THANKFUL TO NOT BE ALONE
2 Kings 6:8-23
Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell
First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI
November 18, 2007
As you can surely tell, Thanksgiving is the theme of our worship today. It’s good to be together as a family of faith on this Lord’s Day to give thanks. On Wednesday evening, we’ll join together here with four other churches as the larger family of God in thanksgiving. On Thursday, many of us will also be found gathered together with family or friends, finding the joy of giving thanks with those for whom we care a great deal.
As I find myself in the midst of such gatherings, I often find myself remembering those who will not be with others, and for whom Thanksgiving or Christmas can be very lonely days. But in all honesty, lonely days can come in any of the 365 days in a year, can’t they? And even when we are surrounded by a number of people, we can still feel quite lonely.
Our text for this morning speaks of loneliness in the midst of a particular crisis at hand; only the loneliness was revealed in time to be unfounded. Two men encircled by a hostile, enemy army were not so alone after all.
THE BACKGROUND
The occasion was that of war between Aram (Syria) and the northern kingdom of Israel. It was during the ninth century BC that King Ben Hadad II of Syria chose to pursue hostilities in border clashes with Israel. One of the problems the enemy king faced, however, was that Elisha the prophet kept revealing his plans. Elisha, receiving a word of knowledge from the LORD, would tell Israel’s King Joram what the enemy army was up to. “Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.” So this enemy king finally had had enough and he went after the prophet. Under cover of night, enemy “horses and chariots and a strong force” surrounded Elisha and his servant in Dothan. And in the contrast of that large army up against two people, a great sense of loneliness and fear came upon the servant as he cried out to Elisha in utter dismay: “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?”
In one of the more exciting moments found in Scripture, we find out how Elisha dealt with the situation, and how the servant discovered that he was not as alone as he had once thought he’d been. The servant discovered that he could give thanks and praise because, even in a lonely situation by all outward appearances, he was yet not alone. And when you and I find ourselves in a lonely situation by all outward appearances, we can take heart from the lessons this servant learned … and then be thankful.
I
WE CAN BE THANKFUL
WE ARE NOT TRULY ALONE,
BECAUSE “GOD IS ONLY A PRAYER AWAY.”
The servant turned to Elisha and asked him, “What shall we do?” In short order, Elisha gave the servant a word of encouragement and then began praying. He did so with a sense of utter confidence as he turned ever so quickly to the LORD in prayer. Instead of a last resort, it was Elisha’s first resort” to pray, fully confident of the nearness of the LORD and of the benefit of turning to God in earnest, believing prayer. It wasn’t a lengthy, verbose prayer filled with lofty phrases, but a simple prayer of confidence in God’s presence. How we can be thankful that we, too – all of us - can do this. As the saying goes, “God is just a prayer away.”
To acknowledge this as true is something most of us are ready to do. If asked, all of us would say that we pray and most of us do pray in one way or another. But what we must remember is that God’s presence is not somehow conjured up in prayer. We don’t “invoke” God’s presence in prayer and then it happens. It is not as if God has somehow been absent and through the vehicle of prayer, God’s presence suddenly shows up; and then when He does show up, we feel Him with a sense of heightened awareness. No, we do not always feel the presence of God in prayer, but this does not mean that He is not present. God is present, and God is always present in prayer, whether we feel that presence or not.
Philip Yancey is a well-known Christian author of several highly prominent and helpful books. In a recently published book on the subject of prayer, he says out of the context of his own prayer life:
I have learned to see prayer not as my way of establishing God’s presence, rather as my way of responding to God’s presence that is a fact whether or not I can detect it. To quote Abraham Joshua Heschel, ‘Contact with (God) is not our achievement. It is a gift, coming down to us from on high like a meteor, rather than rising up like a rocket. Before the words of prayer come to the lips, the mind must believe in God’s willingness to draw near to us, and in our ability to clear the path for His approach. Such belief is the idea that leads us toward prayer. My feelings of God’s presence – or God’s absence – are not the presence or the absence. Whenever I fixate on techniques, or sink into guilt over my inadequate prayers, or turn away in disappointment when a prayer goes unanswered, I remind myself that prayer means keeping company with God who is already present.[i]
That’s a line well worth remembering in those times when we do feel all alone: “Prayer means keeping company with God who is already present.” We need to remember that our feelings come and go, but God’s presence never does!
II
WE CAN BE THANKFUL WE ARE NOT TRULY ALONE
FOR THE REASON ALSO
OF GOD’S ANGELIC HOST BEING PRESENT.
As the servant trembled with fear and didn’t know what to do, he then heard the words of reassurance from Elisha: “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Following prayer that the LORD would open the servant’s eyes, “(the servant) then looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” After that prayer for spiritual eyesight beyond what the naked eye could see, the servant was enabled to see God’s heavenly armies ready to do battle with the Syrians. The servant was given the gift of seeing the meaning of the “LORD of hosts” –for the High and Holy One, the everlasting God, does indeed have an innumerable multitude of “hosts” of angels serving in submission to Him.
While angels serve the LORD in many capacities, Hebrews 1:14 tells us that angels are also “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.” Whether we are permitted to see them or not, we may be assured that angels are at work in this world, so often working on our behalf individually or corporately.
Perhaps you’ve heard the fascinating story of John Paton, the Scottish Presbyterian missionary to the South Pacific. Paton served in the New Hebrides islands in the 1800’s. He lost his first wife to a tropical fever, married again, and yet faced the deaths of many of his children due to the harsh conditions. But the greatest concern was the fact that cannibals lived there as well!
While he was living on the island of Aniwa, the natives were indeed “restless” - and fearsome! One night, they surrounded his mission headquarters with the determined objective of burning the station down and killing the Paton’s. Not surprisingly, John and Maggie Paton prayed ever so earnestly throughout the night for deliverance and when the morning light finally came, all was strangely quiet; every one of the attackers was gone.
It was not until one year later that the chief of the tribe became a Christian. That was when Paton had the opportunity of asking him about that terrifying night, as to what had stopped them from killing the Paton’s. That’s when the chief had questions of his own. The chief and the others had thought that only the two Paton’s were there, which in fact was true. But the natives had nevertheless also seen “men” standing guard, hundreds of them, with shining garments and drawn swords. The natives were terrified of them! Paton listened and surely smiled when he realized it had been an army of angels. So, the Paton’s remained there until all the island professed Christianity and had a New Testament in their language. But how marvelous it was to know that they were never alone, not in even the most frightening of events!
An unusual event far removed from us today? Hardly! Although needs vary, Christians all over the world are just as much in need today of such faithful assistance!
III
WE CAN BE THANKFUL WE ARE NOT TRULY ALONE
BECAUSE OF THE PRAYERS OF OTHERS
ON OUR BEHALF.
Elisha’s servant was in a state of real terror – he simply did not know what to do. We can almost see him, standing there immovable – simply unable to move. He stutters out the question born from a condition of near panic: “Oh, my lord, wha…, wha …, what shall we do?” Knowing his friend’s need of faith, courage and spiritual insight, Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” And yes, the LORD answered that prayer. Oh, did He!
Many of us may not always have had available to us a friend standing right next to us, praying for us. But many of us have surely had the sense that we were not alone as others were nevertheless praying for us. They may have been in a house nearby, or many miles away, or even across the oceans vast, but we could yet sense their presence through their prayers.
In Nov. of 2002, Philip Yancey was visiting St. Petersburg, Russia. At that time, the city was preparing for its 300th anniversary to be celebrated in the following year. As a consequence, many notable and historic buildings were under repair, with scaffolding everywhere and construction debris on the streets.
He tells us that one morning, he took his usual morning run, only it was extremely dark due to the latitude. The darkness, unfamiliar streets, construction debris and lack of concentration for but a moment, all led to a fall … a very serious fall! By the time he hobbled back to his hotel room, he was bruised, bleeding and in great pain. His wife Janet was there to let him in, finding him bruised and battered. Fearing Russian hospitals, they turned to self-treatment, using little bottles of Russian vodka as antiseptic and a Band-Aid placed tightly over his split lip, and hoping his eye would heal on its own.
It was a scary and lonely time for these two in such a far away place, and after taking some aspirin and some time to rest, Yancey said he had to leave … he left to find an internet café. Through the difficulties one would expect, he was finally able to send a message to his home prayer group and to some family members and friends. Very simply, the message was, “We need help. Please pray.”
As he walked back to the hotel, his mind turned to what had just happened. He tells us that, as he did so, “… for the first time that day I felt the lump of fear and anxiety in my stomach begin to loosen. In a few hours my friends and family, people who cared, would turn on their computers, read my message, and pray on my behalf. I was not alone.” [ii]
How grateful Yancey was, as we all are, when we know we are not alone; when we know people are praying for us; when we know the angels are watching over us; when we know the presence of God through prayer. Yes, there are times when we do feel alone. But then again, we are never entirely alone - all reasons enough for which to give thanks!