Are you a morning person? I’m not so much.
I mean, maybe if I woke up on a white sanded St. Thomas beach I would be. Or if I woke up to a text message that I’d won the lottery. Even the smell of bacon or freshly brewed coffee certainly helps.
My cute as can be 4 year old daughter doesn’t help matters. The persistent poking of my forehead and halitosis breath all up in my grill is the opposite of awesome.
Ok, here’s my question: Have you ever woken up and felt surrounded?
Call it burdened or pressured or stressed or worried or maybe overwhelmed. You feel surrounded on all sides, cornered into a tough spot with no easy way out.
You look at the day ahead. And maybe it’s your job or a relationship or finances or your physical health. And you think, “How am I going to do this?”
In 2 Kings 6, the Prophet Elisha woke up one day and was informed by his servant that the Aramean army had surrounded the city. Elisha knew they had come to kill him.
“Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.
So Elisha started to panic and hid under his covers in a fetal position hoping they would just go away.
Nope. That’s not what happened.
“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
The servant might have thought, “Either Elisha needs to drink more coffee to wake up or he is actually seeing something that I don’t see.” As far as he knew, only two people (Elisha and himself) were on their side!
“And Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
The servant wasn’t scared anymore, and God gave Elisha just the right tactics to defeat the enemy Aram (without ever firing a shot at them, by the way).
Friends, when we wake up and feel surrounded, we have a choice: To trust in the seen or the unseen.
The visible or the invisible. The natural or the supernatural. The ordinary or the extraordinary.
We have a choice: to look in the mirror and ask, “What can I do?” or to look out the window and ask, “What can God do?”
Because we have more than them.
You see, the servant was awake physically but was still asleep spiritually. He saw the circumstances, did the math, weighed the cost, was overcome with fear, and panicked.
I’m guilty of this for sure!
For eight months I searched for a job. Though I had stepped out in faith, so many doors had closed.
Many mornings I woke up feeling surrounded and pressed on all sides. Some days I turned to God but honestly there were many days I didn’t.
But when I began to focus more on His promises rather than my problems, everything changed. God was saying, “Heath, I have a perfect plan for you. Just open your eyes and have faith.”
He was persistently poking and prodding me to wake up, wipe the sleep away from my eyes, and look around and see the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around me.
And I started to see God all over the place. In my wife and kids and friends (who let us live in their basement for 3 months). I saw God in nature and in His Word.
You see, when we choose God in the face of the unknown, we are saying like Elisha, “Him who is with us is greater than what surrounds us.”
No offense to Muhammed Ali. He was a great boxer and I’m sure a good man. But Jesus is the greatest. He’s our real fighter and warrior. And He’s in the ring with us everyday throwing punches and taking them too.
My theory is that Elisha prayed before bed that night before, “God, whatever surrounds me tomorrow, give me faith not fear.”
Friends, when we feel surrounded, we need to trust three things:
The person of God (who He is).
The promises of God (what He says).
The plan of God (what He will do).
What is it that you feel surrounded by today? Have you asked God to give you the courage to face it?
So may we trust in the One who was crushed by the weight of our sins and whose sweat was like drops of blood.
May we trust in the One who was surrounded by enemies and who could have called on God’s angel army to save Himself, but didn’t.
May we trust in the One who saved us from condemnation and death and protects us for eternity.
And may we trust in the One who is with us, in us, above us, before us, and all around us.
If our God is for us, who can be against us?
(I just hope His plan is for me to wake up in St. Thomas tomorrow)