I Can't See

We See With Earthly Eyes a Spiritual Battle

2 Kings 6:8–17 ASV

Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are coming down. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice. And the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was round about the city. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not; for they that are with us are more than they that are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

How often do we see a problem in front of us with the same eyes as the servant. All he could see was the death and destruction that lay before him.

He saw a problem with no earthly solution. 2 against an army? There is no way on this earth that you win.

We see this all throughout the Bible!

1 Samuel 17:4–11 ASV

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield-bearer went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

The Israelites saw with earthly eyes a foe who could not be defeated.

So often a spiritual battle manifests itself in an earthly problem.

satan does not care how many children you have.

he doesn’t care if you are rich or poor.

he does not care if you can buy groceries.

What he does care about is can he make the issues within your home convince you to turn your back on Christ?

Can he make the stress over finances cause you to lose faith in your God?

Can he make your hunger turn to anger with God for not supplying you?

That is his concern. He uses wordly problems to fight spiritual battles.

Back to Elisha

2 Kings 6:18–23 ASV

And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. And he led them to Samaria. And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Jehovah, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And Jehovah opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. And he prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

Elisha literally wanted God to show his servant the world with spiritual eyes.

And when he did, his servant saw what was really going on. The world showed overwhelming odds and certain death, God showed a victory.

What Do We Do With The Victory

Here we see something very different then we might think.

Elisha could have asked God for the utter destruction of the Syrian army, and let’s be real He probably would have. He did it before and after.

But Elisha asked for them to be blinded. Weird considering what we saw before had to do with Elisha’s servant not being able to see.

And then he leads them to Israel’s camp where they receive their vision back and find themselves surrounded and facing certain death. But again we see a different outcome.

Elisha said to feed them and send them away.

Here we see it all come full circle. People who worked with what only they could see found themselves in unbeatable situations.

But when God took control the outcomes changed completely.

Back to David

When all of Israel saw death and defeat. David saw the victory through his Father.

When We See the Fight, We See the Victory

If we can just see past the problem in front of us and see the solution around us we would see that victory isn’t attainable it is already secured.

Victory can not be taken from us, it must be surrendered. Look with your spiritual eyes. When life crumbles around you, ask God to show you Himself in it, and there you will find your escape and your victory!

Ephesians 6:12 ASV

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.