Open His Eyes That He May See

The Aramean army surrounds the city of Dothan, and the servant attending the man of God is seized with fear at the sight. Elisha prays, and when the servant’s eyes are opened, he sees the hills full of horses and chariots of fire. Elisha then prays that the Aramean army be struck with blindness, and leads them into the very heart of Samaria.

To the eyes of the flesh, the power of the world looks vast and impossible to overcome. But once the eyes of the spirit are opened, it becomes clear that even so great a world is nothing before the heavenly host God has sent. The king of Aram trusted in his own strength alone and set out to capture Elisha, and so to capture God himself; that very judgment was already his defeat.

The king of Israel asks whether he may put the captured Aramean soldiers to death, but Elisha tells him instead to give them their fill of food and send them home. Grace freely received must flow on even to one’s enemies. What counts is not a multitude of soldiers or grand buildings, but each person opening the eyes of the spirit and obeying God wholeheartedly.