「取幾枝箭來...，向地射吧；他射了三次，便止住了。神人向他發怒，說，你應當射五六次，就能擊敗亞蘭人，直到滅盡；現在你只能擊敗亞蘭人三次。」－列王記下13:18-19
約阿施自以為已經照著神所吩咐的去行，他甚至三番兩回，憑著信心擊打地面。但耶和華和神人以利沙卻大失所望，只因他半途而廢。
約阿施的確也得了不少，然而他所得的，僅僅與他的信心相符；神所真正盼望賜給他的祝福，他卻無法得到。
因為約阿施忽略了應許的真正含意，他也錯失了神所預備最大的福；雖然他得了一些超乎常人所求的事物，但卻不是神所看為最好的祝福。
親愛的，這是件嚴肅的事！這是鑒察我們內心的信息！
祂要我們的禱告得以通透！我們是否盼望完滿接受神的應許，得到信心的禱告裡所可能贏得的一切大福嗎？
－宣信
"Take the arrows. . . . Smite upon the ground. And he smote twice and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times" (2 Kings 13:18, 19).How striking and eloquent the message of these words! Jehoash thought he had done very well when he duplicated and triplicated what to him was certainly an extraordinary act of faith. But the Lord and the prophet were bitterly disappointed because he had stopped half way.
He got something. He got much. He got exactly what he believed for in the final test, but he did not get all that the prophet meant and the Lord wanted to bestow. He missed much of the meaning of the promise and the fullness of the blessing. He got something better than the human, but he did not get God's best.
Beloved, how solemn is the application! How heartsearching the message of God to us! How important that we should learn to pray through! Shall we claim all the fullness of the promise and all the possibilities of believing prayer? --A. B. Simpson
