What are you looking at?
Series: Like you and me | Bible text: 2 Kings 6:8–23
Elisha and his servant experience a story of seeing or not seeing in the face of an enemy army. Through a prayer of Elisha, Gehazi’s vision was unlocked into the invisible spiritual reality. As a result, he lost all fear because he saw the armies of God, which are far superior to the worldly dangers.
We were already taught in our car driving lessons that we drive where we look. If we look at the tree in the bend, there is great danger of a collision. Therefore, in life with God, it is not only important to hear, but also to look. We can learn a lot from Elisha and his servant for our times. Like you and me – that is our theme for the year. We can experience the same as these two gentlemen did back then.
The piercing gaze
The king of Aram waged war against Israel. As a cunning war strategist, he makes plans of attack. But each time they are foiled, so that the King of Aram suspects a «mole» in his ranks. Crypto AG sends its regards. He conducts an internal investigation. But one of his army commanders knows: «It is not one of us, my Lord and King. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel every word you speak in your bedroom»(2 Kings 6:12 NL). He immediately sent out scouts to locate Elisha’s position. Soon it was clear that Elisha was in Dotan.
Elisha was a prophet. These are also called seers of God. Elisha had the gift of penetrating the wall of visible reality. There is a gaze that sees more. Paul prays for the Ephesians precisely for this gaze: «May he open your eyes of heart to realise what hope God gave you when he called you, what a rich and wonderful inheritance he has in store for those who belong to his holy people, and with what an overwhelmingly great power he is at work among us, believers»(Ephesians 1:18f NGÜ). The eyes of the heart can see things that our eyes in the head know nothing about.
But these eyes can only be opened by God. When they have been opened, we see not only the attacks of enemies and dangers of life, but hope, a wonderful inheritance and an overwhelmingly great power. All resources that have to be given and initialised by God.
The inviting view
But it’s stupid that the king of Aram knows about it and wants to get to Elisa’s throat. The attack against Dotan is launched, the first paratroopers have been dropped, the infantry is moving in, the artillery is in position. The noose is tightening.
«When the prophet’s servant got up the next morning and stepped out of the house, the city was surrounded by troops, horses and chariots. «My lord, what shall we do?» he called out to Elisha»(V.15 NL). Wherever Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, looked, there were only enemies!
That’s how it is for us right now: whether we’re chatting with the neighbour at a safe distance, reading the newspaper, switching on the TV, clicking away on push messages on the mobile phone, the enemy is crouching everywhere. From the moment we get up to the moment we go to bed, it catches our eyes. It may not be the King of Aram, but at least it is a «crown». Corona has us surrounded. It does something to us. Worries and fears want to weigh us down. Not only that: experts say that babies have two fears from the start: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. An anxiety study was conducted with five hundred adults of different ages, backgrounds and lifestyles. The results showed that the subjects shared 7000 different fears. In my opinion, this number is too high. But the tendency is correct. There is hardly anything that people are not afraid of.
Then Elisha makes a wonderful promise to his servant: «Do not be afraid! For there are more on our side than on theirs»(V.16 NL). I hear Gehazi say: «Don’t be afraid! Reality speaks a different language, you see that too, don’t you?» Elisa’s words of encouragement are much more than just optimism, however, because he sees more than Gehasi. In a prayer he asks God to open Gehazi’s eyes» hearts as well: «Lord, open his eyes and let him see. Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hill country around Elisha was full of fiery horses and chariots»(V.17 NL). Elisha invites Gehazi to a new look. The miracle happens and Gehazi sees fiery horses and chariots all around. The adjective «fiery» shows that it is a divine force. Gehasi gets a clear view of the heavenly invisible world, where a much stronger reality is at home..
Do not be afraid! For there are more on our side than on theirs! We have to consciously seek the view for this reality. My motto, for example, is that I always read the Bible first thing in the morning before I turn on my mobile phone or read the newspaper. I consciously switch off the television again after the day’s news. We are all forced to be at home more than usual. This offers us great opportunities to train our gaze on spiritual reality. Let us use this time to seek God. This can happen in an extended prayer walk or through regular prayer times. I have heard of people who simply did the prayer times of the Ufschtoh week at home. I also especially enjoy Sunday mornings. The sermon is in the box and I can take a lot of time with God with a cup of coffee before I go to the office at 9:00 am. How do you organise your days? It’s not about impressing God, it’s about training to look at a very different and much more real reality than the visible one.
Especially in the current time, when the enemy is surrounding us, this view of God’s reality is eminently important. Elisha helped his neighbour to get this view too. Many people around us are very insecure, scared and very open to divine things. We can be an Elisha for them. Just as he helped Gehazi to live with open heart eyes, we can help our fellow human beings. We can do this in prayer or in direct conversation. Let us use the opportunity that the present everyday life offers us and invite other people for a new look at reality. Many people are very open right now to the transcendent, to things that are denied to our purely earthly gaze. Be an Elisha for others! Perhaps you are also like Gehazi and do not yet know anything about the heavenly places. Then find an «Elisha» to pray with you, or pray the prayer I will say at the end. Whether Gehazi or Elisha, God speaks to you: «I will bless you and you shall be a blessing!»
The prevented gaze
«When the Aramean army advanced against them, Elisha prayed to the Lord, «Make them all blind.» And the Lord did what Elisha asked him to do» (V.18 NL). Elisha asks that the Arameans lose their natural sense of sight. This misled them into a false city and served them up on a platter before the sword of the king of Israel. «When the king of Israel saw them, he cried out to Elisha, «My father, shall I kill them?» » (V.21 NL). Elisha forbade his king to kill them and instead gave them bread to eat and water to drink. Together they threw a great feast. Afterwards, the king sent the army back to their king. From then on, the Aramean raiders left the land of Israel in peace. The wide vision Elisha had allowed him to be a blessing even to the enemies.
Now we have gone through all the stages of vision: natural vision, supernatural vision and no vision at all. I like supernatural vision best. It helps us to see the real reality. We are blessed and can be a blessing.
Ultimately, it is a matter of always keeping our eyes on Jesus: «[…] Let us persevere in the race to the end for which we are destined. We do this by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from the beginning to the end»(Hebrews 12:1f NL). Literally the conclusion is: «Jesus, the source of our faith and who leads it to the goal». Jesus is the source of faith. When we put our trust in him, he opens the eyes of our hearts so that we get a glimpse of the heavenly world. It also leads us ultimately to the goal – it is total communion with God, in which we see him unhindered in his inconceivable beauty as he is (1 John 3:2). That alone will be glory! Only through Jesus do we gain insight into the heavenly places, he is the peephole into the other, ultimately much more real world. None of us should renounce this gaze that Jesus wants to set free for us.
Possible questions for the small groups
Read the Bible text: 2 Kings 6:8–23
- What impresses you about this story? Do you believe in a life free of fear?
- Is Jesus already the source of your faith? Do you know the glimpse of the heavenly places?
- What frightens you? How did Gehasi deal with it? How could you use the «Gehasi effect» specifically for yourself?
- What are you looking at in this extraordinary time? What helps you to keep your eyes fixed on the heavenly reality?
- Create a new habit that helps you shift your gaze from the visible to the invisible world. What could it be?
