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Colin Smith: If you feel the darkness is closing in on you, if you find yourself saying, "What in the world am I going to do?" if you find it difficult to sleep at night, this story is for you.

Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m Steve Hiller, glad you’re listening. Colin, there are many of us who maybe have been through seasons of darkness, seasons of anxiety, seasons where sleep is hard to come by at night. And we’re all wondering, okay, what is the story we’re going to hear today?

Well, it is one of the most extraordinary stories of fear in the Old Testament. It’s the story of a young servant, Elisha’s servant, who woke up one morning to find that his house was surrounded by an entire army. I think that’s about as terrifying and fearful a thing as one could imagine. An entire army coming to arrest one man. And here’s this young guy, can you imagine him pulling the curtains back in the morning and seeing what’s outside? He’s absolutely terrified. He says to Elisha the prophet, "My master, what shall we do?" And Elisha says, "Do not be afraid." And you think, how can you say to this man, "Don't be afraid"? But then he gives the reason: "For those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

It’s an amazing story of how the presence of God delivers his people in a time when we find ourselves filled with fear. It’s a wonderful story and it reminds us that whatever you face, God is with us.

Steve Hiller: Well, let’s look at this story from 2 Kings chapter 6 as we begin the message, "God Will Be With Us." Here’s Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: We’re looking today at another remarkable story from the life of Elisha. This story is especially for everyone who struggles with fear. If you feel the darkness is closing in on you, if you find yourself saying, "What in the world am I going to do?" if you find it difficult to sleep at night, this story is for you.

Now, in the stories from the life of Elisha that we’ve looked at so far, it seems that the ministry of Elisha in the early days was only known to a few people. Think about the stories we’ve looked at. Elisha served a widow who only had a jar of oil, and then another individual or family, a wealthy woman whose son had died, and the sons of the prophets, a community of perhaps a hundred or so. You remember the story of how they had been served up some poisoned stew. And it was a little girl who told the wife of Naaman that there was indeed a prophet in Israel. And you remember from last week that when Naaman came to the king of Israel, he didn’t seem to even know who Elisha was. The king of Israel didn’t seem to know that there was a prophet in Israel. And so Elisha had to send a message to the king and say, "Let Naaman now come to me that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel." Probably the subtext is: unfortunately, you don’t seem to know, O king.

But things, of course, changed very radically after Naaman was healed. From that time on, both the king of Israel and, of course, the king of Syria, who had sent Naaman to Elisha, they both knew for sure that there was indeed a prophet in Israel. So at the point where we join the story today, Elisha’s ministry that has been little known and perhaps somewhat under the radar, Elisha’s ministry has actually risen to national prominence. The prophet who had touched the lives of various individuals now has access to speak the word of God to kings.

And we saw from the story of Naaman that in those days, raiders would come over the border in their chariots and they would seize prisoners and they would take them back home as slaves. And here at the beginning of this story in chapter 6 and verse 8, we find the same thing happening. Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, "At such and such a place shall be my camp." Now, you see what he’s saying. The king of Syria was setting up an ambush for the king of Israel. You almost see him with his generals and his advisors, and they’re pouring over the map, and he’s pointing to the spot and he says, "That’s the place. We’ll go there. King of Israel goes there. That’s where we’ll take him down."

But the Bible makes very clear that God frustrates the ways of the wicked. Isn’t that a wonderful truth? God frustrates the ways of the wicked. And God did that here by revealing the enemy’s plans to Elisha the prophet. And when Elisha received these revelations of the enemy’s plans, receiving them directly from God, he of course then went to the king of Israel and warned him. He would say to him, "Look, the king of Syria has plans. God has revealed this to me. He intends to ambush you at such and such a place. Don’t go there." And so, of course, the raiders would arrive in full expectation of making this ambush. It’s all planned. But when they arrive, Israel’s king isn’t there. And this happened again and again. The king of Israel was always one step ahead of his enemies. And you can imagine how frustrating this became for the king of Syria. He has all these plans and none of them seem to be working out as he had hoped.

He’s infuriated. Every time we show up, the king of Israel has already moved on. Seems to me he knows when we’re coming. So how can that be? Well, of course, it’s pretty obvious what the king of Syria will think. There must be a leak. There must be a spy in our camp here in Damascus, a traitor who’s giving up our secrets to the king of Israel. Now, who is it? So verse 11: "The mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and he said to them, 'Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?'" And one of his servants told him, "King, there’s no spy in your court here. It’s Elisha. It’s the prophet of God." Verse 12: "Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom."

God knows every word you have ever spoken. He even knows the words you speak in your bedroom. Now, let’s pause here for just a moment because this is telling us something very wonderful and very important about God. God knows everything about you. You may remember that King David says in Psalm 139, where he’s celebrating this wonderful truth, he says, "You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, you know it altogether, O Lord." But notice that David, who is a child of God, does not then say, "And this truth terrifies me." What he says is, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me."

Now, you see the point. Here’s a child of God, and he’s saying to his Father, "Now, you know every word that I speak. You know every thought in my mind. You know every fear that I ever face. You know every move that I ever make. And your knowledge of me is more wonderful than I could ever put into words." Friends, we’re going to see from the story this morning that there are four things for us to know and believe whenever we are afraid. And the first of these is that God really does know everything about you. God knows all that is troubling you today. He knows all that you are thinking. He knows all that you are fearing. He knows what you wouldn’t even say to someone else who’s close to you. And you can trust him completely.

Remember the wonderful words of Jesus. In the time of Jesus, two sparrows were sold for a penny. They were of very, very little value in terms of the price that they would fetch. And Jesus said, "Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Fear not, therefore. Don’t fear because you are of more value than many sparrows."

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "God Will Be With Us." Now we’re going to pause here, but we’ll get back to the message in just a moment.

Well, Open the Bible depends on your generosity to bring you Pastor Colin’s teaching each day. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Lincoln’s Daily Devotional. And Colin, who is this book for?

Colin Smith: Well, I think it’s for anyone who really loves the Word of God. But especially, I think for anyone who’s looking for something fresh or anyone who’s looking for something really short. This little devotional that was actually used by Abraham Lincoln himself simply offers a verse of Scripture for every day. They’re organized by themes, a different theme each month. They go through the experience of a Christian believer in the various parts of life that we go through. And it gives to us just a verse that you can meditate on. So if you’re looking for something really short just to pop a verse of Scripture into your mind each day, then this book does it very simply, very wonderfully. It does it from the old King James version, of course, which so beautifully expresses the English language. And I think, too, for someone who feels, I just want to do something fresh and different. You know, I find it helpful to change up what I’m doing in my own devotional life, to move from one thing to another, one part of Scripture to another, to use different books and devotionals and aids at different times. And here’s something that might just be fresh for someone today. A verse of Scripture each day from Abraham Lincoln’s devotional that will help you to meditate on the Word of God, take in its truth, and live in its beauty and in its power.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy of Lincoln’s Daily Devotional as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365, or again the website is openthebible.org. Let’s get back to the message. Here’s Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now, God’s perfect knowledge is the most wonderful comfort to his friends, but it is absolutely infuriating to his enemies. And you see, when the king of Syria heard that Elisha the prophet was revealing his secret plans to the king of Israel, well, he said in verse 13, "Go and see where he is that I may send and seize him." So now Elisha becomes the target of the king’s fury.

Now, just by the way, it strikes me there is a very strange leap of logic from the king of Syria here. I mean, think about it. Problem: he can’t catch the king of Israel. Reason: Elisha knows when the troops are coming. Solution: I’ll send the troops to catch Elisha. You think, how is that going to work? Well, you can see from verse 14 that the king wasn’t taking any chances. He sent there horses and chariots and a great army. And they came at night and they surrounded the city. My goodness, a great army to capture a single man. Well, you see, that’s how desperate the enemies of God really were.

Now, at this point in the story, we are introduced to a new character. In verse 15, we are told about the servant of the man of God. Now, you remember that Gehazi, whose story, tragic story we looked at last week, had been Elisha’s long-time servant. But Gehazi had proved to be unfaithful. You remember, he coveted Naaman’s money. He lied, he deceived. Then he got what he wanted. He got Naaman’s money, but then he got his leprosy as well. Well, Gehazi’s defection must have been absolutely heartbreaking for Elisha. He needed to find another servant. We’re not told this new servant’s name. We’re only told one thing about him, and that’s in verse 17: that he was a young man. And I expect, therefore, that Elisha found him among the sons of the prophets that we looked at a few weeks ago. You remember the seminary students who were preparing for a life of ministry? And so can you picture now Elisha coming to the college, and he sits down with one of the students, and he says, "Gehazi, my servant, has gone. I want you to take his place and to serve the Lord with me." What an opportunity.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of this young man. He’s been plucked out of seminary, and now he has this role as Elisha’s servant. And we’re told in verse 15 that when the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And this young seminary student was thrown into a blind panic and he says, "Alas, my master, what shall we do?" "Alas!" This is disastrous, a catastrophe. "What in the world are we going to do?" And Elisha said in verse 16, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

Now, again, can you try for a moment to put yourself in the shoes of this servant? What would you be thinking? You hear these words from Elisha the prophet: "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Well, you see, you would be saying, would you not? "Well, surely not. I mean, doesn’t Elisha have eyes to see? I mean, I’ve been outside. I opened the curtains. I’ve seen what’s out there. Elisha, there’s a vast army out there, enough to surround the entire city. And who’s with us? There’s only you and me. And we’re trapped. There’s no way out of this."

Now, remember Elisha was a prophet. So when he spoke these words, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them," he was speaking the very word of God. But you see, Elisha’s servant didn’t believe the word of God. Now, that’s always our challenge, isn’t it? He was studying theology and living in fear. Think about that. He had not applied his faith to the realities of his own life. He heard the word of God, but he didn’t actually believe it.

So Elisha prayed a very, very wonderful prayer. He asked God on behalf of his servant that his eyes would be opened. And here we come to the second thing that we need to know and to believe when we are afraid. Not only that God knows everything about us, but that God really is present with us. Verse 17: "Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.'" So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw. And then we’re told what it was that he saw: "Behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." So get the picture. There’s this great army that’s surrounding the city. But between Elisha and those who have come to arrest him, there stands a greater army that is invisible to the human eye, the angels of God formed an invisible guard and they were all around Elisha. David says in Psalm 34 and verse 7, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them."

Now, you see the point. The seminary student was in a panic because he did not see the full picture. He saw all the forces that were arrayed against him. What he didn’t see was who was for him. And Elisha wants his servant to have peace. He doesn’t want his servant to be living in fear. And so this is what he prays: "O Lord, please open his eyes." Now, dear friends, we need this prayer, don’t we? We who hear the word of God and sometimes may not believe it when it comes to the realities of our own lives. We need this prayer. And here is a perfect model of how to pray for yourself when you are afraid or how indeed to pray for someone else you’re seeking to walk with and they are facing great fear: "O Lord, open my eyes. Help me to see that you really are for me. Help me to see and to believe that you really are with me. Help me to see and to believe that your power really is greater than all the forces that are arrayed against me."

Now, dear friends, you know well that this is absolutely fundamental to living the Christian life. Remember how the apostle Paul describes the Christian life: "We walk by faith, not by sight." Now, what does that actually mean? Well, to walk by sight means very simply that we are controlled by what we can see around us. And if you’re controlled by what you see around us, well, you’re always going to be living in fear. But to walk by faith means that we truly believe what our eyes cannot see. That is, that God is with us, that his angels surround us, that his Holy Spirit really does live in us. You see the point? Faith sees more than the troubling realities that are around us. And that, of course, is the point of Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1, where we’re given this wonderful statement about the nature of faith. What is faith? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. That’s what it is and it’s beautifully illustrated in this wonderful story. Faith is not closing your eyes to reality. Faith is not burying your head in the sand. Faith has eyes wide open to the dangers and darkness that surround us, but faith sees more than the dangers and the darkness that surround us. Faith opens our eyes to the greater reality of God’s own presence and his power. Faith sees the armies of God all around us and therefore knows that nothing can touch us apart from it being the Father’s own will.

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "God Will Be With Us." Now we’re going to pause here, but we’ll continue next time. If you ever miss a broadcast or you want to go back and listen to it again, you can do that when you visit our website. Come to openthebible.org.

Well, Colin, it’s Friday and the weekend’s coming.

Colin Smith: And I want to encourage you to get to church on Sunday. If you live in the Chicago area and you don’t have a church home, I’d love for you to join us at The Orchard. There are six locations in the Northwest suburbs. For more information, go to theorchard.church. That’s theorchard.church.

Steve Hiller: Well, thanks Colin, and thanks for listening. I’m Steve Hiller and I hope you’ll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we’re grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I’d like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That’s a clear command, but it’s not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in. Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They’re focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you’d like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That’s openthebible.org/gf.