Seeing and Hearing What Only God Can
“This man of God tells his king the things that you speak in the privacy of your bedroom,” King Aram’s servant told him.
The servant was explaining why Aram’s army could not defeat the Israelites. Elisha had power from God that enabled him to warn the Israelites about the tactics of their enemies. When Aram’s army was setting up camp, Elisha warned Israel’s king so they could become fortified.
King Aram was angry. (If I were fighting those Israelites, I’d be angry, too.)
“He knows everything,” the servant said, “Even the things you say in the privacy of your bedroom. He knows.”
Aram set out to prove that he was more powerful than Israel. If you want to read the entire story, go here.
His spies told King Aram that Elisha was in Dothan, so Aram sent an army with horses and chariots. They came at night and surrounded the city. In the morning, Elisha’s servant decided to take a walk. That was when he saw all those soldiers, horses, and chariots. They were completely surrounding the city.
“Alas, Master, what shall we do?!” the servant cried.
Elisha wasn’t afraid because he saw something his servant couldn’t see: horses and chariots and fire. He asked God to show his servant what was beyond the human eye.
He prayed for blindness on the Armenians. God answered with a “yes” and Elisha and his servant led them to Samaria. Elisha could have had the men killed. Instead, he told the King of Israel to feed the soldiers and let them go. Thousands of years later, Paul, a disciple of Jesus, said, “If your enemy hungers, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing, you will lay coals of fire on his head.”
Scripture tells us that “the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.”
It doesn’t always happen like that. Sometimes our enemy keeps returning. Sometimes we continue to be hounded. Israel’s king didn’t know that he’d never see them again when he fed them and let them go. He only knew that the man of God had a message from Jehovah. He knew he ought to obey, and he did.
Who are your enemies? Have you asked God to open your eyes so you can see the power of the heavenly host that is surrounding you?
Are you feeding your enemies? Are you giving them water to drink? When we do that, we are seeing what people can’t see but God can. We are hearing His voice when others can’t.
Do you know what it’s like to heap coals of fire on someone’s head? Do you know what it’s like to see what God sees and hear what He hears?
