Open your spiritual eye (2 Kings 6:15-20)

Open your spiritual eye (2 Kings 6:15-20)

 

¹⁵ And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

¹⁶ And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lordopened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

¹⁸ And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

¹⁹ And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.

²⁰ And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

Int) Every human is made by three components which are soul, spirit, and body. The reason why human are greater than animals is because we have spirit and soul while animal only have soul. The spirit is part of us that recognize and understands God. Spirit was seeded into us when God created us.

This spirit tend to lock itself when the human sin. However in the moment when you believe God, your spiritual eye will open and makes you believe that Jesus is son of God and our savior, and the fact that he created this world.

 Furthermore, when your spiritual eye opens, you can see the kingdom of heaven. Your desires won’t matter anymore, and we will realize that the sin we committed will bring us to death.

1.      You will feel hate, anger, and sad are useless emotions. Common people fights about miscellaneous things, topics like should we eat potato with salt or sugar? Or should we press toothpaste from the end or from the middle. We don’t usually fight because of the world peace or democracy. We mostly fight about something that are not that important. When the spiritual eye opens, you will realize how short the life is, how useless greed is, it will help you to observe your life from the outside, the big picture.

In old testament (2 kings 5:19~27) there is a guy name Gehazi the servant of Elisha. He was really pathetic man.

¹⁹ And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

²⁰ But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.

²¹ So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?

²² And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.

²³ And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.

²⁴ And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.

²⁵ But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.

²⁶ And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?

²⁷ The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

God made Gehazi to get leprosy (Hansen disease) because Gehazi’s lies, attempt to hide his sin, and failed to control his greed. Our Greed blinds our spiritual eye and ruins our future. one of the prayer title of us should be “God please don’t let our greed blinds our spiritual eye but see great tomorrow’s vision.

< Meaning of life with open spiritual eye > So, what does the ‘spiritual eye is open’ means? Let’s see four main explanations together.

1. Ability to see what normal people can’t see.

A. In the bible, (1 kings 20-22) when Syria and Israel were in war, Syria’s tactics failed every time even though they discuss their strategy in the secret room. Then one of Syrian man told their king that they cannot win over Israel because the prophet Elisha can see and hear everything because of his spiritual power.

¹² And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

¹³ And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

¹⁴ Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

When Elisha’s servant went out in morning, he saw Syrian army compassed the city and tells Elisha.

¹⁵ And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

¹⁶ And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lordopened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Like this you will have eye of faith that can see what others can’t. This will happen when your spiritual eye opens.

B. In front of the Red Sea, and chased by Egyptian army, people of Israel were blamed Moses “And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?”

Then, Moses proclaimed, “Do not fear! Remain still and look at the salvation the Lord has given you!  The people of Egypt you see today, you will never see again. Remain still for the Lord will fight for you!” The spiritual eye is the eye of faith and the grace of God.

Of course, this does not mean that faith gives us an iron spirit, immune to any worries or trials. We need to have caution and worry about things that are dangerous and unwise. Being cautious of speed allows us to practice safe driving; being cautious of our health allows us to live a strong, healthy life. Having some degree of caution is beneficial for us. The problem occurs when this cautiousness and worry grow out of control because of the absence of faith.

 

2. Life Using our Given Spiritual Resources

Elisha gave this prayer after telling the servant of the man to not be afraid: “17Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

9 And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.

20 And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.”

They had marched with all their strength only to end up in the wrong place. They were exhausted. They had no strength left and the armies of Israel had already surrounded Samaria. There was no way out. Verses 21-23 say this:

“21 And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?

22 And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

23 And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.”

 

The king of Israel asked Elisha, “My father, shall I smite them?” However, Elisha replied, “Thou shalt not smite them… set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.” The reason for this is because they did not bring them out to kill them, but to let them realize the power of the Lord. In the end the king of Israel, “prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel” cowering in fear every time Elisha came to mind.

 

In these verses we see that Elisha prayed before opening the eyes of the servant and praying before blinding the army. one of the greatest resources a person of faith has is the resource of prayer. Prayer is a great blessing and privilege. There is no greater misfortune than a man who has lost his blessing to pray.

The earnest, true, faithful prayer of a believer is never wasted or done in vain. Whether it is tomorrow, next month, next year, in 10 years, or in the following generations, prayers will be answered. There will always be fruit to bear from prayer; all we need to do is wait.

 

3. Life Understanding God’s Will

The spiritual eye can mean to see things beyond normal sight, but it also means to see God’s will for what it is. In other words, it means to feel God’s sovereignty, to understand His will, and to follow His way. What is God’s will and way? It is the cross and sharing that cross. Having an opened spiritual eye does not mean we can see heaven and hell. Being able to comprehend, accept and follow God’s will and have the desire to bear the cross and share God’s word is what it means to have a truly opened spiritual eye.

 

There was a pastor, Pastor A, who had spent 5 years as a curate (vice-pastor). He had prayed to God to let him become the senior pastor. Later, the pastor found strange boils on his body. When he went to the doctor, he was told he had skin cancer. The cancer was aggressive and spread all over his body, deforming even his face. Around this time, a different pastor who attended theological school with him had asked him congregation to listen to one of the sermons of Pastor A. Pastor A was invited to the church, and he gave his sermon.

After the service, the Church Council held a meeting and discussed the possibility of having Pastor A as their new senior pastor since their original pastor would be leaving. Most of the council members agreed that Pastor A’s sermon was great, but his appearance and uncertainty of how long he would live made him an unsuitable candidate.

But, one deaconess stood up and spoke differently, “Everyone! I think we should give him a chance. I think he would be a wonderful senior pastor.” At this the rest of the members stared at her as if she had lost her mind. She continued, “I believe that with him as our senior pastor, we will receive sermon that are from the heart, genuine, and earnest. As a man who doesn't know how much longer he has left on this earth, don’t you think he would work that much harder? I want to experience that kind of service. I want to hear that kind of sermon, even if he passes away after one day. Besides, how do we know what God’s plans are? A perfectly healthy man could die tomorrow and a sick man could miraculously be cured and live for years. Wouldn’t God be happy to see his servant serving him even while sick?”

At this, everyone was convinced and Pastor A became the church’s new senior pastor. The pastor was so grateful to the congregation, he prayed earnestly, not for his own health or for his successful ministry, but for a great pastor to be his successor when he died. He prayed for the beautiful church that gave him a chance when the odds were against him. Not long after, the Pastor was cured of his skin cancer, he carried out his ministry as the senior pastor, and retired at a rightful age. When we strive for good, our spiritual eyes are opened and we receive amazing blessings.

 

4. Seeing the Vision of the Futurej

A. It is said that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute that was possessed by 7 demons. But Jesus did not look at her dark past, but rather saw the faithful servant she had, and would, become. He saw what she could become, and when he was on the cross, the 12 disciples left him. But Mary Magdalene stayed by his side and was one of the first people go to his tomb and discover he had risen. Jesus did not dwell on her past but saw her future. Like Jesus Christ, we must not get caught up on what people appear to be in the present or what they were like in the past but see what they can be in the future.

 

B. Zacchaeus is another example. Zacchaeus was ridiculed and ignored by others for being a short and dirty tax collector. However, when Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in the sycamore tree, he saw Zacchaeus’ faith and desire for the Lord. Zacchaeus, touched by the grace of Jesus Christ, repented for his sins, received salvation, and determined to live his life for God. Like Jesus, we must look past the seemingly pathetic exterior of the present, and look at what could be tomorrow.

No matter how difficult current situations may be, or how unexpected problems may arise, do not fear and falter. The Lord our God is with us and will help us. Put your faith in God and continue on with the visions of a brighter tomorrow.

 

Conclusion)

The keys to an open spiritual eye are faith, the cross, sharing, thanksgiving, prayer and hope. Like Jacob, who clung on to God even at the face of death, we must hold tight to the Lord, turn only to Him, and live for His way.