Grace Notes // When We Were Kings Part 2
Week 2 // Ditches of Faith
Written By Kelly Burton
When Mesha, king of Moab rebelled against king Joram, he called on the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom to go fight the Moabites. The kings decided to go through the desert of Edom as their attack route. After seven days of meandering in the desert, they ran out of water. Joram cried out, asking if the Lord meant to deliver them into the hands of the Moabites.
Jehoshaphat encourages Joram to call on a prophet of the Lord, so they went down to seek counsel from Elisha. Knowing Joram’s history with the prophets of Baal, Elisha is skeptical of helping this group, but decides to assist them because of his respect for Jehoshaphat.
“And he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of ditches. For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’” (2 Kings 3: 16-17).
God told them to dig holes. The Lord’s word was “make this valley full of ditches.” To people who had seen incredible miracles from the Lord, this must have seemed kind of absurd. They had come for a miracle and were instructed to first start digging.
They knew God had the power to give them water instantly. They called on a prophet to save them, and he told this tired, thirsty army to dig holes in the desert.
But God does not ask us to do things needlessly. God could have brought forth water. Instead, he was inviting the Israelites to be active participants with him by digging holes for the water to collect.
Having faith in God often requires participation and preparation.
God wants the same from us. Here we see two ways the Lord moves in our lives:
In ways that only God can control
What we can do to prepare in faithfulness
This applies in our own lives, too. There are the things only God can do: bring you to the person you’re going to marry; create an opportunity for a dream job; or make water flow in the desert.
But in the waiting, there are things we can do to partner with God, and prepare ourselves for his promises. If we’re single or dating, we can work on softening our hearts. If we’re waiting for a job, we can learn to be good workers with the job we have now. If we’re waiting for rain in the desert, we can dig a hole.
“God wasn’t looking for ditches when he gave that word to Elisha—he was looking for diggers.” - Chris Moerman
He was looking for people who were faithful and who would listen and follow. He knows that the “end goal” isn’t always the thing that matters most. It’s about partnership in the miraculous. It’s pressing into what the Lord is asking of us and our faithfulness to Him.
Whatever it is we’re waiting and hoping for, God has handed us a shovel to do the work to prepare. It’s not always easy or glamorous. It takes a good deal of faithfulness to dig our holes while we wait for God’s promises, especially if we don’t understand why we’re even digging. But the Lord is faithful to us. We can show our faithfulness to him by preparing our hearts and our lives to make space for things He is doing.
And one day, we might wake up to see that the Lord has filled our desert ditches with rain.
In The Word
2 Kings 3: 9 – 20
Hebrews 11:1-40
Processing
What are the things from God you are needing faith for? How can you prepare yourself now for what God is doing in your life?
What shovel has God put into your hands? What unglamorous task is preparing you for what God has promised?
Hebrews 11 lists out famous leaders of faith. Reflect over each of their stories. How did they too have to prepare themselves so that they were ready for God's promise?