Perspective is a powerful thing. It is the difference between panic and peace; hope and despair; confidence and fear. At some point in time we have probably all tried to consider whether we were “glass half-empty or half-full” people. I believe that we often think of perspective in terms of what we see, while this is definitely reasonable and probably true, I believe that much of our spiritual perspective comes from what we know. Our hearts will deceive us, our eyes will deceive us, but the Holy Spirit within us, He is called “the Spirit of truth”, He will always tell us what is true and what is right.
II Kings 6 tells us of a time in which the King of Syria sent his army, both soldiers and horses, to surround and capture the prophet Elisha. Early in the morning Elisha’s servant went outside and saw that the entire city had been surrounded by the Syrian army “with horses and chariots.” The servant panicked, he cried out for Elisha, “What shall we do?” The response of the prophet was classic prophetic perspective, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” At this point we don’t know what, if anything Elisha has “seen”. What we find out is what Elisha is sure of, that God is His refuge and His strength, that God is His provider and His protector and that God is always sufficient for every kind of need and every time of neediness. Elisha then prays, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” The passage then goes on to give us a dramatic description of what I believe Paul was speaking of when he wrote “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” II Kings says of the servant, “Then 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.” The servant saw what Elisha already knew, God is with us, God is for us, God is here. Elisha didn’t call on Him, He knew that he dwelt with Him. The Syrian army didn’t change his perspective because his perspective was found in God’s character, God’s love and God’s promises. Where is our perspective found today, with our eyes, with our hearts, with our minds or with the Holy Spirit that dwells within us?
Henry and Melvin Blackaby wrote in Experiencing the Spirit, “The servant saw the activity of men; Elisha saw the activity of God.” How do we see God’s activity? We see what God is doing around us when we are looking with the Spirit that dwells within us. We see the activity of God through our prayer lives, through the Word of God, through the Body of Christ and through our own personal and intimate experience with God. While I may be able to learn about God through someone else’s experience, the perspective of knowing and doing the will of God can only come in my relationship with Him. Others can lead me to His presence but I must experience Him for myself. The servant needed to see what Elisha already knew, Elisha couldn’t tell him about the army, he had to see it for himself.
There is one last thing that I find very interesting about this passage. It doesn’t tell us that Elisha saw the army. I realize that common sense tells us that he had to have seen them to be able to know that they were there. What about uncommon sense? What about the truth of knowing without seeing? What about the reality of not being afraid simply because of the goodness of God rather than the sight of an angelic army? I realize this is conjecture but for a moment let’s remember what Jesus said to Thomas after He showed him His scars: “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” The author of Hebrews told us, “we walk by faith and not by sight.” There is a place in relationship where we know, where we are simply sure, that is the place of perspective that I believe we are called to, even more, that I believe is available to each one of us. The Holy Spirit of God lives in us, He is not there to be silent or to let us be the leaders of our paths, He is there to lead, to speak, to shine a light and to make known everything that Jesus wants to be known. Today I would encourage each one of us to change our perspective. Don’t just change the gaze of your eyes, close them, and let the Spirit of God speak. No matter what you are in the midst of today; whether it be death or life; angels or principalities or powers; things present or things from your past or your future; whether it be high or low or anything that could ever be explained or created; “Those who are with us”, in fact those who are with you, “are more than those who are with them.” Don’t always trust what you see, trust in Him whom you know, He is always near, He is always working and He is always rejoicing over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).