June 24: Of Spiritual Blindness and the Cure

2 Kings 6:1-7:20

Acts 15:36-16:15

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 17:24-25

"Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see."

Have you ever noticed how much what we believe is dependent on what we perceive?  Thomas was a good example - remember what he said when told Jesus had risen?  If he couldn't see it with his own eyes, he could not believe it.  In his case, and in many other bases in the Bible, it seems to be such a limitation - one Elisha clearly understood, when he made the prayer above to God in behalf of his servant.  

In today's reading we see a few other examples of this: the laborer saw that the ax head was lost.  The servant saw the army arrayed against them.  The King of Israel saw the siege and the famine, and the mother demanding her counterpart give up her child to be eaten as they had eaten hers.   And they each felt fear and anguish.  

Elisha saw things differently - because of his relationship with God, he saw that the ax head could be made to float; saw that army of heavenly hosts arrayed for battle in their behalf; saw the end of the siege and the abundance of food that was to follow.  And so it seems troubling circumstances - even a famine - didn't trouble him. 

The laborer, the servant and the king of Israel were all afraid.  Elisha wasn't.  Who would you rather emulate?

If you're like me, the answer will be obvious...but getting there less so.  How often have I believed my problems were bigger than God?  How often have I succumbed to worry and fear?  How often have I doubted Him, simply because the circumstances He'd chosen for me weren't to my liking? Can you blame me?  I love my kids, and the world they are growing up in seems so much more troubled than the one in which I was raised.   And so I find myself sitting in fear, when all I need to do is come to Him in prayer, because He always answers prayer.  The psalmist tells me what I can do: "When my spirit grows faint within me, it is You who watch over my way...I cry to You, Lord; I say 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living'".  He asks God to set him free from prison, to rescue him from those more powerful than he who are pursuing him.

I might add another prayer - that very simple one of Elisha - "Open my eyes, Lord, so that I may see."