they needed to sustain them through to the end of the battle.

The God of Elisha not only sent the much-needed water, He gave them complete victory over the Moabites! The enemy saw the water, but with the reflection of the sun it looked like blood to them so they assumed the three kings had turned on each other! “Moab…to the spoil!” Thinking it was theirs for the taking they walked right into disaster and the battle was quickly over.

Just as He had promised, He delivered.

Is the Lord asking you to dig a ditch? To exhibit your faith and step out of the boat? You can trust Him! He will not ask YOU to do something you are not equipped to do. And as a result of your obedience, the victory will come! He will confuse the enemy and the battle will be over. God will fight for you! This is but a little thing to Him!

And here we find the Church today…right in the middle of the Endtime…no matter your view on the timing of the coming of the Lord, we can surely agree that the Bible and our newspaper are matching up more and more every day. The Lord WILL return for His people and we must be ready. We must proclaim His Word and spread the Gospel at every opportunity. We must dig the trenches for Endtime revival to come!

God left US here for this purpose. We are the prophets and messengers of this last day; let us not be afraid to stand up for Truth. He has equipped us with the Holy Spirit, all we need to make sure we can endure this battle and come out victorious!

If the Lord asks you to dig a ditch, count it all joy and grab that shovel. He is about to send a flood!

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