DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

"Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face….And Elisha said to him, 'Take a bow and some arrows.' So he took himself a bow and some arrows. ...Then he said, 'Take the arrows'; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, 'Strike the ground'; so he struck three times and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, ''You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.' " (II Kings 13:14-15. 18-19).

I must admit that this story has always puzzled me. How should Joash know how man times he was supposed to strike the ground with arrows? It seems that even the prophet Elisha did not know since he said, "five or six times." Should Joash have struck the ground 100 times? How would he know since the man of God did not explicitly tell him? It seems that Elisha's anger was unwarranted. It just doesn't make sense to me.

My puzzlement is compounded by the fact that Joash defeated Syria three times and recaptured the cities of Israel before he died (vs. 25). How many more times did he need to defeat Syria?

I still don't have an answer to my question, "How much is enough." I don't know. I do know that I have at times asked the Lord, "How much do you expect of me?" What I believe is that God wants all of me.

I also remember what God said He required: 'What does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes…." (Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Micah 6:8). If I seem overzealous for the Lords, it is because He deserves all of me. Partial devotion and obedience is not enough. Half or ¾ is not enough. After all, He gave His all for me when He died on the cross and is worthy of everything I could ever do. I would rather err on the side of "too much."

Love, Dad