Children will often paint what we lovingly call lollipop trees and cotton ball clouds. They paint what they see. Trunks of trees are solid brown and their leaves are solid green. The sky is solid blue and clouds are solid white.
As an experienced artist, painting God’s creation challenges me to look beyond what my eye sees. I must consider the rich and diverse palette found in the light and shadow of nature. Plants are more than green, sea and sky are not just blue, a sandy beach is so much more than beige.
In this painting, like many others, it took adding the hues of the rainbow to truly represent God’s glorious creation. It took looking beyond what my mind interpreted as one color in order to truly see what was happening. The same is true in our walk with the Lord, isn’t it?
I think we are often like child artists. We take a broad brush and occasionally interpret a particular event or situation in a singular hue or shade. For instance, we may quickly determine that one lost opportunity means God says “No” to that path. We might jump to a conclusion that one bad report means we are doomed to failure. God is so much more nuanced than we think. We look to the natural—to what we see in the moment—when God is at work in the supernatural—what we cannot see or anticipate.
The story of Elisha’s servant serves as a great reminder to us that God is at work even when we aren’t aware of it.
Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:15-17
When all looked lost, God had an army standing guard and standing ready!
Like Elisha and his servant, you are not alone. Whatever you are facing, God’s angel army stands with you.
What’s happening in your life right now that requires you to look beyond what you see in the natural?
The real plot twist of the story about Elisha and his servant is that God didn’t even use those horses or chariots of fire to defeat the enemy. That’s what we would expect God to do, isn’t it? Rather than do the expected, God had Elisha pray for a different kind of strategy to defeat the army.
When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people with blindness, I pray.” So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
2 Kings 6:18
Think about life’s circumstances. When we think God needs to help us in a certain way, He may have another source of help ready and available. We need to open the eyes of our hearts in order to “see” His strategy. We need to ask God to show us what is “More Than Meets the Eye.”
What may look like a solid color solution to your mind’s eye is perhaps more than you can see in the natural. What looks like the direct answer to your situation may be God’s protection while He has a totally different solution waiting for you.
My prayer for you today is the same as Elisha’s for his servant. “O Lord, I pray, open their eyes, that they may see.”
May you see and comprehend the rich and diverse ways God is at work in your life.