It had been a whole week that the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom had been tramping through the desert. Now they discovered that they had run out of water and were defenseless against the armies of Moab. The reactions of the king of Israel and the king of Judah can be very typical of our response when we are caught in similar situations.
The reaction of Joram, king of Israel was to instantly turn and blame the LORD for the situation they were in - although it was not as if they had asked the advice of the LORD in the first place. "What!" exclaimed the king of Israel. "Has the LORD called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab?" (2 Kings 3 v 10) When things don't go as well as we expect they should, do we blame God as our first port of call even though we did not seek his advice earlier?
Jehosophat, the king of Judah, had a more noble reaction. Seeing no way out of his predicament, he turned to the LORD. "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may enquire of the LORD through him?" he asked. (2 Kings 3 v 8) Why did he wait until he could go no further before asking for the LORD's advice? Do we?
Let's not blame God for our problems or use him as a last resort, but seek his guidance first, getting him to show us the right way.
Robert Prins [Auckland - Pakuranga - (NZ)]
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