Word of Encouragement (07/11/2024)

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" ¹⁶ He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:15-17)

The Syrian king thought that he had a spy among his generals. Whatever military strategy they decided on for invading Israel was thwarted as if it were known to Israel. But his generals told him the real reason: “Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom” (v. 12). His response? Find the prophet and seize him! How foolish he was. Did he think that Elisha would not know about the command he just issued if he knew what was spoken in the king’s bedroom? How foolish it is to think that one can carry out a surprise attack on a prophet of an omniscient God! But that is the common trait of tragic heroes: they have the hubris to believe that they can outsmart God, So, the axiom, “Pride goes before the fall.”

Elisha knew that the Syrian army was coming to get him. But he did not run. He did not have to: his God was not just an omniscient God; He was also an omnipotent God. No matter how powerful the enemies, they were no match to Him. Whoever goes against the LORD runs into a trap and defeat. This was no exception.

But Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, did not know what his master knew. He had no excuse because, as Elisha’s assistant, he must have seen the mighty power of God on numerous occasions. But he was just like the Israelites in the wilderness. No matter how many times they had seen God’s miracles, they responded in panic as if God had never delivered them before, as if God did not exist. (Maybe they believed that God existed and He was almighty but just could not trust His promise to take care of them.)

When he saw the Syrian army surrounding him and his master, Gehazi panicked and said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” Elisha assured him that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (v. 16). Then, he prayed for his servant: “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see” (v. 17). We are told, “So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (v. 18),

Elisha’s prayer to God was not to send an army of angels; it was to open his servant’s eyes to see the spiritual reality. This is why we should pray for spiritual vision. Without it, we only see the physical reality and not the spiritual reality of how secure we are under the shadow of the Almighty. We can be rich beyond measure, having received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3), and live like paupers. Our problem is not that God doesn’t exist or He doesn’t love us or care for us; rather, it is that we don’t have the spiritual vision to see these glorious realities.

What does it mean to have this spiritual vision? Does that mean that we see with our eyes the angels and their chariots of fire? Not necessarily. The Holy Spirit enables us to give more weight to what God says about our reality in His Word (that He is our Fortress and Refuse) than all the dangers and problems we see with our eyes. What a great loss it is to live without the awareness of our spiritual reality! How can we not pray for our faith in God’s Word to increase so that we can live with the awareness of God’s intimate involvement in our lives?