When Holding Back Hinders

According to your faith be it done to you. 

(Matthew 9:29b)

“Hey, babe!” 

His voice echoed through the living room. I stopped what I was doing and peered around the wall to see my husband leaning in from the porch. 

“ You wouldn’t believe the amount of pollen coating the porch! I went to spray my feet and the water turned lime green as it hit the concrete.”

“Oh wow, lime green? That is crazy!”

I should have known in that moment that I would be in for a rough couple of months, considering my past with allergens. I was still in denial when I started seeing symptoms, convinced it would pass after a few weeks. It was not until month two and a visit to urgent care that I knew this sickness was not going to break easily. 

The doctor diagnosed an upper respiratory infection. Regret settled as I waited to receive my prescription at the pharmacy drive-through. A bright-eyed woman with blonde hair opened the window. She handed me antibiotics while instructing me on the use instructions. 

Her last directive was firm, “Make sure you finish the pills even if you begin to feel better."

Most antibiotics require taking the entire course of medication to ensure the disease-causing bacteria are all killed and unable to reproduce within the patient’s body, allowing the infection to return. Full healing required perseverance and a persistent fight.

We see a similar need for persistence in 2 Kings 13:14-19. The King of Israel, Joash, cries to Elisha on his deathbed. Elisha was a prophet and miracle worker who served as Israel’s main connection to God and His wisdom. Joash seems to be concerned with Israel's ability to overcome their enemies without Elisha's guidance when he cries out, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”. This was the very phrase Elisha spoke to Elijah when he was to be taken into heaven in 2 Kings 2:12.

Considering this, I don’t doubt compassion moved Elisha when he instructed Joash to shoot an arrow eastward as a declaration of victory over Syria. He then instructed him to take his arrows and strike the ground with them. Joash struck three times and then stopped, resulting in Elisha’s anger. 

When I first read this, I wondered why Elisha was angry, he didn’t say how many times to strike the ground. But when we read on, we see that the number of strikes indicated the number of wars Joash would win against the Syrians. This was not just an impromptu archery session, it was a test of faith. 

• How badly did Joash want to be free from the oppression of the Syrians? 

• Did he believe that God could or would come through for Israel? 

• Was he willing to show his faith by persevering in his actions? 

  
  

With these words, Elisha scolds Joash’s lack of zeal, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

God does not need us to accomplish His will. But in His wisdom, He allows us to participate in receiving blessings and breakthrough. We see this pattern when Jesus heals the two blind men and when He heals the man at the pool.  

How many of us stop short of receiving God’s full blessing because we give up the fight?

Like Joash, we can easily become settled in our circumstances. We proclaim that we want them to change, but maybe it is the uncomfortable things within us that need to be addressed first. Some steps of faith stretch us, but others shake us to our core. They require hard work and vulnerability in the areas we least desire. Those parts of ourselves we have buried deep and unconsciously declared off limits.

Whether it is a mistake you have let define you, an uncontrollable habit, a difficult relationship, or any other number of situational walls guarding your freedom in Christ. It hurts to dig up these dead parts of ourselves. But let me encourage you friend, Christ raises the dead. 

God wants to redefine who we are at the very core of our being. He wants to shatter all self-proclaimed limits and give us a life of limitless possibility in Christ. This means leaving behind all our old thought patterns, all the things about ourselves we thought were true. We have to dig deep below a lifetime of disappointment and immovable circumstances and believe that God is powerful enough to do a new thing. 

 I will show you my faith by my works. 

(James 2:18b)

Sometimes he heals, but sometimes he asks us to move. So let's move in faith. Let's keep moving even when it’s hard, when it doesn’t make sense, when we don’t feel capable, and even when we have doubt. Choosing to walk in faith until we have made an end of it. 

Some battles are fought for years before the war ends. But with God by our side, there is no doubt that there will be victory. 

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 

( 2 Corinthians 10:4 )

Remember to prioritize firsthand Bible reading every day, only the Word has the power to transform. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV