Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17 (CSB)

I am a person with multiple vision issues. I am near-sighted but at my age I also need reading prescriptions. I have astigmatism and one of my eyes tends to be a little lazy, meaning that it doesn’t always look straight at objects. I noticed from a young age that when I focus on something intently, and just blink, when I focus in again, I am seeing that object from a different perspective. As I developed a love for creating art, one of the foundational lessons is on perspective drawing, which is how to align objects so that the sense of depth is accurate to the overall piece. I also enjoy walking through my neighborhood for exercise and meditation. I have a general route I will walk for the purpose of maximizing mileage, but in that route I will mix it up just so that I don’t get bored. This also allows me to see things differently or to notice the nuances of nature I might not notice if I stick to one route, one direction always. As I age, I recognize that it is easy to see or do things in only a set pattern and to become rigid to change. And so when I walk, to keep me from looking at the neighborhood the same way, I just take some time to look up to get a fresh perspective on my surroundings.

We have been living in a time where change is constant and for many it is overwhelming. It is hard to wrap our head around what routines and habits we may return to after this pandemic or if we will ever return to the comfort zones of our routines. With so much turmoil in this world we can feel like Elisha’s servant. The full story is that an army was filling a valley below where Elisha and his servant stood. They were intent on finding Elisha and putting an end to his life. Early in the morning the servant woke up and saw the massive army below, stirred Elisha and asked him what they were going to do. The prophet already saw that God had put an even larger army of angels around the valley to protect him and his servant. This is when Elisha prayed to God to open the eyes of his servant so that he could see, there was nothing to fear or be worried about. The account ends by telling us that by prayer the Aramean army was struck with a blindness and allowed Elisha to lead them away to be delivered to the Samarian king as captives and then told the king not to kill the army but to feed them. His actions and his instructions went against the grain of the culture and it demonstrated God’s power and His grace.

I think the lesson we can take away from this is two-fold. First, in those moments of feeling overwhelmed, afraid, anxious, doubting or unsure we need to pause and pray to God to give us a different perspective, a different way of looking at the situation. Second, many times what seems like certain disaster and destruction is only an opportunity for God to demonstrate His power, grace and mercy and to remind us that God’s ways are not ours and His thoughts are not like ours (Is. 55:8).

Feelings of being overwhelmed, anxiousness, doubts and fears are real. I don’t experience them the way I once did, but I still experience them from time to time. This is one of the reasons that I make sure that I maintain a healthy lifestyle and take time for reflection, meditation and prayer. I remind myself in these moments to step back from my emotions and to take a look up or a look around, just to give myself a different perspective. It is what helps me to keep my sanity in what seems to be an increasingly insane world. It helps me to stay grounded and focused, remembering that through it all God is still in charge. If you are experiencing these things, I encourage you to find a way to take a minute to look at things from a different perspective and see if this doesn’t help.