Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Have you ever had a really intense week? Maybe a really intense month or even year?

There are times in everyone’s life where it seems that you are surrounded by things that seem to be going wrong. Maybe our job is not going well, our family is falling apart, or we have faced death or tragedy in our lives. Sometimes all of those things seem to happen at once and it seems like the world is zeroed in on us and life is overwhelming.

I have had weeks like that just like everyone else. This week was one of those weeks. However I love the timing that God provided in my personal devotional time.

In the intensity of this week I read the story in II Kings 6 about Elisha and his servant that were entirely surrounded by enemy soldiers. The soldiers had been sent there because Elisha had been telling his king all about where the enemy was and the enemy king thought he had a spy in his own camp. It was instead Elisha and his relationship with God who was revealing the moments of the enemy army.

But now the enemy was surrounding the city where Elisha and his servant were staying. When the servant saw they were surrounded he went into a panic and asked Elisha what shall we do. I love Elisha’s calm answer in verse 16. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then he prayed that his servant would be able to see what he saw. And the servant saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire.

This story was a great comfort to me not only in just the timing of reading the story in the very week that contained lots of stress, but also in the message of the story that says God is still in control and those that are with us from God’s army are far greater than those that are against us no matter how overwhelming we may feel.

So this week as you continue to grow spiritually in Jesus, be thankful that in the midst of the stresses and strains of life that there is an entire host of heavenly forces that are all around us.