2 Kings 5-7
O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. – 2 Kings 7:17 NASB
When we doubt God, it prevents us from seeing what He is doing or getting ready to do. Doubt distorts our vision of reality. It blurs our perspective and causes us to view life with less-than-perfect vision. We become far-sighted and can only see things that are close-up or nearby. But faith is the like corrective lenses for our lack of vision. The writer of Hebrews tells us, "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see" (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). Faith has a way of correcting our perspective and improving our sight. We begin to see things from God's point of view. Rather than our myopic, limited perspective, we begin to see what God see and realize that He is working in ways that have been unseen to us before. Paul told the Corinthians believers,"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV).
In these chapters of 2 Kings, we have two different stories of spiritual blindness brought on by doubt and a lack of faith. In the first, Elisha's servant is suffering from spiritual nearsightedness. He can't see beyond the immediate problem surrounding him. The king of Aram has sent troops to capture Elisha for having exposed his plot to attack Israel. When Elisha's servant wakes up one morning he sees them surrounded by enemy troops and cries out, "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?!" All he can see is trouble. His vision of reality is distorted. He is unable to see what is really going on. So Elisha tells him to calm down, to relax. "Don't be afraid, Those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (2 Kings 6:16 NLT). Really? But that's not the way this servant saw things. Elisha's statement couldn't have seemed more ill-informed or unrealistic. So Elisha prays for him. "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see" (2 Kings 6:17 NLT) and immediately the servant's eyes are opened and suddenly he can see what he couldn't see before. The hills around them are filled with horses and chariots of fire – the army of God. His lack of faith had limited his perspective. But Elisha had seen it all along. He had learned to look at life through the lense of faith. He had learned that what was seen was not necessarily an indication of reality. Elisha had learned to fix his eyes on what is unseen. He had learned to look at life through God's eyes, not his own.
It's interesting that in the story, while the servant of Elisha had his eyes opened, God blinded the eyes of the enemy. They lost their ability to see and were easily led by Elisha right into the capital of Israel where they were captured by the king. Their inability to see made them vulnerable. They were easily mislead and confused. That is what a lack of faith can do to us. It blinds us to the work of God. It causes us to lose our way. But when our eyes are opened by faith, we are able to see God at work where we didn't see Him before. We learn to see what is unseen, not just what is right in front of our face. God is always at work. He never rests. He never sleeps. He never runs out of ideas or answers to our problems. Faith allows us to see that God is at work despite our circumstances.
Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Father, open my eyes. Help me to see what You can see. Give me an eternal perspective. Increase my vision, my ability to see more than what seems to be apparent at first glance. Replace the blindness of doubt with the vision of faith. Amen