2 Kings 13:19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
Elisha had told Joash, the king of Israel, to beat the ground with arrows, as a symbol of the upcoming defeat of Syria. The king only smote the ground three times, when he should have beaten the ground five or six times. If he had, Israel would have defeated Syria until it was consumed, but now they would gain only a small victory.
The king may have thought this was a rather silly thing to do, but actually he lacked faith in God’s promises. He was not bold in prayer to expect a complete victory. This lack of faith and completed obedience made the prophet very angry. To him, it was typical of the shallow commitment of Israel to the Lord and of not selling out completely to the Lord who saves them. To cover all bases, Israel and its kings worshipped pagan gods in the high places. Only a couple of kings of both North and South demolished the high places.
The holiness of God demands absolute trust and total obedience. If we could do that, our life would go from victory unto victory. But we can’t, so the love of God sends His Son who does it all for us perfectly. Jesus was obedient unto death, even to death on the cross, and He completely and forever defeated our Enemies, Sin, Death, and the Devil. His total victory, until the Enemy is totally consumed and crushed, is sealed unto us. Jesus is sold out for us. We respond by faith in total devotion. And we are bold to pray for big things.