4-minute read
Here’s a Bible story… told with some embellishments. Maybe it means something to you today.
Once upon a time there was a servant named… Hank.
Hank was a good servant.
He always did what he was asked to do…
And he really liked his boss.
Hank’s boss was a guy named Elisha.
Elisha was a prophet of God.
Being a prophet meant that God communicated His thoughts to Elisha…
And Elisha communicated those thoughts to humans.
Sometimes people liked to hear what God had to say through Elisha (hooray!)…
And sometimes they didn’t (boo)…
One day, Hank heard that Elisha was telling the King of Israel God’s thoughts. Thankfully, the King of Israel wanted to hear God’s thoughts (hooray)!…
Unfortunately, there was a nearby king—the King of Aram—who did not like that Elisha was telling the King of Israel God’s thoughts (boo). (This was mainly because the King of Aram wanted to kidnap the King of Israel and God kept telling this to Elisha to tell the King of Israel… so he kept not getting caught.)
The King of Aram was furious! He now just didn’t want to harm the King of Israel… he wanted to harm Elisha, too.
Hank and Elisha spent the night in the city of Dothan.
Early in the morning, Hank got up to check and make sure everything was okay.
It was not okay.
Hank looked out and saw that the King of Aram had an army of men, horses, and chariots completely surrounding the city.
An army of men… horses… and chariots.
Surrounding the city.
Clearly… looking… for Elisha. (And surely they’d take Hank, too, if they had the chance.)
Hank was scared.
Frightened.
Petrified.
Unnerved.
Panic-striken.
Witless.
Chilled to the bone.
Afraid.
Hank slowly… walked backwards… his eyes on the surrounding army… into… the tent… where the bossman Elisha was sleeping.
“Uh… uh… uh… bossman?”
Elisha stirred from his sleep, rolling over. “Huh?”
“Bossman Elisha? There’s… there’s… there’s…” (and then he stuttered and stammered like Lou Costello to Bud Abbott after seeing the Mummy).
Elisha sat up slowly. “What is it, Hank?” Elisha’s eyes roved the room for coffee. (Hank made excellent coffee.)
“We’re… we’re…”
“Out of coffee filters? Low on cream? In need of clean mugs?”
“We’re surrounded, sir,” Hank said with a gulp.
“Hang on,” Elisha said, suddenly concerned. “What does that mean for coffee?”
“THERE’S AN ARMY OF MEN, HORSES, AND CHARIOTS SIR!” Hank yelled, then quickly covered his mouth in case he was heard by the army of men, horses, and chariots.
Elisha waved his hand downward repeatedly (the international symbol for “calm down”) and stood up. He stretched, rubbed his face, and picked a morning boogie.
“Show me, Hank.”
Slowly… carefully… Hank pulled back the front flap of the tent. He closed his eyes tightly and pointed out.
Elisha stuck his head out. Would you believe it? Hank was telling the truth. A huge, giant, massive army of men, horses, and chariots.
“What… are we… going… to… do?” Hank asked through quivering lips.
Elisha came back into the tent. For the first time in three years, he started making coffee for himself. “What do I setting use for the grinder…?” he asked himself.
Hank saw what Elisha was doing. His eyes got big like trash can lids. “What are we going to do, sir?!?!” he said with lots of question marks and exclamation points. (More than I used right there.)
Elisha turned around. He saw the panic and worry and terror in Hank’s eyes.
Suddenly, Elisha felt a whole lot of compassion for his servant—and running buddy. (They’d been through a lot of adventures together including that time God raised an axehead from the bottom of a river, a king got healed of leprosy, and they beat the pants off that other prophet and his servant at foosball).
Elisha put down the grinder (he didn’t know how to use it anyway) and put his hand on Hank’s shoulder. He smiled that kind of closed-lip smile that communicates “I’m feeling sympathetic… and I care about you.”
Tears hung onto the edge of Hank’s eyes.
Elisha squeezed Hank’s shoulder and said, “Don’t be afraid.”
Hank nodded a tiny nod as if to say, “I know I shouldn’t be afraid… and I want you to think I’m not afraid… but I’m really, really afraid.”
Elisha knew Hank was still afraid. So he said, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
Hank’s eyebrows got all squiggly like they do for comic strip characters when they’re confused. “‘Those who are with us…’? What do you mean? Who is with—“
Immediately, Elisha closed his and lifted his hands up to heaven. He prayed out loud, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.”
Elisha looked at Hank. Hank blinked. Then blinked again. Then blinked about a hundred more times.
“Go,” Elisha said. “Look.”
Hank stuck his head out of the tent and looked.
Sure enough, he saw the giant army of men, horses, and chariots.
But that wasn’t all he saw.
Out on the hills… beyond the city… and beyond the army of men, horses, and chariots… he saw something else.
He saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots… but these were all on fire.
In a moment, Hank did the math. An army of men, and horses, and chariots is < horses and chariots that were on fire.
Hank saw it all. He saw the threat… but He also saw God’s army. An army ready to fight and defend. An invisible army more powerful than anything visible.
His eyes had been opened so he could see…
So he could see that God was more. More powerful, more present, more ready to fight and defend.
Hank looked back at Elisha.
Elisha smiled at him. “I told you not to be afraid.”
Hank took a deep breath. “I’m not.”
“Good,” Elisha said. Then, he handed Hank the grinder. “Make it strong, Hank.”
*****
How are you feeling today?
Scared? Frightened? Witless? Afraid?
I keep feeling that way. Or, at the least, tempted to.
We don’t know what’s going to happen…
But we know and trust that there is a God on our side…
Fighting battles in ways we can’t see…
Standing up for us…
Bringing good when it seems that good cannot surely come.
We may not see Him or what He’s doing with our eyes…
But, according to Scripture, we can with the eyes of our heart. (Ephesians 1:18)
May be stand firm today… knowing we are loved, ministered to… and saved (and being saved!) by our loving Jesus.
READ THE FULL STORY: 2 Kings 6:8-23