A Red-Hot Cry

I want to begin a series of meditations that take us into the ministry of the prophet Elisha, where we see his powerful interventions, which the Word of God has given us to strengthen our faith in a God of power, a God of mercy, a God who intervenes on behalf of His children when they cry out to Him.

The first passage I have in mind is the familiar account of Elisha’s encounter with a widow who asks him for help after her husband has died. This woman approaches the prophet Elisha, and the Bible says that this daughter of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor has come to take my two sons as servants.”

This woman approaches the prophet Elisha with a very urgent situation. She has just been widowed, and her husband, who was a man of God, has left her no financial resources of any kind, while the creditors are at the door to take away her two sons.

I like the word Scripture uses here: this woman “cried out” to Elisha. This passage reminds us that when we are in difficult situations, instead of looking for solutions at random or seeking them in our own resources, what we must do is go directly to the Lord—represented in this case by the prophet Elisha—and cry out to Him and present our needs to Him.

Incidentally, the apostle Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known.” Again and again, Scripture calls us to come into the Presence of the Lord and, instead of being worried, anxious, and full of fear, to go directly to our Heavenly Father, who in fact invites us, as Scripture also tells us, to approach the Throne of Grace with confidence to receive timely help.

The believer’s instinctive response when faced with difficult situations should be, first of all, to go to the Heavenly Father and lay the process they are going through before the Lord, asking Him to sanctify that process and become involved in providing a solution.

After we have presented our needs to the Lord and bathed our urgent situation in prayer, we can then set about finding solutions, believing that our prayer will have brought blessing and activated the Power of God on our behalf, and that what we then do to resolve our situation will have the wind of God’s blessing, approval, and support behind us and will indeed bring us safely into port.

I also like the idea that this crying out, that word “cried out,” implies a passionate, urgent, forceful plea, marked by strength and persistence. I imagine this woman did not come before Elisha all timid and vague, or imprecise in presenting her request, because she knew she did not have much time; an audience with the great prophet of God was probably very difficult to obtain. She knew she had little time to present her situation and win his heart, and she had to be strong, she had to be clear, she had to be resolute, she had to be passionate, she had to make the urgency of her need clear to the prophet. That is why the word “cried out” is so important.

For we must come before God with a resolute heart, with our requests clearly formulated; as far as possible, we must state clearly what we need God to do for us. Not because God does not know what we need, but because He delights in those who approach Him with confidence and firmness and present their requests to Him in detail, specifically, letting Him know exactly what they need. God likes passionate requests.

I think of King Hezekiah’s plea when he was told that he was going to die, and the prophet said to Hezekiah: not only are you going to die, but you are not going to live. In other words, there is no possible appeal, and the message is clear: put your affairs in order because you are going to die soon.

And the Bible says that King Hezekiah, who was in bed on his deathbed, turned toward the wall when the prophet left, wept bitterly before God, and appealed to the Lord, reminding Him that he had been a faithful servant of God. And the Word says that—I believe it was the same prophet Elisha, incidentally—he was already crossing the palace courtyard when God told him: Go back and tell King Hezekiah that I am going to add, I think it was, fifteen years to his life. And He gave him a decisive sign that this was what He was going to do. Let us remember how the sunlight moved backward as a sign of God’s absolute intention to honor this king’s bitter plea that God lengthen his life—a king who had been a servant of God.

What made the difference, I believe, was that bitter cry of Hezekiah’s. And when we, too, find ourselves in difficult situations in our lives, let us go before the Lord and pour out our souls before God, because God honors heartfelt requests, passionate requests, intense requests from the heart. For some reason, that moves the Father’s heart and unleashes His powerful intervention.

So if you have a need in your life, bring your cry to that white-hot pitch and send it toward the Throne of Grace, and you will receive the timely help God promises you. God bless you; we will continue our meditation in our next session.