Crossroads

Make this valley full of ditches. ~ 2 Kings 3:16

After reading the Bible and spending time with people, I’ve discovered that we all have something in common: we all come to a crossroads at some point—or many points—in our lives. I’m not talking about salvation, but a point in which we must all choose whose way we will follow: His or ours. Will we follow the direction that God leads us or will we follow our own counsel? In reading this, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Of course I’ll follow God’s direction.” But what happens when His way seems strange, out of the norm, and totally in the opposite direction of where you thought He was leading you. What then? In 2 Kings 3, three kings were on their way to defeat the Moabites, as they felt God leading them to do, but they were out of water, they were tired, and frankly they were ready to throw in the towel. When God sent Elisha to speak to them, he told them, “Make this valley full of ditches.” Now, if I’m dying of thirst and in need of shelter and rest, the last thing I’m going to want to do is labor harder than I’ve been. But that’s what God called them to do.

What is God telling you to do? In what areas of your life are you working really hard, feel like you are getting nowhere with nothing to show for it and are ready to throw in the towel? Is God telling you to dig ditches, dig in a little deeper, go a little further, give more than you think you have, trust more than you’ve ever done before? Are you at a crossroads? If so, which way are you going to go and in whose counsel will you trust?

But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. ~ 2 Kings 3:24