It's fun reading these chapters because Dan & Louie tell so many stories from these pages. Dan and Louie tell Bible stories to kids. I've been listening to them since I was about 5 years old...and STILL love them (and listen to them, lol)!
Anyway, I want to focus on how strategic God is. We really get to see this in chapters 6 and 7. I want to mainly talk about Chapter 6. Starting in vs 8 we read about the King of Aram's contempt towards the Kind of Israel and the Prophet Elisha. The King of Aram sends a portion of his army to capture Elisha. What does God do? He sends a portion of His fiery army to protect Elisha! I get so excited reading vs 16-19 because after the Arameans tried capturing Elisha, they were struck with blindness and Elisha led them right into the middle of Samaria where the King of Israel and his army were! But instead of killing them all, God told the King to feed them.
Because the King obeyed and fed the Arameans, it says the army of Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory (vs 23.).
How cool! This reminds me of what Jesus instructed in the New Testament--to love your enemies and do good to those that curse you (Luke 6:27). The King wanted to kill the Arameans, but God knew it would be better to show this mercy to them instead. As a result of this mercy, the raiding stopped for a time. God knows the best strategy for living our lives, even if it seems like His way doesn't make sense...which I'm sure for the King of Israel, feasting with his enemies didn't make sense. But the outcome from this was far better I'm sure than if he were to have killed them all...which would have made more sense. Having a strategy means also that God is intentional about being involved in our lives.
God has a strategy, a plan, for your life. Sometimes it doesn't make sense but trust that He always knows best and knows what will happen. He is intentionally investing into your life. Hold on to His word and direction even if you, or others, don't understand or see the point of it. He will bring you through and it will be the best outcome because He has your back and desires good things for you (Psalm 84:11)!
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