A True Assessment
In 2 Ki 8:7-15, Hazael went to meet Elisha to inquire whether the Syrian King, Benhadad, would recover from his disease.
Elisha said, “Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover”. Then Elisha added to Hazael, “howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die”.
After Elisha spoke, he wept. And when Hazael asked him why, Elisha said, “Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel”.
When Elisha described the specifics of his evil, Hazael replied, “But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing”? And then Elisha said, “The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria”.
When Hazael left, he told his master that Elisha said, “thou shouldest surely recover”. However, the next day, Hazael suffocated the king and reigned in his stead.
Hazael truly was shocked when Elisha described the evil things he would do to the children of Israel. He said, “is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing”? He couldn’t believe that he was capable of such atrocities.
However, when Elisha told him that he would be the next king of Syria, something welled up inside of him that he didn’t know was there. And he became a murderous tyrant and enemy of Israel.
Elisha gave a true assessment of Hazael, one that Hazael refused to believe about himself. Nevertheless, despite his unbelief, he became exactly what Elisha said he would be, and even worse by killing the king.
When you read the Bible, if you’re paying attention and if you believe what it says, it will give you a true assessment of yourself. Here are a couple of examples.
On an occasion, I talked with a man who was angry with his wife. I told him to deal with his anger before approaching her with the problem. A couple of months later he said, “I learned that the problem was my fault to great degree”. When he got over his anger he could see what the Lord was showing him about himself that he couldn’t see and wouldn’t believe, initially.
On another occasion, I talked with a preacher who was going to become an associate pastor. I told him, in the presence of the pastor that he was going to help, beware of ambition. It’s in you and you probably don’t even see it. He didn’t believe me. Circumstances leading up to them working together revealed the ambition in the associate. He will do himself a great favor if he will acknowledge what the Lord has already shown him to be true. This way he can acknowledge it and fight against it.
In Bible reading, preaching, and seeking counsel, the Lord is going to show you things about yourself that you don’t know are there and that you won’t necessarily believe when you see them. However, if you will let the word give you a true assessment of yourself, you will see potential problems in yourself before they ruin you. And you can deal with them God’s way.