The Unseen Workings of God



2 Kings 6:8-20
8 Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.”
9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there.”
10 And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.
11 And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?”
12 And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
13 And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” It was told him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.”
14 So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.
19 And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.
20 As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

Throughout Elisha’s lifetime there were numerous skirmishes with the Syrians. The nation never really had a time of complete peace. Even in the midst of their idolatry, God still cared about His people and because of that, gave Elisha special revelation regarding the movements and actions of their enemies. Elisha would share that information with the king, and thus help keep Israel safe from ambushes and attacks. Because of this the king of Syria believed that he had a spy in his court who would tell Israel his plans. After the Syrian king is informed about the power of Elisha to know his plans, he plots to take Elisha by force and thus end the information leakage.

While Elisha is staying in Dothan, the Syrian army surrounds the town and waits for dawn. Elisha’s servant rises to find the city surrounded and naturally he is struck with fear. What the servant cannot see is that God’s warrior angels have also surrounded the city and they are, of course, of superior strength to the Syrian army. After Elisha prays, the servant’s sight expands to include the spiritual and he too sees God’s vast army. God then strikes the enemy army with blindness and they are forced to follow Elisha as he leads them into Samaria, the capital of Israel. Now they are captured without an arrow being shot or a sword drawn.

What a gift it would be to be able to see into the spiritual realm; to see angels guarding and protecting us! God has chosen blindness for us most of the time in this regard and we can only assume that blindness to be for our benefit. But, just because we cannot see them, we must still trust that they are there! Supernatural things happen to us all the time, but we don’t recognize it. Our lives are sparred or disasters averted all the time because God’s angels surround us and act in accordance with His will for us. Just as I reach out my hand to cover the corner of a table to protect the toddler that wanders too close, God reaches out with this unseen army to take care of us even when we don’t realize it. His grace extends to us all day long whether we know it our not!

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