How many times have you asked God to work a miracle on your behalf? Not just on your behalf, but in your schedule and in your way? You don’t just want any miracle, but the miracle you devised and planned!
If you are like most of us, you will have to admit that this happens pretty often. We pray for healing and then tell God how to accomplish the recovery. We pray for success, telling him what we consider successful. We ask God to make our dreams and hopes come to pass using our standard of measure and our plan for tackling the problem.
We tend to forget that believing God for a miracle means we can trust him for the how, when, and why.
In 2 Kings 3, there is a story that is not often studied. It is a story about three kings heading to war. The kings were from Judah, Israel, and Edom and had banded together to fight against the Moabites. There was only one problem, during the seven days of traveling to meet the Moabite army, they had found no water to quench the thirst of the advancing army. They found no streams, rivers, or wells. The situation looked mighty serious for the advancing troops and their animals as they were all getting pretty thirsty. They needed a miracle, a life-sustaining miracle. One that would provide them with the necessary water to hydrate all the troops and the horses. Rain would have been the miracle they needed or maybe a well-placed stream of fresh cool water. If there wasn’t going to be any water, there certainly could be no fight.
But God, in His mercy and wisdom, provided water in a way, I expect, no man could have imagined. Here is what God’s word tells us happened in 2 Kings 3:20, The next day at about the time when the morning sacrifice was offered, water suddenly appeared! It was flowing from the direction of Edom, and soon there was water everywhere. Did you see that? The water suddenly appeared! Everywhere!
The three kings hadn’t asked for a miracle quite like this. They certainly had wanted water, but this was a lot of water, much more than they thought they needed. And we are told that neither wind nor rain had brought about this miracle. God did not use the normal means to give them water. His way of provision displayed his power. Now they had water and an awful lot of it!
And then God did a fantastic thing.
The enemy Moabites had strapped on swords and kept watch over their borders, they were ready to fight the approaching army. They were equipped and prepared to fight and to win.
But then the miraculous occurred. God used the water to secure the army’s victory.
Scripture tells us that when the Moabites got up the next morning, the sun was shining brightly across all of that water. The extreme glare made the water appear to be red and look like blood. It may have been a red sky reflecting on the water but however it happened – it looked like a whole bunch of blood.
The Moabites reasoned that the three oncoming armies had begun to fight against each other, and all the water was indeed blood. They ran full speed ahead to get the spoils from the Israelite army.
But when they got to the camp, they found the Israelites alive and quite well and they were ready to fight. No corpses there! And, as you can imagine, the victory that day belonged to the Israelites.
The miracle the people had wanted was a simple one, for water to drink, but God gave them the water as a means to secure a victorious battle. He caused the miracle of the water to be the catalyst for triumph. No human would have thought of this scenario; only God would.
So, what can we learn from this story? How can this account help us to be more Christlike and to trust him more? From this story, we can understand that God alone is the one who has infinite wisdom. Although we want to tell God how to act on our behalf, it is better to trust him to do what he knows is best. It is our job to follow his lead, not his mission to follow ours. And God is a God of abundance. He knows what we need and he can supply it in great measure. The next time we want God to act on our behalf, let’s submit to his way with open hands and hearts full of great expectation.
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Anne Farnum 
Love your writings and thoughts! Thank you.
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Thanks for the encouragement! Check out my new podcast at https://anchor.fm/anne-farnum. My daughter and I are just getting started:)
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Thanks, Anne.
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That’s been my theme this week in other words. How the shepherd leads us beside still water, the best, clearest most delicious water. But some of us sheeple, can’t wait -and drink out of- the parasitic puddles. Help us Lord to follow You, your way, the best way for us!
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I love this, Theresa! Several years ago, I taught a study on Psalm 23. Those still waters offer us so much peace when we take time to sip from them. Blessings to you! I would love for you to check out the new podcast that my daughter, Rebekah, and I have just started.
https://anchor.fm/anne-farnum and please share it with others:)
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