Day 82 — Eyes Wide Open
2 Kings 6:11-17, The Message
The king of Aram was furious over all this. He called his officers together and said, “Tell me, who is leaking information to the king of Israel? Who is the spy in our ranks?
But one of his men said, “No, my master, dear king. It’s not any of us. It’s Elisha the prophet in Israel. He tells the king of Israel everything you say, even what you whisper in your bedroom.”
The kind said, “Go and find out where he is. I’ll send someone and capture him.”
The report came back, “He’s in Dothan.”
Then he dispatched horses and chariots, an impressive fighting force. They came by night and surrounded the city.
Early in the morning a servant of the Holy Man got up and went out. Surprise! Horses and chariots surrounding the city! The young man exclaimed, “Oh, master! What shall we do?”
He said, “Don’t worry about it – there are more on our side than on their side.”
Then Elisha prayed, “O God, open his eyes and let him see.”
The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!
When I was a student I spent hours sitting around, drinking coffee and discussing life, the universe and everything. Some of my friends confidently told me that God did not exist. They assumed scientific knowledge excludes the presence of God from the material world. We live in a culture imbued with unbelief that God could speak to us or guide us. Like the young man in this story we can focus on what we can physically see. We can absorb the unbelief in our culture and question God’s presence around us.
Yet, if we assume like my friends that there is no God then everything in the universe would be a function of energy + matter + time + chance. There would be nothing personal - no beauty and no love - and there would be no right or wrong. It would make no difference when I met one of my friends whether I shook their hand or punched them in the face, both are simply interactions of energy and matter! No one can live in a way that is consistent with there being no God. When we admire beauty, fall in love or are upset by cruelty we do so because God is present in the universe.
The Bible describes a reality penetrated through and through by God. As we believe this and see that it is compatible with science, we will begin to open up to receiving direct communication from God. In this story God enabled the young man to see the powers of his realm that totally penetrate and uphold all the normal, visible reality around us. We need to have done for our understanding what Elisha did for his servant. Our eyes need to see the reality of God’s presence all around us.
Prayer — Lord, please open my eyes as you did for Elisha’s assistant to see what you see and to see your presence around me.
Jonny Pearson