This is only a trifle in the sight of the Lord. (2 Kings 3:18, NRSV)
Moab had decided to rebel against Israel, and so the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom joined forces to attack. As they marched through the wilderness of Edom, they ran out of water and feared that the campaign would end in defeat. Then they found Elisha the prophet and consulted with him. The Spirit of God came upon him, and Elisha instructed the kings to dig ditches in the valley, because God would send water without wind nor rain, and he would grant them victory over Moab. He added, “This is only a trifle in the sight of the Lord.” And it happened as Elisha predicted.
The kings were desperate. From men’s perspective, they were in great trouble. But God’s power broadens our minds to all kinds of possibilities and enables us to take up a different perspective. May Elisha’s words resound in our minds as we experience our own wilderness march. God could send total deliverance and victory, and “This is only a trifle in the sight of the Lord.”
Elisha did not say, “This is a trifle because I am a prophet” or “This is a trifle because we are so lucky that miracles have not ceased.” He did not say, “This is a trifle in this dispensation.” For many of those who oppose the false schemes of dispensationalism would themselves butcher God’s revelation and redemptive plan into different eras in a way that exempts them from the faith of an age of miracles, and so that they could fling everything that they have ceased to believe in into ancient history. It is a conspiracy to legitimize unbelief.
Elisha was not weak in faith, and he did not make excuses. He said, “This is a trifle in the sight of God.” He was the best friend you could have in the wilderness, because he believed and declared God’s power. God despises the dispensations that theologians impose on him. He laughs at the boundaries that preachers put up to fence him out. He does not need to be a prophet, and for him signs, wonders, and spiritual gifts have never ceased. It is an easy thing for God to deliver us and cause us to triumph through Jesus Christ, but we must have faith to seek a release of God’s power, and stand against the conspiracy of unbelief.