May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace. Isaiah 55:12.

This chapter, 2 Kings 8, is filled with intrigue and the machinations of kings of old of Israel and Judah and even in the commentary below it suggests the events of some of this chapter happened before events recorded in chapter 5. It’s hard to keep track.

Yet at the very beginning I love that we come back to the woman who, with her husband, offered help to Elisha with a place to stay in their home. Her name is not recorded. She is the Shunammite woman. Elisha told her to leave with her family because the famine would be severe and last 7 years. They went. When they returned after the famine, the woman appeals to the king who had been learning about her from Gehazi, Elisha’s servant. The king has everything restored to her. v. 1-6. She had a walk with God that was hers to walk.

I confess I grow impatient when reading about the kings because they come and go and usually what we read is He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done…He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. v. 18. Too often we read that and know the account will be awful for the people living and impacted then. What about us today?

That’s why I latch on so to the accounts of the ordinary men and women who live with faith. Their lives were not easy because they had faith. Faith is what enables us to bear the uncertainty of the path our lives are on. We may not know what lies ahead in our lives but we can know Who holds our lives in His hands. I love being held by God and it’s in my walk with Him that I am learning how Present He is. In the midst of uncertainty He reminds me our lives in this present existence are temporary…He is eternal.

When our daughter was in JROTC in High School, they had a group involved in orienteering and that came to mind as I was writing this. The definition of orienteering: Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. I couldn’t help but think how our lives, moving at speed, encounter unfamiliar terrain. What is our compass point? Our map?

Do you long for truth that is eternal? Do you long to be led forth in peace? Our lives are not defined by which king or president sits in power and they cannot give us peace that is eternal. Only God, in His great mercy, provides that. Thank You, Lord. Help me keep my eyes on You, my very being safe in Your care. Each one of us has a walk with God that is ours to walk with unfamiliar terrain. I hope you find that path with Him. He’s here. Always. He knows the way.