Do you remember those pictures in the mid-1990s where they looked to be just some abstract colors and smudges, but if you let your eyes relax (or cross perhaps) you could see a hidden picture? If you don’t remember them or are too young, consider yourself fortunate. I remember walking through malls (remember them?) and stopping at the stores that sold these torture devices. I would “stare” at each one, trying to see the hidden picture. They really needed to bundle aspirin with those things. Often, I would eventually be able to see the picture, but not always. There were times when I stared for what seemed like hours but to no avail. It was frustrating. And I wasn’t alone. I knew people who couldn’t see any of the hidden pictures. I wonder if they still think the whole thing was a hoax, a practical joke where the hidden pictures really didn’t exist.
The Servant’s Vision Problem
If there was any doubt that God gave Elisha His spirit, it was quickly removed by what followed. Elijah’s ministry had been impressive, especially the encounter with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, but Elisha’s ministry was equally impressive, perhaps even more so.
Elisha was part of God providing an ongoing supply of bread and oil for himself, the Shunammite woman, and her son, and then God used the prophet to bring the boy back to life (2 Kings 4:1-37). Elisha threw flour into a pot of poisoned stew to make it safe to eat (2 Kings 4:38-41). He then multiplied bread for people to eat, with leftovers (2 Kings 4:42-44). He would then heal Naaman from his skin disease (2 Kings 5:1-19) and then he made an iron ax head float (2 Kings 6:1-7).
All of that leads into this week’s story. During this time, the king of Aram was at war with Israel and Elisha would send word to the king of Israel about the enemies movements. It was not because Elisha was a spy, of course; he was a prophet.
When the king of Aram learned what was going on, he sent an army to capture Elisha. The army arrived where Elisha was, and surrounded the city at night. Then this happened:
15 When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, he discovered an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do? ”
16 Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:15-17 CSB)
The servant’s problem, as Elisha prayed, was that his physical eyes could see just fine, but his spiritual eyes were blind—at least in this moment. There is a physical dimension to God’s creation, as we are well aware of, but there is also a spiritual dimension. Both are always present and each are very real. The servant needed the Lord to open his eyes, but not the physical ones.
Our Vision Problem
I wonder if we sometimes read the Bible with too much of a critical, prideful spirit. Like here, perhaps. It might be easy for us to roll our eyes at the servant because he failed to see the angelic army. We might think of him as one of those poor people who, no matter how much they squinted and strained, could not see the pictures in those 1990s art pieces. It was right there in front of them, but they just couldn’t see it.
But that wouldn’t be fair of us at all. I have to believe we would have been squinting along with the servant that morning rather than seeing with Elisha. Why do I say that? Well, how many boys have we brought back to life? How often have we made poisonous stew edible? Multiplied bread? Made an ax head float? Healed a disease?
Yes, the servant had a vision problem, but so do we. We are no better. Our spiritual vision is just as poor. But be grateful that it is not up to us to see. Just like Elisha’s servant needed the Lord to open his eyes, so do we. Initially, of course, this happens when we are saved. God makes us new and we are finally able to see—and begin to understand—God’s truth. It was always right before our eyes (Romans 1), but we saw it as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1–2) until God removed our blindness. This, by the way, is why Jesus healing blindness in the Gospels is so important (John 9, for example). Those literal physical healings pictured this greater spiritual healing.
Everyday, God is at work all around us—in both the physical and spiritual realms. The key is that we constantly depend on God to open our eyes to see what is taking place.
Humans have been unable to open their own eyes, spiritually, since Adam hid behind the tree in hopes that his hiding from God could save him from God. We’ve all become very creative at trying to make ourselves see, but we will never succeed… [God] will always be doing what no one can: be God. The God who does the miraculous. And we can be sure that the salvation of a sinner is the greatest miracle the world could ever see.” — Jackie Hill Perry [1]
Preschool Tip: Talking about the spiritual realm can be challenging for our more concrete preschoolers. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t important for us to do so. God, after all, is Spirit and unseen. Consider ways that you might begin to help them understand that there is more to reality than we can see. The wind, such as from a fan, is always worth considering as an illustration.
Kids Tip: Many of the kids we teach experience hardships—real, significant ones. We don’t like to think about this, but it is true. Some we might know about; many we don’t. This week we have the opportunity to encourage them that God is at work in mighty ways, even when the situation seems dire and we cannot see what He is doing. Help your kids see (pun intended) this beautiful truth this week. They need to know it.
[1] Jackie Hill Perry, Gay Girl, Good God (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2018), 146.
Candace says
Hi there! I really appreciate the blog posts for the kids’ lessons each week. I use them as the director to prepare and understand on a deeper level, and then I make sure and send the direct link to my team each week. That being said…the blog is so difficult to navigate. It would be a huge help if you could use tags/categories and then have those appear in a list in the sidebar. Something simple like “Kids Lessons” would allow me to see all of the posts relating to kids’ lessons and bypass all of the other blogposts, especially because it seems there is even more content on the blog this semester!
Perhaps something like this already exists, but if it does, it’s not easy to find! Thanks. I appreciate all you do to make teaching easier on us.
Aaron Armstrong says
Hi Candace, we do have a lot of blog content, and we do use categories to keep everything together. A quick resource for finding all the posts if you want to ignore all the other (hopefully helpful) content we’re producing is by visiting the Additional Resources and choose the blog posts under the volume you’re working through.