Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Have you ever been between a rock and a hard place? Between the devil and the deep blue sea? Hanging out to dry? If so check out these four guys. They will give you hope.

In 2 kings 7 we read the story of four guys who were lepers. They lived at a time in Israel's history when the Syrians were invading and gobbling up cities and villages like gobstoppers. Syria was on the march to Jerusalem and the population around Jerusalem barricaded themselves behind the walls of the city. The problem for the four lepers in our story is that they were not allowed inside the city because they were considered unclean. All they could do was camp outside the city walls and wait for the inevitable. Of course those who were shut up behind the walls ran out of food and were eating their horses, donkeys and anything else they could find. No animal was safe.

With starvation inside and the Syrian army outside, one of the four guys got an epiphany. He told the others that if they stayed where they were they were going to surely die. If they went and threw themselves on the mercy of the Syrians there was the possibility that they could die there too. Their chances, however, were better with the invaders from his point of view.

What these guys didn't know was the God had already spoken through the prophet Elisha to the king that Israel was going delivered from her enemies. The armies of Syria thought they heard a rustling in the middle of the night. Their imaginations got the best of them. They thought that Israel had hired mercenaries to fight for them. The whole Syrian fled in fear, running from the camp, leaving all of their possessions behind. The thing that I think is great, is that these four men, with no knowledge of what God had said, decided to move from a place of absolute defeat to a place of victory. By taking a huge risk they were actually used by God to herald the joyous news to the city.

The great thing about our Lord is that even when everything seems lost and we seem to be looking at a loose/ loose situation for ourselves. When He makes a promise you can take it to the bank that deliverance is on it's way