2 Kings 6:8-23 – "Open His Eyes And Let Him See"

Scripture: 2 Kings 6:8-23

Summary: Elisha's servant sees God's presence, protection and provision when Elisha
prays, 'Open his eyes and let him see." How might we see as God sees?

Aram is at war with Israel, but the King of Israel seems to be able to predict Aram’s army’s
movements. 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 he hasn’t got a spy – what’s happening is
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.

So the King of Aram realises that he needs to do something about Elisha. 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 panic “We are doomed, sir! What shall we do?”

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, but Elisha does something much better. He speaks a word of God: “Don't
be afraid”, and he prays: “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!”

God answers Elisha’s prayer, and Elisha's servant looks up and sees the hillside covered with
horses and chariots of fire. God’s protection becomes visible and God rescues Elisha, Elisha’s
servant and indeed the whole nation of Israel.

So what do we learn from this story? I want to focus on one line this morning: “O LORD, open
his eyes and let him see!” There’s a lot in this story about blindness and sight. First of all, Elisha
and Israel are able to see as God sees – they are given divine knowledge and vision of Aram’s
movements. But then Elisha’s servant is blinded. He doesn’t see as God sees – He sees as
men see. Elisha has to pray for God to open his eyes. Then the Arameans are blinded – not
physically as we might imagine; the word in Hebrew has more of the sense of their vision being
confused – until they are in the Israelite camp and their eyes are opened again.

It all raises a question for us: Are we blind, or do we see as God sees? It’s a theme that runs
through scripture. Jesus says that many won’t understand his parables because they have been
blinded to the truth. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:4 that, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of
unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ...” As
Jesus died on the cross, he prayed, “Father forgive them for they do not know [they do not see]
what they are doing” – Jesus saw God’s plan, but those who nailed him to the cross were blind
to what God and what they were doing. As Stephen was stoned to death, those who killed him
couldn’t see what Stephen could see – they were blinded to God’s reality – but Stephen had the
face of an angel as he saw the glory of God as (for him) the ever-reigning heavenly court was
superimposed over the temporary and sham earthly court.

But what about us? How do we see? Elisha’s servant was blind to three things – which we also
can be blind to:

1. God’s presence
2. God’s protection

3. God’s provision

So: First, we need to have our eyes opened to God’s presence

God is omnipresent – He’s everywhere – but that doesn’t mean we always see Him. Jesus
says, “where two or three are gathered, there I am amongst them,” which suggests that there
are ways of seeing and encountering God’s presence in our lives in a much clearer way. It’s like
bringing a lens into focus; at the start we know God’s there, but He’s blurry – obscured by
everything around Him and by what else grabs our attention. But when we focus the lens, there
we see Him much more clearly.

One of the ways of seeing and encountering Jesus is by meeting together and by being united
in our worship and prayer. Have sense it in our worship today? Jesus’ presence is almost
tangible as we’re united as his people. Another way, is through our own personal prayer and/or
Bible Study. Suddenly, the lens is brought into focus through a time of silence when the peace
of God descends on us, or from reading a particular verse in scripture that draws us to God.
Another is going to what some people call a ‘thin place’ – a place of beauty and wonder where
the distance between heaven and earth seems almost paper thin. In these places, and in
others, we see in a much clearer way than normal.

The important thing is that we need to sharpen our focus on God – not just in special one-off
moments, but in the everyday. And just think how that might change us…. Would we be quite so
quick to indulge in our sins, if we knew God was there by our side? Would we not be slower to
slander others, slower to gossip behind people’s backs, slower to let bitterness and resentment
build up, slower to lose our tempers, slower to do all sorts of things the Bible warns us against
because we would be caught up in a greater vision – a vision not of ‘getting our own back’ or
doing what we want, but a glorious vision of God and His plans and purposes. This is the
reason the book of Hebrews tells us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our
faith.” It’s because when we have our eyes on Him, and all that He has done for us – it’s so
much harder to be caught up in the web of sin. We see the bigger picture, the better picture.

Seeing God isn’t just a stick though; it’s also a carrot. When we sense God close to us, it’s so
much easier to do what He asks. It’s so much easier to clothe ourselves with Christ, and with
His love and compassion when God’s love is like a fire burning within us. It’s as if we are a coal,
and God a fire. When we put ourselves in the fire, it’s easy to be burning with the love of God;
but the moment we leave the fire, we start to cool down and it’s much harder to love as God
loves.

Seeing God also gives us boldness to move forwards into God’s will and God’s plan. We see
examples of this throughout the Bible: Moses had a stammer and was terrified of going and
speaking before Pharaoh – but he moved ahead and led the Israelites to freedom because he
saw God: in the burning bush and on Mount Sinai and in the pillar of fire and in the great cloud.
Why did Samuel grow into such a great leader and man of God? Because God appeared to
Samuel, calling out to him in the Temple in the middle of the night, and then Samuel continued
to see God. Why did David battle the giant Goliath? Because he knew and saw the living God
with him. Why did Isaiah say, “Here I am, Lord, send me”? Because Isaiah saw God in the
Temple and continued to see God with him. The list goes on… seeing God allows us to move
forwards into God’s plans and purposes with boldness and courage because we know that
we’re not alone and we don’t work in our own strength.

Secondly, we need to have our eyes opened to God’s protection

There is a minnow-like fish called Four Eyes, which lives in Central and South America. What’s
unusual about this fish is his large, bulging eyes. As you can see, his eyes are so situated on
his head that he can spend his time cruising along the water with only the upper half of each
eye above the surface, and the lower half below. The top half has a normal lens that sees up
into the air, and the bottom half has a water lens that looks down into the river. These eyes are
like a set of bifocals and they mean that the fish is both protected (from predators above) and
provided for (with food below)

It’s very clever, and it’s the kind of discerning vision we should have as Christians. We need to
have our eyes fixed both on the world around us, and on God. We may see all sorts of problems
beneath the surface, but we can look up to see the one who protects us above the surface.

And God does protect us. Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the LORD encamps around those
who fear him, and he delivers them.” That’s what Elisha’s servant saw that day. Jesus also
picks up on this protection when he’s in the Garden of Gethsemane and about to walk to the
cross – Jesus rebukes Peter by saying, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at
once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53). Twelve legions
numbered 72,000 – highlighting the huge power God has to protect us. 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. We need to see God’s angels surrounding us, protecting us and reminding us
that God is on our side because we are on His side. (Pause)

The Bible speaks a lot about ‘fearing God’ – why? Because if we fear God – as Psalm
34 commands – if we hold God in highest esteem, if we put Him above all else in our lives, if we
recognise that He is the only one who has control over our future, then we need not fear anyone
or anything else. Stephen understood this in Acts 6-7 – why did he have the face of an angel as
he was stoned to death? Because ultimately he knew that his earthly judges were not really in
charge. He looked up and saw God – and knew that his life, his future was still in God’s hands.
Even though his earthly judges took away his earthly life; he knew that his real life, his eternal
life, was there waiting for Him and nobody could take that from him.

Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts the Lord is kept
safe.” All of us would do well to memorise and hold on to that truth – and to see God’s
protection.

Thirdly, we need to have our eyes opened to God’s provision

Here in 2 Kings, God’s provision is God’s deliverance – at the start as God gives Elisha and the
King divine knowledge of Aram’s movements, and then again for Elisha and His servant. God
regularly provides in this way – it’s another truth that runs through the Bible like a thread, or
rather a great rope: We see God delivering the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, David from
Goliath, Daniel from the Lion’s Den, Peter and John from prison, and Paul from an angry mob…
to name just a few. For us today, God’s given us the ultimate deliverance in Jesus, rescuing us
from our sin, from evil, from darkness and death – but He also provides and delivers in smaller
ways. Very often we don’t see them, because we take them for granted, but they’re there.