Thirsty in the Badlands

It was an ill-conceived military venture - Israel's kings marching out to exact revenge on their eastern neighbors, the Moabites, who had recently welched on their annual tribute obligations. This was economic thuggery, royal arrogance backed by military muscle and completely beyond the purposes of God. But this story in 2 Kings 3 showcases a God of grace who does far better for people than anyone deserves.

A seven-day roundabout march through the badlands south of the Dead Sea, left the kings and their armies stranded at the frontier of Moab, without water. In desperation they consulted the prophet Elisha for an oracle from God.

This is where the historian tips his hand. God was irrelevant to these kings until they get into trouble. Then they seek out Elisha as a kind of shaman who might magically help them through their dilemma.

The story becomes a kind of spiritual parable: Their exhausted water supply mirrors the spiritual bankruptcy of these kings. Their leadership in Israel and the world is scandalous. Their militaristic adventurism is an ugly distortion of God’s purpose for Israel, i.e. to be a light to the nations around them. And now they blame God for getting themselves into this mess.

But God’s grace shimmers and shines in this moral wasteland. Elisha chokes back his disdain and tells these God-disgracing kings to get shovels and carve out some space for God.

“Fill the valley with trenches” he says, “and by morning they will be full of water. You are going to see the wonder of water where you least expect it - or deserve it. God will show up, not as a magic power, but as Israel’s ultimate sustainer, providing water for you and your horses and all your provisioning livestock.”

So out into the searing sun they went, digging ditches in the bone-dry desert. And true to God’s word, before morning, a flash flood filled the wadi and all the retaining ditches with water, saving the entire army.

Not only that, but the Moab troops misinterpreted the red glint of the water in the sunrise and assumed their would-be attackers had massacred themselves; when they rushed in for the loot they were decimated.

I’m confounded by God’s outrageous generosity to these self-serving kings. Water flows for the thirsty and the blood-thirsty alike. Even for people who are hell-bent on folly, God often responds when they seek God’s help. God meets us where we are. God’s mercy creates space for us to learn God’s ways.

Those trenches of water glistening red in the sunrise illustrate the importance of making room for God in our lives, digging out resistance daily and creating receptive space even when we feel depleted and dry.

No matter how bleak and unpromising the landscape may be, God is capable of bringing transformation – and that is really Good News.

Photo Credit:
Sunrise and Quiet Place: Carolyn Watts Blog:Hearing the Heartbeat