2 Kings 6

(August 6, 2014)

                It is always astonishing to me to see how quickly those who are unwilling to follow God turn with anger towards those who are His servants.  There was no logical reason for the king of Israel to be angry with Elisha, but yet he was.  The king did not serve the Lord, but when something went wrong he was ready to blame Elisha for it.

                We must each be careful of this in our own lives.  I think that far more often than we care to believe, our own states of happiness or misery are the results of our own actions and attempts to live closely to the Lord.  As C. S. Lewis has said, man is a machine built to run on the love of the Lord, and happiness comes no other way.  

                When we see that our happiness is the result of objective, outward measures we then blame others for our unhappiness.  We can become bitter or prideful.  But ultimately, if our happiness is the result of our relationship with the Lord and not these external things, we can come to understand that if we are unhappy it is because we need to examine ourselves and our lives and determine to live better and more aligned with our Father.  

                It would be easy for me, in my current situation, to blame others for my happiness or unhappiness.  Whether it was the one making false charges against me, or the cascade of events from different people along the way, I could easily find others to blame if I were unhappy.  But that is not the Lord’s way, and I am trying not to have it be my way.  And, as I have turned my focus from what others have done to instead focus on how I can better my relationship with the Lord, I find myself happier than I have any right to be (objectively).  With everything going on in my life, I ought to be absolutely miserable.  I would have thought that I would be absolutely miserable.  That I am not – that I have found comfort, peace, and happiness – is a tribute to the fact that improving your relationship with the Lord is more valuable than anything else that can happen to you in mortality.