2 Kings 6:12 “And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.”

In 2 Kings 6, Syria is at war with Israel.

They’re always at war with each other!

And at this time Syria is very strong… and they really should beat up on Israel… and they sure are trying to!

But in this chapter, the king of Syria “Benhadad” is wondering why all his military strategies are failing so badly… all the time!

And he’s not a loser… he’s a smart dude, he’s used to winning battles, and he is making all the “right” and even genius moves… and yet for all his tactics, tricks and traps… everything he is doing is being foiled!

Israel seems to be steps ahead of him every time! And it’s so frustrating!

… But it’s all happening a little “too well”… because Israel always seems to know in advance what the Syrian army is going to do (because they DO know in advance)!

Poor old Benhadad is perplexed, because it surely cannot be coincidence and incredibly bad luck that his plans and ambushes continually get avoided and countered time and again…

… and so he comes to the conclusion that Israel must have an “inside man”. It’s logical, and he’s kind of right… because they do, just not how he thinks.

He begins to make enquiries! The royal commission begins! He asks his servants… Who’s the spy!!? Who’s helping Israel? Find him!

But his servants say… there’s no leaks, there’s no inside man!!! … Benhadad our problem is that there’s a prophet in Israel who is telling the king of Israel everything you’re saying, right down to what you’re saying in your bedroom.

… Yeah … that’d make it pretty hard to come up with a plan that takes Israel by surprise when Israel knows everything you’re saying to the finest most covert detail!

… If you’ve played computer games or just any game in general, what we see in this story is that Israel is basically playing with “cheats enabled”.

And their cheat code is the prophet Elisha. Elisha is the man of God in Israel. He’s like a walking Bible, because he tells people what God’s word says. And he’s been telling the king every time when Syria are planning this, or planning that, or they’ve sent troops here or there.

What an advantage God’s word had given Israel! And despite anything Benhadad or anyone can plan or devise… God’s word is always far, far ahead of where we are at… doesn’t matter who you are.

There’s a long time lie going around that our Bible is old, archaic, out of date, for “back then”, irrelevant, and that it doesn’t “translate” (literally or figuratively) to the day, time and generation we live in…

But that’s not true at all! “Thy word is true from the beginning”

God’s word is so far ahead. It reaches back to the start of everything in Genesis, and all the way forward to the end of everything (and beyond!) in Revelation, forecasting to final judgment, the new heaven and new earth and forever.

Today, God’s word is such an advantage for the child of God. It’s how you can be steps ahead spiritually speaking. No, it doesn’t need to be changed, it just needs to be believed. No, it doesn’t need to be made “easier”, it just needs the ministration of the Holy Spirit in the readers heart to be understood.

And just think about it… the very best tactics that Satan could come up with against Jesus only served to fulfill God’s word and seal his own fate when Jesus rose from the dead… all happening exactly as it was written… so what makes you think that anything you or society will ever be able to think of or do will ever take God by surprise or be something he has not already seen, known, spoken about and told you the consequence of?

God’s word can make you see and walk way ahead of time. It is your cheat code for life. The Bible says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”… what prevented Israel from being destroyed by the Syrians was knowledge about what they were doing and where they would be!

So pick up your Bible and read it, it’s not doing a thing for you on the shelf… it’ll wisen you right up to everything, including what the enemy is doing… because you do have an enemy, many do want to see you fall, and we all need to get ahead of the game rather than being miles behind what Satan is devising to do to get into our head and life.

We all as Christians can be so reactive and so stupid really, always on the back foot, always taking hits, making so many silly mistakes like we could never have seen it coming… when in reality, we could have… and we can be not just one, but many steps ahead, rather than being picked off at the back like a straggling wildebeest trying to migrate in the Serengeti!

Get ahead on life with God’s word!

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