21. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?" 22. "Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master." 23. So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.
Elisha calls for blindness on the troops and then adds insult to injury. One man leads them into the capital city of Samaria where the total forces of Israel are staying. The man brings them before the king and their eyes are opened. They realize they are captured.
"Shall I kill them?", The king asks. God's angels are stronger than metal swords and spears, as well as tanks, nuclear weapons, and radar computers.
It was not God’s will to kill them, only to show them His compassion. They ate and were allowed to return to their home. They had no more problems after that. Such kindness was as throwing burning coals on their heads. Mercy was shown to the enemy. God did His work His way with His timing. Kindness paid off.
Chuck Colson in a Christianity Today article talked of the persecution of the church. Not so much the physical dangers that our third world brothers and sister face, but the prejudice Christians here might face in our culture. The values of the Bible are considered offensive by various aberrant groups publicized in the media. Christians are attacked by homosexuals, abortionists, feminists, secularists, evolutionists, and many schools of higher learning. TV and movie scripts portray believers as hypocrites, oafs, and imbeciles. All the while the public cries there is no place for religion in the secular world. It should be restricted only to the places of worship and kept among those who already follow their faith. School prayer is banned, kids in public school sex-education classes are taught about alternative lifestyles, the use of condoms, safe sex. It is open season for Christian bashing.
What do we do? Being kind to those who treat us unkindly is the instruction Jesus gives to us in His Sermon on the Mount. To bless those who despitefully use us. It is not the same as showing defense or even standing up for our rights. It is not the same as to be kept quiet from the truth. It is to show kindness.
Colson reminds us that Christians have encountered hostility from a secular culture throughout the ages.
Aram and his forces are long gone, so are Nero and Herod and their empires, but the light of the gospel continues to shine brightly today. It is a light as seen by our brothers and sisters from the persecuted churches that cannot be extinguished. How else can we explain that happened when only the Church was the significant opposition to atheistic communistic rule despite persecution? Who won? "Not by might, but by my spirit says the Lord."
God's forces are winning, they are heavenly forces. They make themselves occasionally evident, but most commonly continue with the shroud of mystery and invisibility. But the victory is the Lord’s. He works amidst our folly, our fears, our faith, and our friendliness.
Application: Don't fight God. Don't fear but have faith. He is in charge.
