Israel was brought to their knees and in great desperation. There was a GREAT famine in Samaria and to make things worse, King of Syria took the opportunity to besiege the city. How bad was the famine? It was such a GREAT famine that women had to perform heart wrenching acts of boiling their own children for food (v29). What kind of mother would be willing to feed on their own child?! They were in such desperate need that there was nothing else they knew what to do to survive.

Even the most powerful man of this nation, the king of Israel, King Jehoram had come to his wits end. He was in despair. He was angry with God. His remarks in verse 27 was hopeless and sarcastic, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you?” He had lost all patience in the midst of waiting upon the Lord for help, and he conclusively blamed God in verse 33, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” King Jehoram was at his breaking point and he took it out on prophet Elisha, threatening to take his head because of the state of the nation.

Have you been at a point like this where you can no longer wait on God and decided that it will be better to help yourself? It can be healing from sickness, waiting for an answer to a search, a reconciliation from a broken relationship. You sought after the Lord, you prayed, you read the bible to seek an answer, you did all you could and the situation had not gotten any better. In fact, the reality seem to have gotten worse than before. If you have, it seems like you are not alone in that “waiting room”, there was a king and a mother in there as well.

The waiting room is not a “tekan (punish) you” room, neither is it a “God enjoy seeing his people suffer” room. It is a place where God attempts to draw us to meet Him in intimacy, where we began conversations with Him and pay attention to His Word. Let’s face it, in the waiting room, we find ourselves asking questions about God’s work. We began with questions like “Why Lord?”, “When Lord?”, “How Lord?”, and we kickstart the process of looking for answers in His Word. But it does not end there, it often end off with meeting the character of God and knowing His goodness and greatness. The waiting room forces us to come to the end of ourselves, and we find God at the end of ourselves. The waiting room draws us to seek deeper intimacy with God.

Elisha, unmoved by the king’s anger, told his messenger that “Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel” (v7, 16, 18). Elisha told them that in 24 hours, the siege will be over and all their concerns will come to an end. The messenger did not believe in Elisha. He too thought that the situation was hopeless, and it was impossible to have the situation turn around so quickly.

But nothing was impossible for God. Yahweh God intervened effortlessly by making the army of the Syrians hear chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army. The entire army fled and abandoned the camp and everything that was in it. (v6-7) With just the snap of God’s finger, what was previously a national crisis to man was resolved overnight. Observed who were the first people who came to see God’s greatness and taste His goodness? They were the lepers, the unclean and the least of the people of Israel. Those that were casted away, finding their homes at the gates of the city. God did not use the strong army to announce His victory, God used the least among them to proclaim His good news.

Dear brothers and sisters, our seemingly great problems are never a problem to God to begin with. Our problems were our means to draw close to Him and to experience His power. The faster we come to surrender ourselves to God according to the commands of His Word in our waiting room, the earlier we come to see His goodness and greatness. The earlier we see His nature, the more He expands our capacity to trust in Him. The question remains for us, are we willing to trust and obey Him, even in the waiting room?

Prayer : Dear God, I must confess I hate to be in a position of waiting for your response. The uncertainty is sometimes scary. The pain is sometimes unbearable. I feel vulnerable feeling that I cannot do anything on my own. But God, you are Great and Good, and by faith God, I proclaim my trust in you. I will wait on you. Would you draw me into your presence in the place of waiting please. In Jesus name I pray, amen.