So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw’ and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 

2 Kings 6:16-17, NASB

The king of Aram was furious with the prophet Elisha and had begun exacting his revenge. Following the orders of the king, the Aramean army circled the city of Dothan where Elisha was rumored to have been staying. Rising early one morning, Elisha’s servant went out, and upon seeing the Aramean’s horses and chariots he asked Elisha, “What shall we do?”

It’s a valid question, don’t you think? I’m thinking now would be a good time to have a strategy.

Elisha, steadfast in faith, reminded the servant not to fear. More were fighting for them than against them. And then for some added assurance for his servant, Elisha prayed that the Lord would open his servant’s eyes so that he could see for himself the army that was fighting for them. “And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).

Have you ever wished you could get a behind the scenes look when your faith is feeling a little weak in the knees? More than once I have wished to be privy to this information. Maybe I wouldn’t have problems trusting if I could just see the Lord’s army fighting on my behalf. I guess that isn’t faith though, is it? The writer of Hebrews tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NASB emphasis mine).

Elisha had it right. Elisha’s servant, like me at times, had it all wrong.

When the storms of life crash head-on with our faith, it can be easy to fix our eyes on our problems. We can see them. They’re real and they can be frightening. Like the servant, we can be quick to panic or try to spring in to action like it all depends on us. The good news is that it doesn’t depend on us. God’s got this.

The Lord and His army are fighting on our behalf. We need only to trust. Like Elisha, we too can stand in confidence that those fighting for us are more than those fighting against us.

Choosing to trust,

Traci