#155: Too Good to be True
Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”
So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
II Kings 7:1-2
Recently I was talking with a man about the salvation from sin freely offered in and through Jesus Christ for sinners. He said he knew Jesus but did not believe certain sins or volumes of sin could be forgiven. He refused to believe that his Jesus could, if He desired, bring a rapist, murderer, child molester, or prolific sinner to repentance, faith, and salvation. While showing him God’s own Word related to those points, he turned, said it was impossible, and left.
One response of the world to the promises of God is that they are too good to be true. In response, the true God, His Word, and His people are mocked, despised, and rejected while idols are set up after man’s own imagination. Such was the case with a servant of the king who was present when Elisha gave the prophecy. He heard the promise of God for miraculous deliverance from the day’s dire situation. Rather than giving thanks to God, he mocked, saying, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could these things be?”
How many have gone to their death and eternity in Hell for saying the same thing of God’s Word? “Will God really do what He says? I do not believe that He will. It is too good to be true.”They do not know God nor the power of God and have not comprehended by faith the mercy of God.
God’s mercy to sinners like me is too glorious for our feeble minds to fully understand but we can know it truthfully and sufficiently because God has revealed Himself to us in the Scripture. The all powerful and all knowing Creator of all things and Redeemer of His people looks down upon sinful men and women rushing to do evil, slow to do good, and gives them not the punishment that they deserve but blessings from heaven. What mercy!
Had the servant thought on the Word of God for just a moment perhaps he might have remembered the Psalm from long ago in Judah, “O give thanks to the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever… Who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever; And rescued us from our enemies, for His mercy endures forever; Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.” Psalm 136:23-26 NKJV
The wicked, like the King’s servant, will not believe God and will even mock Him. Nevertheless, God’s mercy still endures forever, even in the eventual judgement of the wicked (Psalm 136:17-20). If the king’s servant describes you today, may this account soften your heart and may the Lord use this to turn you to Himself.
God’s promise of salvation through His Son is the greatest promise in all history – and it is very true!
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