Faith And Fear On Friday The 13th

2 Kings 6

{{...It being Friday the 13th, come in wearing a hockey mask and a revving chainsaw (but take the blade off) Obviously, there will be some screaming, but pretty soon it should die down and be replaced by laughter. Take off the mask and say...}}

Okay, I can take it by your reactions that you aren’t really that scared any more. If you’ll notice - you may have been scared at first, but teh longer you looked, the less you were afraid. I want to take a few minutes and think about that - because there’s a biblical truth to be found in that: You see, as Christians, we don’t need to be afraid, but a lot of times we are. You see, we don’t need to be afraid, but we are, because often we don’t look very closely. If we would - if we would see the way that God sees, we wouldn’t need to be afriad at all.

While I’m getting out of costume, if you could find a Bible and open it up to 2 Kings 6, I want to share a story about that with you. We’re going to read verses 8 through 17. As you’re turning there, let me just set up a little bit of backstory. Basically, Israel it at war with Syria - here its called ’Aram,’ - and the Armenans are trying to invade Israel. You can imagine that most of Israel is pretty afraid. But Israel loves God, and God has given them a prohet named Elisha. Let’s read and see what’s happening.

So, do you see what’s going on? The King of Syria knows that Elisha is the "spy," and so they come after him. Now, I don’t about you - but I’d be pretty afraid, right? Only, here’s the deal - Elisha knows he doesn’t need to be afraid, because God is watching over him. Now, Elisha’s servant is freaking out, because, well, he has eyes. And his eyes wake up in the morning and see a lot of bad man with big guns pointed in his direction, no?

So, what’s the difference between Elisha and his servant? The answer is simple - whose eyes they are looking with. We know that God sees everything, right? Well, Elisha is looking through God’s eyes, and he knows he’s safe. This servant is using his own eyes, and the odds don’t look as good. So what does Elisha do? He says really simply: Lord, please open his eyes. In other words, Elisha is praying that his servant would see everything that he sees - and would see with God’s eyes.

When we’re afraid, that is really good prayer: Open my eyes, Lord. Let me see with your eyes.

Now, let me give you a word for that: That’s ’Faith.’ A verse that I would encourage you to memorize is Hebrews 11:1. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for - it is the conviction of things not seen." You can have faith if you just ask for it. You can have faith if you’ll just trust the eyes that God has over your own.

If you want to live your life trusting in your own eyes, you can. But you won’t see everything, and you’ll be afraid. If you want to live life confidently in the power of God, you’re going to have to get over that. You need to have faith to see through God’s eyes - and it will open up a much broader world for you. Would you pray with me?