And He Stayed

2 Kings 13:18
“And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.”

Elisha was on his deathbed, and he had one more command for the king to do. He called Joash to his bedside and told him to take his bow and shoot an arrow out of the window. Joash obeyed, and Elisha told him that this arrow that he shot was the LORD’s deliverance from Syria. Elisha then told Joash to take his arrows and smite the ground. Joash took the arrows and smote the ground three times “and stayed.” Elisha was angry with the lack of motivation of this king because he stayed instead of smiting the ground several more times.

This mistake of Joash was his lack of drive and settling for mediocrity. The greatest hindrance to God’s ability to continue the miraculous in our day is that too many people become satisfied with a little success instead of continued to drive towards more of God’s blessings. Too many people are staying when they should be marching. Many pastors have become comfortable with the size of their church because of a good paycheck instead of desiring for God to continue to do more through them and His people. Many believers have stayed when they achieved a certain position in the church instead of pushing themselves to continue to grow. Bus routes, Sunday school classes, and churches have died because people stayed when they should have continued.

My friend, a little success doesn’t mean you have arrived. Just because you have tasted a little bit of success doesn’t mean that you should stop going forward. Just because you have had one good year of soul-winning doesn’t mean that you should stop your drive to reach the souls of mankind. Just because you had one good year in your church doesn’t mean that you should settle where you are and be satisfied for more. The greatest enemy of success is success. Many have lost their vision and stopped stepping out on faith because of a little success. Just because you have enjoyed some success doesn’t mean you should stay where your success has brought you.

Moreover, where you stop driving for more is where you start dying. Many churches have lost their momentum and died because they stayed after they enjoyed a little success. I certainly understand that the energy needed to continue to see success is not easy to muster up, but you must dig deep inside of yourself to continue where your success has brought you or else you will find that death will begin to set in. Many believers only talk about the success of yesterday because they have no achievements to talk about today because they stopped driving for more. When you settle where you are, you might as well set up your spiritual graveyard because that is where you will spiritually die.

My friend, never lose your hunger for God to do more. Do you remember when you were just starting out and the desire for God to do something great ate you up? Let me remind you that the omnipotent God you believed in when you first started out still has the omnipotence to take you further after you have enjoyed some success. Enjoy the moments of success for a couple of days, but then you MUST move on by faith to see God do more through you. Faith never stops seeing and driving further than where success has taken you. Beware of settling for mediocrity and a little success. God has more for you if you will keep the hunger for God to do more.

Author: Allen Domelle