Seeing the Unseen
Scott R. Bayles, preacher
Scripture: 2 Kings 6:8-23
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 3/22/2020
Good morning everyone and welcome to the Grove online. Most of you watching this are probably members of Blooming Grove Christian Church, but maybe you’re seeing this in your Facebook feed because a friend shared it or you just stumbled across it on YouTube. In any case, I’m glad that we can connect with one another online. As you’re all aware (unless you happened to be watching this five years down the road), we’re in the middle of a viral pandemic. The CDC has recommended that we cancel any gathering larger than 10 people and the state of Illinois has mandated that we cancel any gatherings greater than 50 people, so instead of meeting in our church building today, we’re meeting together online and we praise God that we have the ability to do that in this day and age.
As you all know, this pandemic has caused many people to panic. Fears are rising all around the world. People who have never felt anxious before are suddenly weighed down with worry and are not sure what to do next. Travel is banned. Schools and businesses are closed. Many small business owners are hurting financially. People are panic buying, hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
I think one of the reasons that viral outbreaks are so scary to so many people is that you can’t see the enemy. Germs and bacteria are microscopic, so you never see them coming. If infected people or surfaces had a green glowing aura or something like that, we would know who to avoid and what not to touch. But we can’t see microbes like viruses, and that, I think, just escalates people’s fears.
Thankfully, viruses and bacteria are not the only things that can’t be seen with the naked eye. The Bible tells us there is a whole unseen world all around us. In fact, the Bible says, “we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NASB). This is such a strange statement, isn’t it? How do we look at the things which are not seen?
While you contemplate that question, I’d like to share a story with you from the Old Testament. The story is found in 2 King 6, so if you want to open up your Bible or Bible app and follow along, you can turn to 2 King 6.
First, let me give you a little background.
The Kingdom of Israel is at war with the Kingdom of Aram, but the King of Israel seems to be able to predict Aram’s every move. Everywhere Aram’s army goes, Israel is one step ahead–so much so that the King of Aram assumes he has a spy in his camp. But there is no spy; rather, God is speaking to the prophet Elisha and giving him inside information – divine knowledge and divine vision – and Elisha is passing that knowledge on to the King of Israel.
When the King of Aram realizes what’s happening, he sends his army to find Elisha and capture him. So one morning, Elisha’s servant pulls back the curtains and he discovers that their house is totally surrounded by Aram’s army. Just as many of us would do in his situation, he calls out in fear and panic, “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” (2 Kings 6:15 NIV).
Now we might expect Elisha to come up with a cunning plan to make an undercover exit, or to hide somewhere hoping they won’t be found, or to hand himself over to make things go as smoothly as possible. Instead, Elisha calmly replies, “Don't be afraid. We have more forces on our side than they have on theirs” (2 Kings 6:16 GWT). Elisha’s servant was completely perplexed, so Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” (2 Kings 6:17 NLT).
God answers Elisha’s prayer, and Elisha’s servant looks out the window to see an army of angels—the entire hillside was covered with horses and chariots of fire. Then, as the Aramean army advanced toward them, Elisha again prayed to the Lord, “Please strike these people with blindness” (2 Kings 6:18 GWT). And, again, God answered Elisha’s prayer and struck the enemy army blind.
Full of confidence and bravado, Elisha walks out to the Arameans and, in their confusion, convinces them that they’ve arrived at the wrong city. He offers to lead them to the man they’re looking for and, since they haven’t got much choice, the soldiers follow Elisha all the way to the neighboring city of Samaria. He leads them right to the heart of the city, then prays again, “O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see!” (2 Kings 6:20 NLT). As their vision returns, they quickly realize that they’ve been duped. The Arameans are now the ones surrounded by Samaria’s army. The cocky king of Samaria asks Elisha, “Shall I kill them all?”
Elisha replied, “Of course not! Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master” (2 Kings 6:22 NLT). So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to Aram. And, the Bible says, “After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel” (2 King 6:23 NLT).
That’s quite a story, isn’t it!? Of course, the question is—what do we learn from this story? The central theme of the story is the ability to see. First, Elishia prays that his servant’s eyes would be open so that he could see. Then he prays that his enemies would be unable to see. Then he prays again that they would be able to see.
It all raises a question for us: are you looking at the things which are seen or the things that are unseen? I’d like to point out three things in this story that were unseen but ever-present. These same three things are present in your life and mine, even though they may go unseen at times.
The first unseen thing is God’s presence.
• GOD’S PRESENCE
When Elisha’s servant looked outside all he saw were enemy soldiers, surrounding them on all sides and closing in. Immediately panic set in and fear began rising. But when Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes, he suddenly realized that the God of angel armies was on their side. God, the Almighty creator of the cosmos, was with them. He’s with you, too.
The Bible tells us that God is omnipresent. He’s everywhere all the time. David recognized this when he wrote, “Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there” (Psalm 139:7-8 HCSB). Jesus promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NLT).
That reminds me of a little boy named Doug. One night, Doug was sitting on the porch with his mom, looking at a full moon. Little Doug asked his mom if God was on the moon. She said, “God is everywhere.” Little Doug thought for a moment, then asked, “Is God in my tummy?” Not knowing where these questions were leading, his mother said, “Well, yes, sort of…” Then Doug declared, “I think God wants some milk and cookies.”
God is always with us. We can’t escape his presence. But like that little boy and like Elisha’s servant, we have some trouble seeing God. That is, we don’t always recognize his presence. So how do we learn to see God; to recognize his presence?
Well, we can start with prayer just like Elisha did. “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.” Worshipping together will also help us become more aware of God’s presence. But most importantly, we see God through Jesus. The Bible says, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15 NLT). Jesus is the lens through which we see God. As we read through the four gospels in the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—we’ll begin to see God more clearly.
Often, we know that God is there, but he’s blurry and out of focus, obscured by our surroundings and circumstances. But when we focus the lens of faith, through prayer and worship and Jesus, we start seeing God more and more clearly.
So, the first unseen thing we should look for is God’s presence. Furthermore, we ought to look for God’s protection.
• GOD’S PROTECTION
The Bible tells us, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” (Psalm 34:7 NIV). That’s just what Elisha’s servant saw when he peered out the window. God lifted the veil between the earthly realm and the spiritual realm and allowed him to see an army of angels riding fiery chariots encamped around the unwitting enemy army.
Jesus also mentions this massive angel army. When Peter draws his sword to prevent the soldiers from arresting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus rebukes Peter, saying, “Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for twelve legions of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?” (Matthew 26:53). Twelve legions equal 72,000. That’s a lot of angels! Jesus, of course, didn’t need that protection because He knew it was God’s will to go to the cross, but very often we do need protecting. Especially in perilous times like this, we need to see God’s angels surrounding us, protecting us and reminding us that God is mightier than any enemy we might face.
The problem is, as humans, we want to see God’s protection as a magic force field that keeps us from all harm. Yes, God can prevent any evil or disaster but we must remember that we live in a fallen world where we have free will. Many times, God works in ways that we do not understand. Sometimes God's protection comes in the form of peace and strength in the middle of despair. Other times God's protection comes as an ending because he sees something more on the horizon that we cannot see.
Often throughout the Old Testament, God is compared to a strong tower or a mighty fortress. When the Israelites took refuge within Solomon’s fortress or the tower of David, their enemies didn’t just pack up and go home. They still had a battle to fight. But from within the fortress they had the advantage. Rather than being easy targets out in the open, they could fight from a position of strength from within the mighty walls. Additionally, they could climb the tower and look down on their enemies, giving them a better vantage point and perspective. God does the same for us. When we turn to God in times of trouble, our problems don’t just go away. But we can face those problems from a position of strength and we can see them from God’s perspective. As a child of God, you can rest knowing that no matter what hardship you face, God is your shelter, your strong tower, and your protector!
Finally, in addition to God’s presence and protection, we ought to look for God’s providence.
• GOD’S PROVIDENCE
God’s providence refers to God’s plans and provision. You cannot read this 2 Kings 6 without getting a strong sense of God’s providence. As this sequence of unusual events unfolds, it becomes more and more obvious that it was all part of God’s plan. And even though we may not see it or understand it, everything we’re going through right now is part of God’s plan too.
Plans are funny things. Most of the time, when we make them, we aren’t really the ones who control their outcomes. Sure, we can do our best to try and make them happen, but so much of our world—and our lives—are dictated by things outside of our control. Just when you think you’ve got life figured out, something happens that throws a monkey wrench into your plans. Whether it’s a consequence of something we’ve done or simply circumstances that are out of our control. Suddenly, plans change—and sometimes, they totally disappear.
Often the reason life doesn’t go according to plan is that God has other plans and his plans supersede ours. James knows all about that. In the New Testament, he writes to Christians scattered across the Roman empire:
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16 NLT)
Plans can be good, but when your whole life is shaped around your plans, you can become so focused on accomplishing them that we lose sight of God. Too often, our lives are dedicated to serving our own agendas. The Bible says, “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail” (Proverbs 19:21 NLT). The best thing we can do when looking to the future or when life doesn’t go according to plan is let God be God. Align your life with His plans. Instead of trying to fit God into our plans, we need to fit into His.
Right now, it feels to many of us like the world has gone crazy. This pandemic certainly wasn’t a part of my plan and we may not be able to see how it fits into God’s plans. But the truth is—God is always in control and his plans are never thwarted. So, it may be hard to see, but let’s look for God’s providence in the midst of this pandemic.
Conclusion:
When Elisha’s servant first looked out the window that morning, he couldn’t see God’s presence, protection or providence. He could only see peril and problems. Consequently, he was petrified and panic-stricken. Maybe you can relate.
In this climate of fear and foreboding, we need to learn to look not at the things which are seen, but the things that are unseen. Like Elisha, we need to see God’s presence, God’s protection, and God’s providence. Let’s pray “O Lord open my eyes and let me see.” And let’s pray for others, that God may open their eyes and give them comfort, courage and hope for whatever life may throw in their direction.
Would you prayer with me?
Prayer:
Lord God, As we struggle to cope with the consequences of this pandemic, we ask you to help us see the unseen. Open our eyes that we may see, Lord. Help us recognize your presence in lives, in our community and in our country. Help us to be more aware of your protection, and to seek shelter in you. Help us to see the beauty of your providence and trust that your plans will never fail. Please protect those most vulnerable to this virus and those who are struggling financially because of it. Help us to use this opportunity to love our neighbors and perhaps open their eyes to your great love for them. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
