2 Kings 6:24-7:20 "Could such a thing happen?"

This story is heart-wrenching. King Ben-Hadad of Aram lays siege to Samaria and cuts off its food supply. The famine becomes so desperate that two women in the town agree to eat one another's children. When the second woman goes back on her promise, she involves the king of Israel, who tears his clothes that things have gotten so bad. He lays blame on the prophet Elisha, and calls for his head...literally. But Elisha has words of hope: tomorrow by this time, the famine will be over. But the captain of the guard has the reaction most of us would have: "Yeah, right!" Where is an entire army going to go overnight? And where is all that food going to come from? "Even if the Lord were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?" It's a rhetorical question, of course. There are tons of those in the Bible. The assumed answer, of course, is "no."

But sure enough, the Lord causes the sound of mighty chariots to "spook" the Aramean army, and inexplicably, they bolt, leaving all their equipment and food behind. Samaria is saved...except for the captain, who gets trampled to death by the people. 

I am really relating to the captain today. So often I tend to be more risk averse, the one to overthink things, the one sitting and asking, "Could such a thing happen?" Not that I'm not a dreamer: I spend a lot of time dreaming. But to have enough faith in a dream to actually share it with others, and invite them onboard, and invest some resources, and roll the dice, knowing it could backfire, but also knowing we serve a wonder-working God who can create something out of nothing, order out of chaos, life out of death...that's another thing again.

Too often, when we get a vision we think might be from God, we are so freaked out by it that we can't even look at it objectively. Really now, what is the worst possible scenario if we tried this? And more importantly, what is the best case, assuming it is from God, and it works? If we can even follow the Holy Spirit that far--and that is hard--we would be much less a people of "Could such a thing happen?" and much more a people known for scanning the sky for those windows, and often being the first to find them. 

God, at this point I would love to at least have momentary breaks from the fear and the doubt. But I know as I type that you want me to want more. So show me. Help me, and others who trust in you, not to scoff at windows in the sky, but rather muse about which one you'll open next. Amen.