See What God Sees, Not Only What You See. Look Beyond That.
A study note for the church website, from Father Eldrin. We are walking Charles Stanley’s 30 Life Principles. The Scripture is on the page so you can read it here. Next year, come back to the same passages and add what the Lord shows you under the headings at the end.
You do not know what tomorrow will bring. That is why trust is not a mood. It is a way of seeing. God is already ahead of the day you have not met yet, and He prepares His people for what is coming. The trouble is that we keep measuring the future with eyes that can only see today.
Key passage
2 Kings 6:17 (NIV)
And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
The army was already there. The servant did not need a new circumstance. He needed new sight.
Three fears that come from looking only with our own eyes
What is it about the future that causes you to fear? Often it is the blank space. No schedule. No guarantee. A doctor’s report not back yet, a child not home yet, a bill not covered yet. Fear likes an empty calendar, because it can write anything it wants in the margin.
What doubt do you have that God will provide? Usually it is specific. Not “God in general,” but rent, health, a reconciliation, a call that has not come. We believe He provided for Israel in the wilderness and then wonder if the rule still holds on our street.
Do you fear that nothing may change, and that you will be stuck in a bad situation? That one sits heaviest. Not a sudden blow, but a long hallway. Same argument. Same habit. Same waiting. The fear is not only that it is hard. The fear is that it is permanent.
All three grow from the same root. We are viewing the day through our own perspective, and our perspective is incredibly small. It is possible for you to be overwhelmed. It is not possible for God to be overwhelmed. The hills were full before the servant could see them. His panic did not shrink heaven’s army. It only hid it from him.
Read the story
2 Kings 6:8–23 (NIV)
Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”
The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
“None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
“Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.
Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.
After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.
When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?”
“Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.
How did Elisha know the Arameans were going to ambush Israel, and how did they respond?
He knew because God showed him. The king of Aram set the place of the camp in secret, and Elisha sent word to the king of Israel: do not pass that place. Not once. Time and again. The officer in Aram finally says it plainly. No one in their camp is a traitor. Elisha the prophet tells the king of Israel the very words spoken in the bedroom. That is sight beyond sight. God was already in the war room the enemy thought was private.
The Arameans respond the way frightened power usually responds. They do not repent. They try to capture the man who can see. Horses, chariots, a strong force, by night, around Dothan. If you cannot silence the message, surround the messenger. It does not work. The One who told Elisha the bedroom conversation is not surprised by a night march.
How did his servant respond? Why could Elisha see God’s forces when the servant could not?
The servant does what any of us would do at dawn with an army on the ridge. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” He reports the visible. He is not wicked for that. He is limited. Elisha’s answer is not a count of spears. “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then he prays the prayer that is our key verse. Open his eyes.
Elisha could see because he was already living by the word God had been giving him. The servant could not, until God opened his eyes. Sight like that is not a personality trait. It is a gift asked for. Verses 16 and 17 belong together. Courage is spoken first. Then the prayer. Then the hills full of horses and chariots of fire. Notice what does not happen. The fiery army does not appear because the servant finally felt brave. It was already there. Prayer did not create the help. Prayer revealed it.
And look at the end of the story, because God’s sight is not only about winning a skirmish. The enemy is struck blind, led into Samaria, given back their sight, and then fed and sent home. The king of Israel wants to kill them. Elisha will not let him. The raids stop. Seeing what God sees includes seeing what God wants done with the people who scared you.
Paul and the body: why the parts are named
1 Corinthians 2:9–16 (NIV)
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Paul names the body on purpose. Eye, ear, mind. The ordinary instruments we trust for the future. What God has prepared for those who love Him has not been seen by the eye, heard by the ear, or conceived by the human mind. If you wait to trust until your senses deliver the outcome, you will wait past the help.
Verse 10 is the only way we see what God is showing. “These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” Not by a sharper forecast. By the Spirit.
Verses 11 through 13 are how that conversation works. Your own spirit knows your thoughts. God’s Spirit knows God’s thoughts. We have received the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what He has freely given. We do not invent spiritual language out of human cleverness. The Spirit teaches the words. That is how a believer talks with God about a day the eye has not seen yet.
Verse 14 tells us what worldly people do when they hear God’s plan. They do not accept it. They call it foolishness. They cannot understand it, because it is discerned only through the Spirit. This is not an insult to their intelligence. It is a statement about equipment. A radio does not fail because the song is unreal. It fails because it is not tuned to the signal.
Why God’s plan only makes sense after you have accepted Christ as Savior. Because the mind of Christ is not a pamphlet you pick up and grade. Paul ends the passage there: we have the mind of Christ. Apart from Him, the cross itself looks like weakness, prayer looks like delay, and an unseen army looks like wishful thinking. When you trust Christ, the Spirit takes up residence. Then the same plan that sounded foolish starts to fit. You still may not see the outcome. You can see the One who holds it. Elisha’s servant did not become a different man that morning. His eyes were opened. That is conversion applied to a frightened day.
Life help
Close your eyes to the habit of measuring only by your own vision. Stop sizing the problem until the problem is the only large thing in the room. See how big God is. Remember how He has helped others, in Scripture and in the church around you. The God who filled the hills at Dothan has not grown smaller. He will help you as well.
Stanley gives six practices. Each one has a psalm. Read them out loud when the ridge looks occupied.
Recall past victories
Psalm 145:5–7 (NIV)
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty — and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works — and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
Memory is a form of sight. Meditate on what He has already done before you decide what He cannot do.
Reject discouraging words
Psalm 40:14–16 (NIV)
May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!”
Not every voice in a hard week gets a vote. The “Aha” chorus is not the verdict.
Recognize the true nature of the battle
Psalm 20:6–8 (NIV)
Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
Dothan looked like a horse-and-chariot problem. It was a name-of-the-Lord problem. Name the battle correctly and you will stop fighting it with the wrong weapons.
Respond to the challenge with a positive confession
Psalm 118:6–9 (NIV)
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
This is not pretending the army is gone. It is saying, out loud, who is with you. Elisha said it before his servant could see it.
Rely on God’s power
Psalm 66:3–5 (NIV)
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name.” Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!
Come and see. That is the invitation of this whole principle. Power is not something we stir up. It is something we are shown.
Reckon the victory
Psalm 98:1 (NIV)
Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
Reckon means count it as already His. Not because you forced the ending, but because His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation. The servant’s morning ended in a feast for the men who came to capture them. Look beyond what you see.
Room for next year’s reading
Add notes under each line rather than starting over.
- The fear about the future that was loudest this year.
- The provision we doubted, and how it was met, or how we are still waiting.
- 2 Kings 6:8–23: where we saw “those who are with us” only after we asked for opened eyes.
- 1 Corinthians 2:9–16: a plan that sounded foolish until the Spirit made it plain.
- Which of the six psalms we actually prayed, and what shifted.
- A Dothan of our own: the ridge that looked occupied, and what God later showed was already there.
See what God sees. The hills are not empty just because your eyes, for the moment, are.
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