Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “If the LORD himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
2 Kings 7:2 (ESV)
In the midst of the siege when the famine was at its worst and there was no longer any hope, the word of the Lord comes from Elisha to announce the dramatic end of the siege and the famine. The end would not be a slow economic and social recovery, but would be see the people of the city returning to a sense of normalcy with the availability and price of food returning to the pre-siege levels in a single day. It’s an amazing announcement and should be a cause for joyful and celebratory hope as they wait for the morning to arrive. Yet, the response of the captain to this prophetic word is one of doubt filled with despair. It wasn’t that the captain doubted that it would happen (which he did), he questioned the ability of the Lord himself to make it happen. His doubt brought into question the power and authority of the Lord to not only fulfill his word but to even make a pronouncement like this. He had lost all hope and faith in the Lord. In the middle of his great despair, he lost sight of the Lord God Almighty and believed only in the strength and wisdom of men.
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