The Attitude of Expectancy
“Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it.” - 2 Kings 13:14-19
In 2 Kings 13:14-19, Elisha gave his final prophecy. The prophecy was for King Jehoash, who was in a battle he believed he'd lose. Discouraged, the king wept, but Elisha gave him instructions for victory. Elisha said to get a bow and some arrows and strike the arrows to the ground. After picking up the weapons, the king struck the ground three times. However, Elisha grew angry and said the king should've "struck the ground five or six times" to beat Aram until it was destroyed.
The reason for Elisha's anger is simple: King Jehoash had more than three arrows to shoot, but he had an attitude of apathy. His effort was half-hearted. The king didn't give everything He had to God because he didn't expect God to keep His promise.
Sometimes, we find ourselves in a place of apathy or discontent where we take lukewarm actions. Instead of following God's instructions, we stop short. Often, this is a result of having unmet expectations. When we don't believe we're winning in a specific area of our lives, we lose our zeal and let our hearts withdraw, leaving room for apathy to grow.
The good news? God wants to take the hurt and pain derived from our missed expectations and provide healing. He wants us to surrender the things we've been holding onto and develop an attitude of expectancy, not expectation.
Expectation says, "I want to see something done a certain way, and then I'll welcome it." This attitude leads to discouragement. If we don't see things unfolding as expected, we become apathetic. On the other hand, expectancy says, "I believe that something will happen, and I'll be happy and welcome however it happens." This attitude opens our hearts to do things God's way and for us to believe He'll fulfill His promises if we keep shooting our arrows.
When we surrender the outcome and show up with expectancy, there's no telling what God can do. God has so much in store for us, including miracles and greatness. We must keep our confidence in Him and shoot our arrows repeatedly until we see breakthroughs.
