The Enemy Was New. The God Surrounding Him Was Not.

Have you ever looked at what was happening around you and wondered how you could possibly get through it?

There are moments when what we can see feels overwhelming. The circumstances are real. The fear is understandable. And everything our physical eyes are telling us seems to point toward the same conclusion: This is bigger than me.

There is a moment like that in 2 Kings 6 that I have always loved. Elisha's servant wakes up one morning, goes outside, and discovers that the city where they are staying has been completely surrounded by an enemy army.

But when I went back and read the entire chapter again, I noticed something I don't think I had ever really stopped to consider.

That army wasn't coming for the servant.

It was coming for Elisha.

And somehow, the man they had come to capture was the one who wasn't afraid.

The Man the King Wanted to Capture

The story actually begins before that frightening morning.

The king of Aram was at war with Israel, and whenever he planned where his army would attack, Elisha warned the king of Israel. Again and again, Israel avoided the places where the Arameans were waiting for them.

Eventually, the king of Aram became furious.

He was convinced someone among his own officers must be secretly giving information to Israel.

But one of his officers told him:

“None of us, my lord the king… but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” 2 Kings 6:12 NIV

Imagine that for a moment.

The king is making plans in what he assumes is the privacy of his own room, yet God knows every word. Before the king moves, God knows. Before the army moves, God knows.

Before Elisha's servant ever wakes up and discovers that there is a problem, God already knows.

The king of Aram finally decides that if Elisha is the problem, he will simply capture Elisha.

When he learns that Elisha is in Dothan, he doesn't send a handful of soldiers. He sends horses and chariots and a strong force. They travel by night and surround the city.

And early the next morning, Elisha's servant walks outside.

There they are. An army. Horses. Chariots.

Every visible piece of evidence tells him that they are trapped.

His response is immediate:

“Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” 2 Kings 6:15 NIV

I don't think the servant was foolish for being afraid.

His eyes were accurately reporting what they could see.

There really was an army surrounding them.

The problem wasn't that what he saw wasn't true.

The problem was that it wasn't all that was true.

Elisha Knew More Than His Servant Did

There is something remarkable about the contrast between these two men.

The servant is terrified, even though he isn't the person the king is trying to capture.

Elisha is the target. And yet Elisha is completely calm.

Why?

It certainly wasn't because Elisha knew less about the danger. Elisha understood exactly why that army had come. He knew more than his servant did. But Elisha also knew something his servant didn't yet know.

He answered:

“Don’t be afraid… Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 2 Kings 6:16

Think about that statement.

Elisha said “those who are with us” before his servant could see anyone.

The servant could count the enemy's horses. He could count their chariots. He could see their soldiers surrounding the city. And Elisha was telling him that there was another army he couldn't count because he couldn't even see it yet.

But I think there is something even deeper here.

Because this wasn't Elisha's first encounter with the fiery chariots of God.

Elisha Had Seen Them Before

Years earlier, Elisha had been walking with Elijah when something extraordinary happened.

As the two men walked together, suddenly horses and chariots of fire appeared, and Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Elisha saw it.

With his own eyes.

And he cried out:

“My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” 2 Kings 2:12 NIV

I don't know whether Elisha was physically seeing those fiery chariots again as he stood in Dothan that morning. Scripture doesn't tell us. And perhaps it doesn't matter.

Elisha had seen them before.

He had history with God.

There had already been a moment in Elisha's life when the veil between what was visible and what was invisible seemed to pull back, and he had witnessed a reality far greater than the one his natural eyes ordinarily allowed him to see.

So, when another army appeared years later, Elisha didn't have to decide for the first time whether God's unseen reality was real.

He already knew.

And I wonder how often this is part of learning to walk with God. We want Him to prove Himself again in every new frightening circumstance.

Show me You're here. Show me You're going to take care of this. Give me another sign. Let me see something so I won't be afraid.

But after years of walking with Him, there comes a point when yesterday's encounters with God become today's anchors of faith.

We remember.

We remember the prayers He answered. We remember the places He met us. We remember what He revealed about Himself through His Word. We remember the times we thought there was no way through and somehow, He was already there.

The enemy Elisha faced was new.
The God surrounding him was not.

“Lord, Open His Eyes”

Elisha doesn't ask God to send help.

That is one of my favorite parts of this entire passage.

He doesn't look at the army and say, God, we need You to do something quickly.

He simply prays:

“Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” 2 Kings 6:17 NIV

And God does.

Suddenly the servant sees what had been there all along.

“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.” 2 Kings 6:17 NIV

All around Elisha.

Don't miss that.

The king of Aram had sent his army to surround Elisha.

But when God opened the servant's eyes, he discovered that Elisha was already surrounded.

The enemy had surrounded the city.

God had surrounded Elisha.

And God's army didn't suddenly appear because the servant finally saw it. His opened eyes didn't create the reality.

They allowed him to perceive the reality that was already there.

That changes the way I think about faith. Faith isn't pretending the enemy army isn't standing at the bottom of the hill. It isn't closing our eyes to pain, loss, uncertainty or circumstances that frighten us.

The servant wasn't wrong about what he saw.

He simply couldn't see enough.

There was more.

And sometimes I wonder if one of the greatest prayers we can pray in frightening circumstances isn't simply, “Lord, change this.”

Maybe sometimes it is:

“Lord, open my eyes.”

Let me see You here. Let me remember what I already know about You. Let what I know of You become greater in my heart than what I can see with my eyes.

Then the Story Turns

But the story doesn't end with the servant seeing chariots of fire.

And this is where 2 Kings 6 becomes even more fascinating.

As the Aramean army comes toward Elisha, he prays again this time asking God to strike the army with blindness.

God does.

Elisha then leads the very men who came to capture him straight into Samaria.

And once they are there, Elisha prays again:

“LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” 2 Kings 6:20 NIV

Their eyes are opened. And now they are surrounded.

What an extraordinary reversal. At the beginning of the story, the servant looks around and thinks:

We're surrounded.

Now the enemy opens its eyes and discovers:

We're surrounded.

The chapter is filled with people seeing, not seeing and having their eyes opened. But perhaps the most surprising part comes next. The king of Israel sees the trapped Arameans and asks Elisha if he should kill them. Elisha says no.

Instead, he tells the king to give them food and water. So, a great feast is prepared for the very men who had come to capture him. They eat. They drink. And then they are sent home.

That may tell us something profound about what happens when we really know we are secure in God.

We don't have to live defensively.

Elisha didn't need revenge to feel safe.

He didn't have to destroy the people who had threatened him in order to prove that God was on his side. He knew Who surrounded him.

And that knowledge affected not only how Elisha faced his enemy - it affected how he treated his enemy.

What If What You See Isn't All That Is True?

Maybe that's the invitation buried inside this remarkable story. Not to deny what we see. Not to pretend frightening circumstances aren't frightening. Not even to expect that God will always remove every difficult circumstance exactly the way we want Him to.

But to remember that what we can see is not the whole of reality.

There is a God who knows the conversation in the king's bedroom. A God who knows the army is coming before His servant wakes up. A God who is already present before anyone asks Him to arrive. A God whose provision isn't dependent upon our ability to perceive it.

And a God who has been revealing Himself to us throughout our lives so that, when today's enemy appears on the horizon, we can remember Who we have already encountered.

Maybe today you don't need to see fiery chariots.

Maybe you simply need to remember. Where has God met you before? What has He already shown you about Himself? What prayer has He answered? What Scripture has become part of you? Where have you watched Him carry you through something you once thought you could never survive?

Go back there for a moment.

Remember.

And then look again at whatever is surrounding you today. The circumstances may not have changed.

But perhaps your eyes have.

The enemy Elisha faced was new.

The God surrounding him was not.

Lord, open our eyes so that we may see.