Sight and Vision
2 King 6:12-17
Not long ago my wife made me go to the doctor. The married men know what I am talking about when I say that she made me go to the doctor. I was just going for a check up, but you know that there are some parts of that check up that I find particularly unpleasant. I have never been fond of the prostate exam. ---I am talking to the men. ------Fortunately I am not quite old enough yet where I need to start having that exam annually, and the doctor agreed that I probably didn’t need one that day. I thank the Lord for small favors.
I was also going because I had been having some trouble with one of my eyes. Given my family history I thought it would be good to have it checked out. Our sight is one of those things that we can easily take for granted, until it begins to be a problem. One of the greatest creations God made is the eye. The ability to see and to differentiate and distinguish between colors, and shapes and sizes and faces and places and all of the wonder of God’s creations is an absolute miracle.
But you know church, there is the ability to see and then there is the ability to see. Let me see if I can make it clearer. There is sight and then there is sight. Are we together? Let me go one step further, there is sight and then there is vision. And sight and vision can be two completely different things.
This week I preach a follow up sermon to my sermon last week The High Cost of Vision. In that sermon we explored the fact that vision costs, but no vision costs more because where there is no vision the people perish. I want to tell you today that there are some places and some situations where there is no vision. Many people have sight that do not have vision. It is also possible to have absolutely no sight but to be a person of great vision. ------I’ll prove it in just a minute.
Sight is the ability to see what is in front of us. Sight is the ability to look at the situation and say this is what I see. Vision, is the ability to look at the situation and see what is not there but what can and will be. There is a difference between having sight and having vision. Sight will make you see what is, but vision will make you see what will be there. Sight will make you see what is happening, but vision will make you see what is going to happen. Sight sees the predicament, but vision sees the potential. Sight sees the present, but vision, sees the promise of God. If you don’t believe me then ask Ray Charles, who did not have sight but who had a vision for his life. If you don’t believe me then ask Stevie Wonder who lacking, sight still had a vision for his life. We can have all the sight in the world, if we don’t have vision we are in serious trouble.
This was the case with the assistant to Elisha the prophet. He had sight but he did not have vision. The king of Syria was upset because some one had been telling the king of Israel that he was going to attack him. How many people know that God will send people into your life to warn you when you are about to come under the devil’s attacks? The problem most of us have is that we don’t like listening to warnings. We think to ourselves, nobody who looks that good could be trouble. We think to ourselves nobody who can talk like that smells, like that or has legs like that can end up being our demise. Unlike us, the king of Israel listened to the warnings he received and he was having success against the king of Syria. Well, the king of Syria got upset and wanted to know who has been telling the king of Israel what our plans are? There must be a spy in the camp. Somebody has got a big mouth, and every body knows that loose lips, sink ships. The kings’ men told him that it was not one of us, but Elisha the prophet who tells the king of Israel even what you say in your bedroom. The king said well where is this Elisha? I have got something for him. His servants told him that Elisha is in Dothan.
I should pause here and say that Elisha was God’s man. Elisha was God’s prophet. Elisha was operating in obedience to and under the protection of almighty God. Verse 14 says that the king sent chariots and a great army by night. Elisha was God’s man but night time still came. Elisha was God’s man but it still got dark in his life. Can I tell you this morning that it does not matter who you are, or how important you are, or what your title is, nigh time will come in all of our lives.
No matter who we are we all have to face the dark sometimes. Have I got a witness in the building? You didn’t always have it all together you had to face some night times and some dark day in your life. You were not always a college graduate you had to eat some Ramen Noodles, and spend some days sacrificing for what God has done in your life. --------You didn’t always have a smile on your face, somebody close to you betrayed you. ----- Somebody you believed in broke your heart, someone you loved, didn’t love you back, and someone you helped turned their back on you because night time comes in all of our lives. I am just glad this morning to know a God who is not afraid of the dark. A God who can speak a word into our darkest hours that says let there be light. In verse 15 the Bible says that when the servant of the man of God awoke in the morning that he looked outside and saw chariots all around that had come to kill Elisha. He asked Elisha, what are we going to do about this situation we are surrounded on every side. Somebody here knows what it is to feel surrounded on every side. But somebody in this place remembers what Paul said in just this type of situation in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. He said we are troubled on every side but not in distress, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed. Is there anybody here who knows what it is to feel surrounded? Surrounded by a bad situation at home, and a job that is going nowhere fast, and bill collector’s calling me by my first name as though we went to high school together, surrounded on every side.
The young servant was just responding to what he saw. You can hardly blame him. I like to play cards, in particular I like spades. I have never read the commandment that says thou shall not play spades or have any fun in life. When you are playing spades you and your partner have to look at the hands that you have been dealt. Sometimes, you get a hand with all diamonds, clubs, and hearts, and only one or two spades, and then to make it worse they are low spades. Sometimes I have to tell my partner – partner I hope to be able to help you, but based on what I see, it does not look good. I can only play the cards that I have been dealt, and based on what I see, based on the hand I’m holding, it does not look good. That’s what the young man did. He said Elisha, we are surrounded on every side, and based on what I see When I look out that window it does not look good.
In verse 16 Elisha tells the young man not to worry, because they that are with us are more than they that are with them. The young man must have believed that Elisha had gone crazy. I hear you Elisha, but I know what I see. I hear you pastor. I hear you talking about all of this great stuff God is going to do at our church, but all of that takes money and I do see the monthly financial report. Hello somebody. I hear you, but I know what I see. The young man had sight, but he did not have vision. Isn’t that the tragedy in too many families today? There are too many families that are led by fathers and mothers who have sight, but do not have vision. Isn’t that the tragedy in too many marriages today? There are too many marriages in which there is plenty of sight, each person can see everything wrong with the other, but neither have a vision for what two committed people can really accomplish with God’s help and working together. And ---- isn’t that the tragedy in too many churches today? Too many churches are pastured by men and women of God, or led by officers, who have sight but who do not have vision.
Elisha prayed in verse 17 for the young man that the Lord would open his eyes so that he may see. In other words Elisha prayed that God would grant the young man vision. The Bible says that the Lord opened his eyes and he saw that the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire. Those chariots of fire were surrounding the chariots that were surrounding Elisha and the young man.
Church------can I tell you that for every devil that comes against you, there is an angel that is ready to fight for you? -----For every devil that tells you a lie, God has got a word in his book to show you the truth. ----For every sickness and every pain that comes your way, there is a stripe on the back of Jesus that reminds us that by his stripes we are healed. -----For every cross there is a crown, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The young man had sight, but sight only allowed him to see what was on the surface. When God opened his eyes and gave him vision he saw more than he ever imagined was possible. Many of us today have sight but if we ask the Lord to grant us vision, God will show us more than we ever dreamed was possible.
Stop saying you cannot have vision. Many of us walk around talking about I’m never going to see it. How can you say what you are never going to see? Elisha asked God to open the young man’s eyes and God did. I don’t know about you, but that tells me that God will give vision to those who ask for it. God will give vision to those who want it. Despite what people may say prayer still changes things. Before Elisha prayed the young man was weak. Before he prayed they were out numbered. Before he prayed the young man was doubtful and confused. But look at what happened after he prayed. You can go into your prayer closet saying oh God look at what a big problem I have, but I declare when that you come out of the prayer closet you will be saying oh problem look at what a big God I have.
Some of us don’t want any vision. All we want to see is gloom and doom, hard times and hard days all the time. Some only want to see ourselves as weak and powerless victims, because vision will make us work. Vision will make us sacrifice. If you are willing to accept the vision that God give’s you, God will open your eyes and enable you see beyond what is in front of you. All things are possible to those who believe. In the 11th chapter of Hebrews, the writer reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God.
When you have more than just sight, then you have what Dr. Gardner C. Taylor calls invisible supplies. The text says that they that are with us are more than they that are with them. Elisha was aware of some resources that the ordinary eye could not see. Vision makes us aware of resources that the ordinary eye cannot see. You have some resources that you cannot see with your two eyes. God has provided some resources for us that we cannot see, but they are real and they are present and they are ready to be accessed. In his book the words of Gardner Taylor volume I, Dr. Taylor talks says “that we have countless visible supplies, but seem to lack the invisible supplies without which life is lame and inadequate.” --- He reminds us that “the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can have deep, invisible interior supplies of the spirit which strengthen and sustain us in all shifting circumstances of life.” When we have vision we become aware of those invisible supplies about which he speaks. This is what Elisha was referencing when he said that they that are with us are more than they that are with them. But pastor, I am a realist. I am not being negative; I am just stating what is real, and realistic. Or to use the language of our young people I am just keeping it real. Yes, but the question is whose reality? Reality is a funny thing. Your reality is not necessarily mine, nor is mine necessarily yours. My reality is that in a few days I will probable not be getting much sleep because the baby will be up crying for daddy, while in your reality you will be getting a sound rest. If either of our realities is not based on God’s reality which is something altogether different, then we are missing out on our invisible supplies. In man’s reality David was just a shepherd, but in God reality he was the next king of Israel. Vision will make you aware of resources and opportunities that are there, but are visible to our spiritual rather than our natural sensibilities.
This weekend our assistant pastor and I went to a local church for the Dr. Gardner C. Taylor Distinguished Preaching Series which was a wonderful event. One of the preachers there was Dr. Kevin Cosby of Louisville, Kentucky. He told a story about how during World War II they had surveyed the different troops after one of the battles. The troops in the Army said that while they were fighting, they thought they were losing the battle. They said it seemed like the enemy was beating them back and they were outnumbered and overwhelmed. The pilots, from the Air Force had a completely different story. They said that from their vantage in the sky, they could tell that our troops were easily defeating the enemy and they knew we were going to win the battle. What, you ask, was the difference? The difference was that the Army troops could only see what was in front of them. They could only see what was happening in their little corner of the field. Isn’t that just like us sometimes? We can only see what is happening in front of us, so we get discouraged and feel like giving up? The Air force troops had a different perspective. They were up in the air so they saw everything. They could see the enemy being pushed back, and they could see our reinforcements coming up from behind. When they were interviewed they said something different, because they saw something different.
That is the difference between having sight and having vision. When you have sight you can only see what is in front of you, but when you have vision you can see the big picture. They could see the big picture because they were up in the air, and when we allow God to give us vision it will carry us to high places that give us a better outlook on our possibilities. The spirit of the Lord will carry you up to a place where you can see what God wants to do in you life. Up in the mountain he saw chariots of fire. I believe the songwriter prayed an appropriate prayer, “Lord lift me up and let me stand, by faith on heaven’s table land. A higher plane than I have found, Lord plant my feet on higher ground.”
