And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “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.”
– 2 Kings 13:18–19
Let me give you a little context behind what we just read. This is right before Elisha dies and he is with the King of Israel and they’re talking about battle with the nation of Syria. And Elisha has said, “You are going to experience victory from the Lord over Syria until you’ve made an end of them.” But then, he says, “Strike the ground with these arrows.”
Then the king strikes the ground three times but then stops. And Elisha said, “Why did you stop? If you had struck the ground just a few more times, then you would’ve experienced complete victory. But you stopped short.”
2 Kings 13:18–19 calls us to embrace God’s call until the end.
And there’s a lot more I could explain about the context here. But that picture of stopping short, of doing all that God calls us to do ,is what I want to lead us to pray according to today.
And I just want to ask you, are there any ways that you are stopping short of doing all that God has called you to do? Because this is a temptation for all of us to do part of what God is calling us to do. But just think right now in your life and let’s pray and ask God to show us anything in our lives that God is calling us to do, that we are not doing.
Oh God, please open our eyes to this. Right now, we pray, we ask for this. God, we want our lives to be wholly pleasing to you. We want to experience fullness in you. We want to experience all the joy, and peace, and life that you’ve called us to live. So we don’t want to stop short. So we’re asking you, God, please help each of us to see, even just starting with one thing, oh God, that you’re calling us to do, that we have not been doing.
2 Kings 13:18–19 challenges us to obey without hesitation.
And God, we pray that you’d help us to obey you today to do that thing today. God, help us not to wait, or waver, or hesitate. God help us to do that thing. And then, God, the next thing, anything, everything you’re calling us to do. Oh God, we praise you for the life, and joy, and peace, and victory in Jesus you’ve made possible for us.
God, we don’t want to stop short of experiencing all that you have for us. So God, please keep us from compromising, from stopping short in any way. And God, even as we pray this, we think about your commission to us to make disciples of all the nations.
And God, as your church, we just confess, we have stopped short of doing all you’ve called us to do with billions of people in the world who have little to no knowledge of the gospel right now, who’ve not heard the gospel from a Christian who loves them, can share the gospel with them a follower of Jesus who’s making you known to them. God, we pray that you would help us to do all that you’re calling us to do in each of our lives, to play the part you’re calling us to play in spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Prayer for the Malhar Koli People
Lord, we want to play one part today in interceding for the Malhar Koli people of India for 350,000 Malhar Koli Hindus. God, we intercede right now, we pray, we press in, pray for them that the Malar, Koli people of India would be reached with the gospel, that you would raise up labors to go to them, that if you want us to be the labors you would send us to them, you’d use our resources to get the gospel to them. God help us, help us to do all that you’re calling us to do to reach all the nations with your love and all that you’re calling us to do in every facet of our lives. We pray this in light of your Word in 2 Kings 13:18. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
