2 Kings 6:24 Some time later King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army; he marched against Samaria (a city in Israel) and laid siege to it. 25 As the siege continued, famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. 26 Now as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king!” 27 He said, “No! Let the LORD help you. How can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?” 28 But then the king asked her, “What is your complaint?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son and we will eat him.’ But she has hidden her son…

3 Now there were four leprous men outside the city gate, who said to one another, “Why should we sit here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall also die. Therefore, let us desert to the Aramean camp; if they spare our lives, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.” 5 So they arose at twilight to go to the Aramean camp; but when they came to the edge of the Aramean camp, there was no one there at all. 6 For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, and of horses, the sound of a great army… 7 So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys leaving the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. …16 Then the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Arameans. 

Two key points I see this morning:

1. Here there is another instance of a common pattern of scripture. God brings relief, but only after all hope has been lost. I mean ALL hope. The people needed a miracle, which is exactly what they got. This reminds me to never count God out. It may look like it’s over, but God is capable of intervening at any moment. In fact, it would seem the more desperate the situation the more likely it is that God will show up.
2. When there appears to be no possible way for God to bring relief, God can find a way. It never occurred to the leaders of Samaria that the Arameans would abandon their camp leaving all of their provision – especially their food – intact. Here again, God makes something out of nothing.

That said, it’s really hard to keep hoping when things are such a mess. It’s hard to keep praying when prayers appear to be for naught. It’s hard to believe for a miracle when there appears to be no possibility of relief. So today I’m asking the Lord for faith to keep praying, keep believing, keep trusting that God has not forgotten me in my struggles.