Unseen Guest

2 Kings 3:11b

But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD through him?" An officer of the king of Israel answered, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah."

Discovery Health had this article entitled ‘Can a person remember being born?’ Nah, I won’t even try to translate their medical-slash-scientific explanations here -  the terms are way too big for me. The best I picked up was the relationship of verbal development to our memory. That if we don’t have the words to describe the event when it happened, most likely, we couldn’t describe it later even with the available vocabulary. That makes sense. No wonder one of my earliest memories was that plaque in our family wall that reads ‘Christ is the Head of this House, the Unseen Guest at every Meal, the Silent Listener to every Conversation ’. I even remember mispronouncing that last word as ‘conver-cha-tion’. It probably was my first memorized rhyme ever. But most of all, I know, back then, that helped me imagine God being near us all the time. God was so right in instructing His people to write His words on the doorframes :>

When King Joram went out to pursue Moab, God was not just the unseen Guest, He was uninvited actually. There was no mention that His will was consulted or if His help was needed. Not even when King Jehoshaphat, a supposedly believer, joined in.  These two kings planned what they thought best and that’s it. Their scheme was to take the long route through the desert so as to fetch another ally, the King of Edom. From there, they’ll  march towards south of Moab for the surprise element. That made sense – except for the words desert and seven days walk.  Nursing mothers will never miss that detail :> But nobody’s perfect. Nobody but One. Seeing eternity in a flash, God knew their waters will dry up, that they’ll be distressed and soon be dead! And so from behind the scenes, He told Elisha to pack and go with the army as an unseen, uninvited guest.  Even before their jugs were empty, God had already filled the gap. Even though they called Him not, His care followed them nonetheless.  His prophet was there as proof that He’s an ever-present Help in time of need.  

God’s timing is perfect. On the dot, no second-delay. Not even prayerlessness will keep His grace from coming alongside us. His Help has long been sent, as early as eternity past, for our receiving. He’s always been in our camp for as long as we can remember. His tools are complete for our anytime, out-of-the blue contingency needs. Even if we consider Him our last resort, or we want Him kept hidden. If God made waters to flow and fill a desert valley for the ungodly Joram and the compromising Jehoshaphat, imagine what they’d see if He was their Invited Guest!  I wish I have more time to poetically rephrase that family frame and share it here. I just feel it presents Jesus passively using those words ‘unseen’ and ‘silent’. In a sense He is. But as part of our lives, He is not. He is a relational God. We can actually see Him at work in and through us. And He is never silent, for His Words are written and revealed. Well I guess let's just choose a real bible verse as wall post next time :>