Crash! “What was that?” you wonder as you’re startled awake by a loud noise and with a jolt. “Has one of the kids fallen down the stairs while sleepwalking? Is someone trying to break into the house?” You won’t know until you investigate. Only, you can’t find your glasses! Without them the world is a blur, and fuzzy eyes make for a frantic heart. Ah, here they are. Your glasses ended up under the bed somehow. Now with them on, you can see clearly the reason for the crash: no child has stumbled down the stairs, and no intruder is threatening your safety. You created the ruckus when you rolled out of bed and fell onto the floor! Nothing to worry about. Clear eyes have led to a calm heart.
Of course you don’t need to lose your glasses to experience a frantic heart. Parents have frantic hearts when their baby gets behind the wheel of a car for the first time. Children often have frantic hearts when Mom or Dad is late in returning home. Perhaps even right now something is making you feel a bit frantic so that you’re finding it hard to concentrate on this worship service. But that’s life isn’t it? We just have to get used to frantic hearts as long as we live in a frenzied world. Not so, say our Scripture readings this morning. In our Gospel lesson Jesus told his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:27a). Our sermon text from 2 Kings 6 illustrates how we can keep our hearts from being troubled. While fuzzy eyes lead to frantic hearts, clear eyes lead to calm hearts. Let’s see how that truth was illustrated in the life of the prophet Elisha who lived about 830 years before Jesus was born.
If you think you have reasons to be frantic, compare them to the problem the prophet Elisha was facing in our text. Word had reached the king of Aram that the reason none of his surprise attacks against Israel had been successful was because Elisha, with the help of God’s omniscience, kept telling the Israelite king where the Aramaeans were waiting in ambush. So when the King of Aram found out that Elisha was staying in the little town of Dothan, he sent his army to arrest him. Doesn’t that sound like overkill? Was a whole army necessary to arrest one hapless little prophet - like hunting a rabbit with a battalion of tanks? Actually, the Aramaean army was undermanned. Their fight, you see, was not with Elisha but with the Lord himself.
Elisha knew this but his servant did not. And so when the servant saw a sea of spears and countless chariots glinting in the early morning sun he was frantic and cried out to Elisha: “What shall we do!” (2 Kings 6:15b) Isn’t the servant’s reaction typical? When we’re faced with a challenge we immediately ask: “What shall we do?” But listen to Elisha’s response: “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). In other words there was nothing to be done, not even pray for help since God had already sent help. What Elisha wanted God to do now was to open his servant’s eyes so that he would see clearly the army of angels that surrounded them and appeared as fiery horses and chariots. Clear eyes would lead to a calm heart for the servant.
“Lord, open our eyes to your presence.” Have you noticed that’s also what we ask in the Lord’s Prayer? When we pray: “Give us this day our daily bread,” we’re not putting a coin in the heavenly vending machine to ensure we’ll have something to eat. What we’re really saying is, “Lord, open my eyes to the many blessings that you will and have given me today. And make me thankful for them!” Likewise when we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we’re not saying: “God, don’t tempt me to sin!” He doesn’t do that. With that petition we’re requesting: “Help me to see that you’re always with me so that when I am tempted I have your power to overcome sin.” Psalm 34:7 puts the truth of God’s abiding presence like this: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” God isn’t like the firefighter who can come to your rescue only after he has received a call for help. And by the time he arrives, it might be too late to save you. God is more like a secret service agent who never leaves the side of the President. Clear eyes see and believe this truth and it leads to a calm heart no matter what odds you face.
Clear eyes also empower Christian attitudes and actions. Look at how that was true for Elisha. When the Aramaeans started to advance because they apparently didn’t see the angel army, Elisha didn’t run and hide; he went out to meet the Aramaeans! Elisha knew he could be so bold because he had an angel army at his back. As Elisha strode forward he asked God to blind the soldiers which he did. Elisha then led them to the capital city Samaria where the Israelite king could have easily slaughtered them. Instead, Elisha instructed the king to feed the enemy and to send them home.
The point that strikes me here is this: even though God has promised that his angels will look after us, he hasn’t said that his angels will do our work for us. They don’t invite your neighbor to a Bible study. They don’t drop money into the offering plate. They don’t teach Sunday School. They don’t work out the plans and financing for a new church building. You and I are to do these things. But we can do them well because God is with us and is empowering us, and his angel army has our back.
Still, we can expect roadblocks along the way that are anything but welcome. I doubt very much that facing a hostile army was on Elisha’s to-do list for that particular day. It certainly wasn’t on his servant’s list. But look at what God was up to. He could have had his angels disperse the enemy long before they came in sight of Dothan, but then Elisha’s servant would have missed the opportunity to see that there was an angel army and not just a guardian angel or two looking after him. Think what an impression that experience made on the servant. When he had to face major obstacles again he would do so certain that he didn’t face them alone.
God still lets us get up close and personal with Aramaean armies so that his care and protection is obvious. Cancer doesn’t just strike the families of unbelievers. Car accidents don’t just maim drunk drivers. Job losses aren’t just lamented by atheists. God’s people too often have to face these challenges. But we never face them alone. God sends his angels to keep the evil in check even if we do have to suffer from it. But why should we have to suffer at all? Well, why do parents let their children fall when they’re learning how to walk? Why not just hold the child’s hand wherever they go so they never stumble? Because Mom and Dad know that if they do this, the child will not learn as quickly how to walk. And walking is a lot more efficient than crawling. Likewise God lets us suffer the bumps and bruises of life because he wants us to have a faith that does more than crawl. He wants us to have a faith that confidently walks in the light of his promises because we have seen firsthand that those promises are trustworthy.
Of course there are those who don’t want us to have such a faith. The Apostle Paul once wrote: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Just as the angels that surrounded Dothan were real, so are the demons that surround us intent on getting us to fall from faith. We should pray that God help us seem them clearly too so that, just as soldiers do all they can to avoid hidden roadside bombs, we will do all we can to avoid their temptations.
But isn’t that a losing battle? Doesn’t Satan get us to step on the landmine of sin every day? How many times did you blow up last week when you lost your cool over not getting the lunch you wanted, the grade you thought you deserved, or the peace and quiet you assumed you were entitled to? It’s good for us to be troubled by sinful outbursts like these and not dismiss them, for Jesus said: “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4a). But we should not let our hearts continue to trouble us over our sins. Jesus isn’t shocked by what we’ve done or left undone. He doesn’t say, “Get a life!” Instead he says, “I gave a life, my life to pay for that sin. Be of good cheer. Your sins, all of them, are forgiven.” (James Nestigen) No, it’s not just God’s angels that surround us, so does his gracious love, mercy, and forgiveness. The cross of Christ helps us see this most clearly giving us calm hearts.
Those of you who don’t have to wear glasses can be thankful. When you’re startled awake at night you don’t have suffer those agonizing moments fumbling for your glasses to see what’s going on. But while your physical eyesight might be good, how’s your spiritual eyesight? Fuzzy eyes in that realm will lead to a frantic heart. So make Elisha’s prayer your prayer: “Lord, open my eyes so that I can see that you have sent your angels to watch over me. More importantly, help me see that you sent your Son to save me from sin and death.” With eyes that see clearly these promises of God, we’ll enjoy calm hearts, and we’ll live Christian attitudes and actions just like the prophet Elisha. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
What problem did Elisha face in our sermon text?
What was Elisha’s servant’s reaction to the problem? How is that often our reaction to problems?
What was Elisha’s prayer in regard to the problem he faced? How do we offer similar petitions (requests) in the Lord’s Prayer?
Clear eyes also lead to Christian attitudes and actions. How was that true in Elisha’s case? How will that be true for you THIS week?
God could have sent his angel army to disperse the Aramaean army long before they approached the town where Elisha was. Why didn’t he?
The presence of angels are real even though we can’t see them. But so is the presence of demons. Why is it good for us to remember this fact?
In what sense should our sins trouble us? In what sense should they not trouble us?
