Daily EncouragementSample

It was the best prayer which Elisha could pray for the fearful servant, as he saw the city surrounded by “an army with horses and chariots,” for seeing is an antidote for fear. It is encouraging to be told that “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16); it is doubly reassuring to see that it is so.

Such seeing is a fundamental characteristic of spiritual life. “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Regeneration opens the eyes of the heart, and there is an awareness of the rule of God in every circumstance. Such seeing is paradoxical: “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (2 Cor. 4:18). Nevertheless, it is a constant source of encouragement and enables us, like Moses, to persevere because we see “him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27).

We see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6), a vision more wonderful than those of angelic armies or “horses and chariots of fire,” although it includes them.

When hosts of sin encompass me,
When tempted not to trust in Thee,
Open my eyes, that I may see
Jesus is nearer and stronger.