A decorated Air Force paratrooper spoke to a group of young recruits. When he had finished his prepared talk, he opened the floor for questions.
One young man raised his hand and said, “What made you decide to make your first jump?” The paratrooper said, “An airplane at 20,000 feet with three dead engines.”
Some people are only motivated by a desperate situation. Such was the case with four lepers trapped in the city of Samaria under siege by the Arameans. There had been an awful famine in the land that left the inhabitants in dire straits.
People bought donkey heads and dove dung to survive. It got so bad that two mothers agreed to eat their sons to survive. With no end in sight, the four lepers cooked up a plan to go to the Aramean camp and surrender.
They reasoned if they stayed in Samaria without food, they’d die for sure. But if they surrendered to their enemy, they would either be killed (same ending as staying in Samaria), or the Arameans would make them slaves, feed them, and they’d live.
They opted for the latter alternative. They weren’t sure it would work, but it was better than doing nothing and guaranteeing their death by starvation.
At dusk, the four men slipped into the camp of the Arameans and encountered a shock surprise. No one was there. The camp was empty.
The writer of 2 Kings 7 explains why. “For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so they said to one another, ‘Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!’
“So, they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives” (2 Kings 7.6-7).
God intervened and spooked the Arameans, so they left everything behind, including all their food and beverages. God provided for the needs of his people, just like he always does. The lepers and the inhabitants in Samaria needed to know that.
Had their situation not grown desperate, the lepers would have stayed in Samaria with everyone else and starved to death or been overrun by the Aramean army.
Sometimes, God puts us in a desperate situation to show us something about himself. Something that’s vital for growing our relationship with him, or something to prepare us for what’s ahead when we’ll need to rely on him.
Usually, God has tried easier and safer ways to teach us something about himself, but we didn’t learn what he wanted us to know.
And because God knows how pivotal it is we understand who God is and how he acts, he gives us other opportunities. If we ignore them all, he’s willing to put us in desperate situations, so we learn.
Divorce. Cancer. Parkinson’s. Dementia. Bankruptcy. Suicide of a loved one. Debt. Unemployment. Inability to feed, clothe, and care for your children. A son or daughter hooked on alcohol or drugs. An unexpected pregnancy. A prodigal child.
These don’t arrive on our doorstep because God is mad at us, or because he wants to punish us for something. He brings them because he loves us, and what we need to discover about God is too important to do without.
Like the lepers and their desperate circumstances, we must make a decision. We can try to gut it out, or we can make the wiser choice — step off the ledge and trust God to make something good come out of it.
That’s what happened for the lepers. They discovered food and drink. But of greater value, they discovered God is able, God is faithful, and God is all they need.
You will uncover the same things, and more, if you cooperate with God in your desperate times. This is the pattern God always walks us through if we don’t learn it the easy way. He makes conditions that result in our Desperation that forces us to make a Decision.
When it’s the right decision, we Discover something about God we must grasp for our relationship with him to deepen and/or to equip us with what we need to endure what’s in our future.
Desperation… Decision… Discovery. Someone said, “God puts us in desperate situations to discover he is able. But whether we discover that depends on our decision.”
What will you decide to do the next time you are desperate? I recommend you step out in faith by doing what God wants you to do.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.
