2 Kings 7 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%207&version=ESV

Despite all that Israel and it’s king had done to God, despite the blame that they had laid at His feet for their sins, He chose to deliver them from the hand of the Syrians and from the terrible famine they faced. He did so in an incredible, nearly unbelievable way. In fact, it was apparently unbelievable to the King of Israel and his messenger. The messenger’s response when he heard was basically “Not even God could do that!” And the King’s extreme caution when hearing that the camp of the Syrians was abandoned shows that he too did not believe the word of the Lord. Why? God’s Word had always come to pass before and this word was a great promise of deliverance – yet they were so slow to believe – that’s unbelief for you. Martin Luther said that believing the promises of good news that Christ makes to us is the hardest thing for we sinners to do. And he was right. In fact, it’s impossible for us to do. Only Christ can give us that faith. Otherwise it’s a complete mystery to us (1 Corinthians 2:7-9).

But this account warns reminds us of the urgency to believe in Christ, to turn to His Word and believe it. The man who didn’t – the king’s messenger found out that a “wait-and-see” approach to God’s Word won’t work. By the next day it was too late – he saw the deliverance that God brought but he himself did not enjoy it, he was trampled to death. So it will be for any who take a “wait-and-see” approach to God’s promises on the last day. God’s promise is offered to you now. Full and wonderful forgiveness is given to you in Jesus Christ. Believe this and you will live. If you do not, if you reject, if you scorn it, or even if you simply wait to see – you may find yourself seeing God’s great deliverance, seeing Him taking the saints with Him to eternal bliss and you cast into the outer darkness. As the hymn says “Delay not, delay not, 0 sinner, to come, For mercy still lingers and calls thee today. Her voice is not heard in the vale of the tomb; Her message, unheeded, will soon pass away.” Link to that hymn is here: http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/lyrics/tlh278.htm

In Christ