Lost and Found Series 5

A series of inspiring and empowering talks aimed at encouraging folks to begin to step out in faith and their gifting’s to become all that they can be in God.

Opening Our Eyes

A while ago we decided that the three of us, Barbie, Sam and I, would treat ourselves to a Nandos (this was before Barbie’s fall). So off we go. We discussed the various favourite menu items on the way and Sam and I were making salivating ‘man-noises’ as we discussed the delights of peri-peri chicken.  How disappointed were we then we arrived at the object of our quest to discover it was closed!  This is mid-week and Nandos should have been open.  It turns out that they had a private function on for their regional staff and so we were turned away.  So we decided to go next door and try Zizzi’s Italian restaurant.  It was heaving, because Nandos was closed.   But we were shown a table upstairs and began looking at the menu.  OK, the food was good, but it wasn't Nandos.  We chatted, talked a little about how busy the place was, but had a good time.  At the end of the meal I am paying and the waitress said, “Really sorry about the autograph hunters at the next table tonight, I hope it did not bother you!”  “Autograph hunters?”  I ask.  “Yes, Olly Murs and his manager were sitting next to you!”  For those of you who don’t know, Olly is a local lad who came to fame on X-Factor and, at the time of this incident was number one in the charts.  “Really, I said, I did not even notice!”  She was a little shocked.  I then wondered had Olly seen me and if he’d like my autograph!

When I saw where he was sitting I could have reached out and touched him (which might have made him jump).

You know sometimes we can be so focused on us, our challenges or situations, that we miss the obvious around us.  Today we’re going to look at Opening Our Eyes!

2 Kings 6:8-23:

The Story Behind The Text

Jehoram was now the king of Israel and one who was ungodly and far from God.  During his reign, there was a Syrian king by the name of Ben-hadad who began to threaten Israel despite an earlier alliance and receiving and favour from the Israelites.

The spiritual lesson here is that one can never make worldly alliances or make concessions with the enemy of the soul.  He is never satisfied; he constantly is endeavouring to destroy believers.

So Benhadad began to try to attack Israel at weak portions in the territory.  But there was a man of God who was still in touch with God.  During this time, God would reveal to Elisha the setting of the Syrians.  He would convey this information to King Jehoram.

Jehoram would respond by sending out scouts to the valleys where the ambush would lay.  He would send troops to the place pointed out and perhaps a small skirmish might occur, but the Syrians were never able to fulfil their wicked plans.

In verse 10: God revealing the battle plan to Elisha happened numerous times.  Thus, Israel was safe.

Ben-hadad became enraged at this spoiling of his plans.  The first thing that he suspected was treachery among his troops.  He suspected that somewhere among the Syrians was a spy who was delivering the information to the Israelite armies.  How otherwise could the king of Israel know of his intentions over and over again?

Finally one of his men told him that there was not a spy in the camp, just a man in touch with God on the other side.  How this Syrian man knew this, we do not know.  Elisha’s miraculous gifts however had come to the attention of the Syrians through the cure of Naaman’s leprosy.  The possibility even exists that Naaman could have been the one who revealed this to Benhadad.

Once this knowledge came to Ben-hadad, he sent out some spies to find out where Elisha was. The report came back that Elisha was hidden down in Dothan.  Dothan was the place where Joseph had been sold by his brothers.

So Ben-hadad ordered a night march to take the prophet by surprise and capture or kill him. The host of an army surrounded the small city so that Elisha could not escape.

Early in the morning, Elisha’s servant arose (not Gehazi who had ((presumably)) died with leprosy in the previous chapter) and went out and found the huge Syrian army surrounding the city.  He burst back into the house with his heart in his throat and cried out to Elisha about the fearful thing he had discovered outside.

When Vision Fails, Fear Strikes

15: 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.

Have you ever been overwhelmed with fear?  I have on a few occasions I my life.  One of these was when we were having a meal at a friend’s house in South Africa.  Steve and I were facing into the room and our wives were facing the wall.  As we ate we saw the expression on their face change, and Barbie went white as a sheet.  So Steve and I looked over our shoulder and there, about a foot above my head was a Baboon spider - a subfamily of tarantulas which are native to the continent of Africa.  The ladies left the table in a hurry and Steve and I devised a plan to kill the guest.  He got a spade and gave me a cricket bat.  Here’s the plan: If he misses with the spade, I am to hit it with a cricket bat.  I am thinking, “Great, so you make it angry and then I get to deal with it.”  It all ended well, well not for the spider!

But in those few minutes I was scared even though I was much bigger than the Baboon spider and its bite is rarely fatal to humans.  Barbie was shaken up for a while because she is arachnophobic; she was bitten by a spider when she was young.

Fear is paralysing.  There is a response called fight or flight.

When our fight or flight response is activated, sequences of nerve cell firing occur and chemicals like adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are released into our bloodstream.

These patterns of nerve cell firing and chemical release cause our body to undergo a series of very dramatic changes:

•  Our respiratory rate increases. 
• Blood is shunted away from our digestive tract and directed into our muscles and limbs, which require extra energy and fuel for running and fighting. 
• Our pupils dilate. 
• Our awareness intensifies. 
• Our sight sharpens (not our vision as such). 
• Our impulses quicken. 
• Our perception of pain diminishes. 
• Our immune system mobilizes with increased activation. 
• We become prepared—physically and psychologically—for fight or flight.

When our fight or flight system is activated, we tend to perceive everything in our environment as a possible threat to our survival.  By its very nature, the fight or flight system bypasses our rational mind—where our more well thought out beliefs exist—and moves us into "attack" mode.

This state of alert causes us to perceive almost everything in our world as a possible threat to our survival.

We can begin to see how it is almost impossible to cultivate positive attitudes and beliefs when we are stuck in survival mode. Our heart is not open.  Our rational mind is disengaged.  Our consciousness is focused on fear. (http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/EducationCenter/fight.html - not a Christian site, but helpful in defining fight or flight).

But here is something interesting: if we have had an episode that has caused us stress and fear we can repeat these physiological changes, even where there is no threat to us.

So if we have been rejected in a relationship, we begin to put up barriers to any relationships in the future; if we were bullied at school we discover that a fear of bullying can persist; if we have been bitten by a dog we my fear dogs (as I once did) etc.

And then, for no rational reason, all of the physiological symptoms of fear may occur.  We find we are having a physical reaction to a benign situation.  We have lost our Christian perspective!

Take out your pencils that were on your seats when you arrived.  We’re going to have a quick object lesson in how we see time!

Pencil part one:  if our life is represented by the pencil we tend to think in the present moment.  Focus for me for a few seconds on the tip of the pencil by looking down on it.  When we think of our lives in terms of the very tip, that moment.  We can see that the pencil is moving away from us (it’s longer then the tip) but it is hard to see beyond the nib.  We’ll come back to this later.

When Vision Works, Perspective Returns

16-17: 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.

Notice: the horses and chariots were on the hills around Elisha.  Remember, the presence of God surrounds us, even if we are facing tough things!  But the presence of God can also surround a district or area because we are there.

Elisha had a different perspective.  He knew that the king of Aram would be coming for him for it appears it was no secret who was given the Israelites his secrets (12).

But Elisha knows that he is not alone!  He has understood the difference between sight and vision!

Sight is the ability to see what is in front of us.  Sight is the ability to look at the situation and say, “this is what I see”.

Vision, is the ability to look at the situation and see what is not there but what can and will be.

There is a difference between having sight and having vision:

Ø Sight will make you see what is, but vision will make you see what will be there.

Ø Sight will make you see what is happening, but vision will make you see what is going to happen.

Ø Sight sees the predicament, but vision sees the potential.

Ø Sight sees the present, but vision, sees the promise of God.

We know that at times life can be tough.  Sometimes the unexpected happens to us and we struggle.  But we understand that these things are temporary!

2 Corinthians 4:16-18:  Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

There is an eternal perspective that we need to grasp.  It’s not all doom and gloom.  We have an eternal reward, a hope that inspires us and drives us, a purpose that tells us that everything we do has an eternal consequence!

But eternity can seem a very long way off!  We need a change to happen quicker than this!

Psalm 30:5: For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

My friends, whatever we are facing we need to understand that the Son is about to rise on our situation, if we’d only see what He sees!

Pencil Part Two: Take out your pencil again!  This time hold it sideways and look at the length of it.  Whilst we live in a moment, God looks at our lives and eternity from a different perspective.  He can see the beginning (the tip), the events along the pencil (crisis or celebration), and the end.  He can see the sum of all the moments but is also there surrounding us (if we’re the lead then he is the wood).

My friends, the Son is about to rise on your situation!  Live in the expectation of a fresh perspective!

When Vision is Acted On, Success Rises

18-19: 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.

I am sorry, but I cannot help but think as a scene in Star Wars: a New Hope, where Obi Wan Kenobi says, “These are not the droids you are looking for!”

The text does not say they were literally blind, if they were then panic would have ensued.  The Hebrew word used here for blindness is sanwérîm and is only used in Genesis 19:11; It can mean literally blind, but can also denote a condition of confuse vision, that is, to see things that are not there or not to see things that are there!

In essence this is the reverse of what is happening to Elisha’s servant, who can now see the army of God!

What is happening here?  The fresh vision means that Elisha can now lead the way out of the situation.

What had looked like certain failure now becomes a success story because of heavenly sight.  If we could just see what God has in store, in the moment of our life, we would soon see failures turning to success. 

Of course this can be difficult if we are so focussed on the challenge!  It seems it easier to wallow in self-pity and anxiety than to believe that we can be successful.

Success is a dirty word amongst some Christians.  Yet success is going to be the eventual result of believing and obeying the Word of God:

Joshua 1:8: Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

If you don’t want to be successful and prosper because you don’t want to appear boastful in life then ignore the Bible.  This not about being rich or better than anyone else; It’s about living out a fresh perspective!  But sometimes we have a fear of failure because of the past, stress rises and patterns repeat in our lives.

Pencil part three: Have you noticed something about this pencil?  It has a rubber.  It means that mistakes can be rubbed out and corrected – as though they never happened!  Isn’t that the grace of God again!  From God’s perspective, everything can be forgiven if we confess it to him (1 John 1:9).  But what we discover is that when things are dealt with, just like a pencil, our lives are turned upside down for a period of time to allow the process to take place!

When Vision is Acted on, Wisdom Follows

20-23: 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.

You know it is very difficult to make wise decisions when you are overwhelmed with fear.  The king of Israel can see a way to bring relief to his people by killing the army that is now his captives!

Elisha, because he sees things from heaven’s perspective, gives a better solution!  Feed them, water them, and treat them with dignity.  The result? So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory (23c).

You see we all want victory, but victory has in the past become an over warn catch-all statement.  It is better to ask for wisdom!

Elisha displayed a different strategy to the king of Israel!  He showed compassion. 

Fear never wants to show compassion!

James 1: 5:  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Wisdom helps us see the heavenly perspective on what we’re facing.  But it brings a victory to us too.

Wisdom leads to strategy, strategy leads to victory, victory gives God glory (Ed Cole).

Fear wants victory and glory for itself.  Fresh vision will bring a new perspective. 

Wisdom – strategy-victory-God’s glory.

Wrapping it up!

We need to embrace a new perspective, built upon God’s wisdom and healthy view of success.

Sight is not the answer but true vision, seeing what is not there is:

For we live by faith, not by sight.  (2 Corinthians 5:7)