Early that morning, Elisha’s servant happened to glance out the window. What he saw filled him with terror. The city was surrounded by the dreaded Syrians. Situated a few miles north of the capital city of Samaria, Dothan was not a strategic military center. There was only one reason for the Syrian army’s presence in Dothan, and the servant knew it. They were after Elisha.
Realizing the danger they were in, the servant cried out to Elisha, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” (2 Kings 6:15).
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Have you ever awakened to the fact that you are surrounded by a host of enemies? Seemingly overnight threatening circumstances have come against you, and you feel like crying out, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
I am writing this article from the lobby of a place of business in our community. The television is set to a national news network spewing out one negative report after another. Elisha and his servant only had the Syrians to deal with. America has a coalition of enemies coming against it. If one does not succeed, a host of others stand ready to attack. Listening to the national news, not to mention the world news, it doesn’t take long for a person to want to cry out, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
Calming the young man’s fears, Elisha answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Seeing that his servant was having trouble processing that statement, Elisha prayed, “‘Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ 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” (2 Kings 6:17).
Like Elisha and his servant, we may find ourselves surrounded by a multiplicity of threatening situations. But like them, we are also surrounded by the presence of mighty heavenly forces! As Elisha calmed his servant, Isaiah calms our fears saying, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). Paul encourages our hearts, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). And John reminds us, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
The next time you find yourself surrounded by troubles that threaten, may the Lord open your eyes of faith to see the all-encompassing spiritual forces of God. Take comfort in the fact that the battle is the Lord’s. Gazing at the heavenly forces and chariots of fire that stand ready to deliver us, we declare, “This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).
Pastor Todd Weston