LORD, Open Our Eyes!
1. To the Dangers that Surround Us 2. To the Angels that Protect Us
I’ve had the privilege of knowing and meeting a few people who have served in special forces units of the military some here at church, some through friends. In social settings, they weren’t the type of people you would necessarily look at and assume were elite warriors with unique skill sets. In fact, they often just faded into the background.
The truth is, you might, at any time, be standing or sitting near a special forces soldier and not know it out at a restaurant, in the stands at a football game, or sitting two pews in front of you in church because they often just blend in. That’s kind of the way it is with God’s special forces. Angels are around, all the time, but you don’t see them because well, they do more than blend in. They are spirits, so they are not visible.
On the Festival of St. Michael and All Angels, we are reminded of this and a number of other things about angels, the unique and powerful special forces of God who battle in the spiritual realm to defend God’s people against the attacks of Satan and his dark spiritual forces.
There was a border skirmish going on between Aram and Israel. Fortunately for King Joram of Israel, he had a prophet on his side. Elisha the prophet was able to warn the king when and where the Aramean forces were lying in wait so that he was prepared or could avoid the area. Continually stymied by this, Aram’s king, Ben-Hadad, actually thought one of his own men was a traitor, that someone was warning the enemy. He demanded to know who the spy was. His officers were aware of Elisha the prophet and that he didn’t have to be anywhere near the king to know every one of his plans. This is the way they put it: Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words which you speak in your bedroom.
It sometimes happens that one evil person is deemed so important, that they become the military target. We’ve seen that when fighting terrorists around the world. Elisha was not evil, of course, but it was clear to the king of Aram that the only way to defeat Israel would be to take out the prophet. So, the king leaves nothing to chance, sending horses, chariots, and a full fighting force of soldiers to capture one man the man of God. They arrived at the city of Dothan and surrounded it.
Imagine waking up, getting out of bed, stretching, walking across the room and opening the door to step out into the sun and face the day. But instead of the joy and warmth of the sun, you’re smacked in the face with the chilling sight of an enemy army all around you! Your plans for the day have suddenly changed and it’s not looking like it’s going to turn out too well.
Elisha’s servant is afraid, just as we would have been. “Whatarewegoingtodo?” Do you beg? Do you plead? Do you run? Do you fight, knowing that the battle will last all of 30 seconds and end in death? Not too many good options. But Elisha knew what was not visible to his servant. “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
The LORD was protecting them against the powerful enemy that intended to harm them. Heavenly special forces were guarding them. The hills were full of horses and chariots of fire.
1. To the Dangers that Surround Us
Like Elisha’s servant, we sometimes don’t see just what is going on. I suppose we could say that we never see allthat is going on. What we cansee is a big problem. It'smychild,oralegal issue,afinancialdisaster. It’ sthisjobIhate.It’stheholeI’ vedugformyselfalreadythis semester.Idon’tseehowthisendswell.Idon’tknowwhattodo.Icanseetheproblemjustas clearlyasElishasawthearmywhenheopenedthedoor.Andjustlikehim,Idon’thavethe strengthtofightthis. Itseemshopeless.
Our eyes are able to see the problems on the surface. But it’s actually worse than it appears! What we can’t see is the way Satan and his fallen angels use our difficulties to threaten our trust in God. They fight to keep us afraid and focused on and fretting about what is on the surface, on the trouble at hand.
But these things are not merely worldly worries and practical problems. These are spiritually dangerous situations too! If we despair over them, we lack faith that God will bring us through things in the way that he knows is best. If we don’t think past ourability to try to fix everything on our own, then we are ignoring God and his help.
We live with the physical limitation of being unable to see with our eyes the fighting force of the Devil and his fallen angels. But our eyesoffaithcan be opened to the fact that this spiritual battle is raging against us.
Opening God’s Word can OPEN OUR EYES TO THE DANGERS THAT SURROUND US. It will remind us that sinful people around us will mean ungodly treatment from some who attack us for having godly values and viewpoints. We’re cheated and lied to and passed over by people. Sinful people pose a threat to our faith. Trouble with people is a spiritual battle.
God’s Word will remind us that all of creation suffers because sin entered it long ago in the Garden of Eden. So, a sin-affected world treats us no better than sinful people do. It’s why dogs bite and viruses spread and cancers invade and storms bring destruction. There is a spiritual component to our natural troubles.
And God’s Word will flip into a mirror and show us that we have only have ourselves to blame sometimes. We’re the ones who didn’t study. We’re the ones who just kept using the credit card. We’re the ones that bear the backlash that comes from not treating others well. We’re the ones who took the partying a little too far. These are spiritual problems.
The LORD can make us aware and alert, and as our eyes are opened, we realize that we need help. Like the servant ran to Elisha saying, “Oh no, my lord! What will we do?” we can go to God with our concerns over the dangers that surround us. In that moment, we can also ask for God’s forgiveness for our unnecessary worry, our leaving him out of the picture, our selfreliance and our self-destructiveness and we can know that our LORD forgives our sins in Jesus, who took on all those dangers for us and defeated them.
2. To the Angels that Protect Us
Opening God’s Word can also tell us about THE ANGELS THAT PROTECT US. There we “see” these angels and what they do. We see in Revelation how the Archangel Michael fought for God’s people in the past as he and his angels battled Satan in the skies (Revelation 12). We see in the book of Daniel that Michael is fighting for us even now as things in this world get worse and worse and the Last Day gets closer and closer (Daniel 12).
Other places in Scripture give us great comfort as they tell us about other angels who are sent by God to serve us and protect us. I’ll share just a few:
Psalm 91 says, (God) will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. (v11)
In Hebrews it says, Are not all angels ministering spirits sent out to serve for the benefit of those who are going to inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)
And as Jesus spoke to his disciples about little children, he said…See to it that you do not look down on one of these little ones, because I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)
It is probably only occasionally if at all that we give credit to the angels of God when we narrowly escape an accident or some other awful thing. Just think of all the dangers that must entirely escape our notice but are taken care of by God’s special forces operating out of sight!
When we hear in the Bible about people being confronted by angels, there is something that the angels say immediately. Do you remember what that is? “Donotbeafraid”?That’s because they are heavenly, spiritual beings made visible and because they come with a power that is literally, out of this world. God sends them to deliver his people from evil, which is such a comforting thing to know, but make no mistake, they have power you can’t imagine, and only through the pages of the Bible do you get to see them with the eyes of faith in places like the hills around Dothan where Elisha and his helper sat.
What we can’t see is what Elisha’s scared servant couldn’t see God’s love and power and the full force of angels he sends for his children. What we cansee are what Elisha’s scared servant could see the difficulties that threaten our trust in God. What we can see are our troubles and they overwhelm us. Tears and stress and fears and worry and weakness in the face of uncertainty. “Theenemiesaretoostrong!”“Whatarewegoingtodo?!”Desperate and maybe even feeling alone as we try to fight the battle, we may not be thinking about these promises of God’s protective angels.
Forgetting God is a problem. Overwhelming fear when God calls on us to trust him is a problem. A lack of trust in the promise of angel protectors is a problem. Feeling that we are left all alone to fight spiritual battles is a problem. Sin problems.
Like the King of Aram and Elisha’s helper, we cannot see what is going on around us as God’s angels battle against Satan and evil angels. But God tells us about this in his Word so that we cantrust so that we can see with the “eyes of faith” that God sends his protecting angels to keep evil away.
The “eyes of faith” also give us the ability to see Jesus the one far greater than the angels who went to war against Satan for our very souls and won. He battled and overcame every temptation in the wilderness right after his baptism as he began his ministry, right through to the Garden of Gethsemane and then crushing Satan’s head at the Cross, just as God had promised he would to Adam and Eve after they sinned against him. Your Savior loved you so much that he did that to save you from sin and the Devil. And he has not left you to battle against the Devil on your own now as you fight temptations to sin or to give up on God. His protection of you now is no less certain than his victory for you then.
We are not alone as our spiritual enemies fight against us. Whatever and however many those enemies of faith are, the Lord has provided even more of his special forces, his angels, to fight and save us from them.
LORD, OPEN OUR EYES to see what is behind THE DANGERS THAT SURROUND US, and to see THE ANGELS THAT PROTECT US. Amen.
Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
2 Kings 6:8-17
8 Now when the king of Aram was waging war against Israel, he would make plans with his officials, saying, “My camp will be at such and such a place.”
9 But the man of God would send a message to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful when you pass this place because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel would send scouts to the place that the man of God had pointed out. So the man of God warned him, and he was kept safe—and not just once or twice.
11 The king of Aram was enraged because of this. He summoned his officials and said to them, “Won’t you tell me who of us is for the king of Israel?”
12 One of his officials said, “No, my lord the king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words which you speak in your bedroom.”
13 Then he said, “Go and see where he is. Then I’ll send men and capture him.” He was told, “Dothan is where he is.”
14 So he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They came at night and surrounded the city. 15 When the man of God’s servant got up early and went out, there were soldiers, horses, and chariots surrounding the city. So his attendant said to Elisha, “Oh no, my lord! What will we do?”
16 He answered, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, open his eyes so that he can see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire, all around Elisha.