Easter ~ The Bible Speaks to You

Do You See the “Horses and Chariots of Fire”?

Mont Sainte Victoire near Aix-en-Provence

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Psalm 119:18

Look around the room you’re in. What do you see? Well, probably your computer or your smart phone if you’re reading this article on it. But what else do you see?

Do you see everything in the room? At first it’s easy to think so. But it’s almost impossible to see everything in a given place. There’s stuff under the table or desk, in the drawers, and in your pockets that you don’t see, just to name a few.

But there are other things you don’t see that are present. Well, I shouldn’t really call them things. Because they are ideas.

Do you see the love for your family and friends in the room? How about God’s love for you. The eyeballs just can’t perceive these things. We may see examples of love, but you can’t see love itself with the human eye.

When the Psalmist prayed for God to open his eyes, I don’t think he meant to raise the little flaps of skin covering round-ish material shapes in the center of his face.

Elisha’s eyes were open.

I love the story in II Kings, chapter 6 when the king of Syria and his army surrounded the city where Elisha was. Elisha’s servant saw the horses, and chariots, and soldiers, oh my! and panicked. Who wouldn’t?

Elisha wouldn’t and didn’t. He told his servant not to be afraid. Then he uttered a simple little prayer, made a simple request of God:

And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, 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. II Kings 6:17

But weren’t his eyes already open? Isn’t that how he had seen all those Syrians?

Elisha wasn’t praying for his servant’s material eyes to be opened. They were already open and that was why the young man was afraid. He could only see what the physical eyes took in. And it was a terrifying sight.

But Elisha wasn’t afraid because he was using his spiritual vision. He “saw” the presence and power of God–represented by the horses and chariots of fire.

He prayed for his servant to see this same spiritual vision. And God answered his prayer.

The implication is that the horses and chariots of fire were already there. Elisha saw them. But the young man didn’t and that’s why he was frightened.

So how about you and me?

Have you ever been in a terrifying situation? I have.

During my junior year in college, I studied in southern France. One day a group of us climbed Mount Sainte Victoire (made famous by Cezanne, his painting below) near Aix-en-Provence. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate at all.

Mont Sainte Victoire near Aix-en-Provence, France

We were totally drenched by the time we reached the small shelter near the summit. Wouldn’t you know it, once we got inside, it stopped raining. At least we were able to dry out a little in front of a welcoming fire.

But on the way down, it started to rain again and suddenly we were caught in a terrible electrical storm. The rain was coming down so hard, we might as well have been in a swimming pool.

The lightening was flying fast and furious just above our heads. It was a very frightening picture. And my friends were absolutely terrified.

But earlier that morning, I had been praying to see that God was in charge of the day, whether the weather was good or bad. And suddenly, right in the middle of the electrical storm, I was not afraid at all.

Okay, I didn’t actually see any horses and chariots of fire, but I felt God’s presence and power. I was absolutely certain that we would all be safe.

I had just learned the Lord’s Prayer in French and was shouting it at the top of my lungs. It was not a prayer of desperation but of total conviction of God’s supremacy. I felt an amazing sense of peace.

As we finally got off the mountain and were crossing the bridge over a dam, that’s when it happened. After all that lightening above our heads, it finally struck very near us.

I saw a brilliant flash directly in front of my eyes.

There was a surge of electricity through my body. And there was more than a tingle in my pocket where the keys to my apartment were. They were the kind Benjamin Franklin would have used with his kite, two skeleton keys, each about five inches long.

But I was totally unfazed and unharmed. Everyone else felt it too, but no one was injured in the least—just shaken up. We waited out the rest of the storm in someone’s barn and then made our way back to town.

It sounds kind of odd, but I actually enjoyed that experience because I was so convinced God was protecting us. It was a spiritual dominion moment. My spiritual eyes were open and I “saw” that God was in control.

Have you had an experience when God “opened your eyes” to see what the material eyes could not? I’d love to hear about it. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Whether we are in a frightening situation or a happy one, we need to see with the open eyes of spiritual vision. If you don’t see the “horses and chariots of fire,” they are there nonetheless. That is the time to pray with the Psalmist, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

And when others can’t see God in control, don’t try to open their eyes for them. That’s God’s job. But pray with Elisha, “open his/[her] eyes, that [s]he may see.”

Again, please share your “open eye” experiences below. I’d love to hear from you.

Blessings,

James

Hate Your Enemies or Love Your Enemies?

Recently I was flipping through the book of Psalms looking for inspiration and came across the verse, “Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.” (Ps 18:40) In Psalm 18, David is giving thanks to God for delivering him from his enemies, but he goes further and delights in the fact that he was able to destroy his enemies.

A lot of people who claim to be Christians, sometimes even church leaders, take this verse, and others like it, as justification for using whatever means possible to defeat their enemies. Sometimes they take it to the extreme and even pray for the death of their opponents simply because of differences on political, moral, or theological issues.

Whoa! Let’s stop right there.

If you are going to claim to follow Christ, maybe you should actually obey Jesus’ teachings about the best way to deal with enemies.

“Love Your Enemies…”

Jesus declared in the Sermon on the Mount, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you,” Matt 5:43,44

What a contrast between the way King David and the Son of David (the Messiah, Christ Jesus) dealt with their enemies.

Now you may be thinking: Hey the Old Testament was all about killing your enemies and the idea of loving your enemies was a new idea that Jesus preached.

Surprise, surprise! Jesus learned everything he knew from God and from the Scriptures (which in his case was what we call the Old Testament).

There are several accounts of expressing love to enemies in the older Scriptures. One that I love is II Kings 6:8-23. This is the story where the King of Syria is fighting with the King of Israel and Elisha the prophet tells the latter where the former is going to be with his army over and over. The King of Syria thinks one of his people is betraying his battle plans to the Israelites, but he finds out that Elisha is telling the King of Israel.

So, the Syrian king does the obvious thing to do from his perspective; he finds Elisha, surrounds his town with a great army and plans to capture him and who knows what else. But he is no match for the prophet. Elisha causes the soldiers to be temporarily smitten with blindness. Then he leads them to the king of Israel. The king is so flabbergasted he doesn’t know what to do and asks Elisha if he should kill this enemy army. Elisha says absolutely not but give them something to eat and drink and send them home to their king. And their sight is restored in the process.

The results of loving your enemies

What is the result of this loving gesture to the enemy? “The bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.” So the result of loving the enemy was peace. Guess what the results are when you hate your enemy? You got it. The opposite of peace. If the king of Israel had killed the Syrians, there would have been retaliation and revenge on the minds of any remaining Syrians.

Here are some more goodies from the Old Testament:

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Proverbs 24:17

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: Proverbs 25:21

But you know, loving your enemies goes against one of the most basic human emotions of getting back at someone who does something mean to you or being mean to someone who hates you.

It takes spiritual discipline and God’s grace to love your enemy. I speak from experience over many years of striving to be obedient to Jesus’ command, “love your enemies.”

If I did it, so can you

Once a co-worker seemed to be determined to undermine my character and ability to do my job. Admittedly, I made my share of mistakes at work, but his piercing criticisms were not offered constructively and were far from subtle. However, I never retaliated or tried to make him look bad. I kept loving him and praying for God to show us both more of His love. Over time, his harsh judgment of me ceased and we had a pleasant relationship. This was God’s doing!

But loving your enemies does not mean loving the bad things they do. Jesus said not to judge things by the outward appearance. (See John 7:24) He looked deeper for something to love. Underneath all the hate that his enemies hurled at him, he could still love the someone as a child of God.

Of course, this is hard to do when they are not acting like a child of God. But this is the Cross. Take it up. The more you love your enemies, the easier it gets and the sooner they will cease to be your enemies.

If Jesus can forgive those who crucified him while he was hanging from the Cross, then you and I can forgive, i.e. love our enemies, whatever they may do.

Is there someone in your life playing the role of enemy? You don’t have to condone their behavior. Just love them. Did it ever occur to you that the reason they are hateful is because they don’t feel any love in their lives—that they are actually crying out for love?

Give them what they need…love

Now take a moment to love that person and pray for something good to happen to them. Go ahead. Bless them with all the blessings you can pour out from your heart. God is helping you do this. You can’t do it all by yourself. If you can’t figure out how on earth to get started with such a prayer, try something like, “Dear God, bless my enemies and teach me to feel compassion for them.” The words are not as important as the sincerity in your heart.

And while you’re at it, pray for some of the enemies on the world stage to find love for one another.

I’d love to hear how you have loved and blessed your enemies.

Blessings to all,