14 Days to PeaceSample

To banish worry, you don’t need better circumstances—you just need better vision. 

Have you ever noticed how much a worry shapes all your thinking? When we’re really worried about something, it blinds us to other good things around us. Instead of focusing all our energy on trying to overcome the worry, God invites us to see what we’re not yet seeing. 

One morning Elisha’s servant stepped onto the porch with his morning coffee and saw the hillsides full of enemy horses and chariots. As fear and dread came upon the servant, Elisha remained unconcerned and said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16, ESV). 

To relieve the servant’s worries, the prophet didn’t ask God to smite the Syrian soldiers. Elisha didn’t rebuke his fearful servant either. Instead, the man of God lifted a simple request to God: “Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see’” (2 Kings 6:17, ESV).  

All of a sudden, the worried servant’s fears evaporated because he saw something that Elisha had seen but that the servant had not. “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” (2 Kings 6:17, ESV).  

The Syrian horses and chariots still loomed on the hillsides, but the vision of horses and chariots of fire changed everything. 

We usually think that the way out of worry is to solve our predicaments. We’d like the Syrian soldiers to be banished from the hillsides. We’d like some guarantees of an easy life. But God likes to open our eyes and show us His provision in the midst of our battles. 

In an ironic reversal, as the servant gains new vision, the enemy forces lose theirs. “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” (2 Kings 6:18, ESV).  

Are you worried? Resist the temptation to start flailing at your problems and, instead, ask Jesus to show you what He sees. No one gets a free ticket out of life’s battles, but anyone can get new vision in the midst of the struggle. When you see things from God’s perspective, you’ll have no worries. And that’s the Gospel!

Questions for Reflection:

1) Is there someone or something in your life that you would like to see as Jesus sees? What is it?

2) How do you think the servant in 2 Kings 6 felt? Have you ever gained a new perspective on something, like having your eyes opened? What was that like? 

3) Jesus wants us to see the world as He sees it. All we have to do is ask. Take a moment to pray, Father, open my eyes so that I can see as Jesus sees.