“Open the eyes of my heart…”, says the popular song by Paul Baloche. And we sing it at the top of our lungs. But do we make it a prayer? We can be so distracted by the mundane that we forget about eternity.
“Open the eyes of my heart…”, says the popular song by Paul Baloche. And we sing it at the top of our lungs. But do we make it a prayer? We can be so distracted by the mundane that we forget about eternity.
The king of Syria was furious with Elisha because he was always discovering his battle plans. The king then sent an army to capture Elisha, and when the servant of the prophet saw the army ahead of them, he panicked. But Elisha was calm, fearless. To comfort his frightened servant, Elisha asked God for something special. “And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that 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” (2 Kings 6:17 NIV). The prophet was serene before an army encamped against him because he saw the situation through the eyes of the Spirit.
Maybe that’s what we need to do too. What our eyes see in the natural captivates our attention that we forget that the real battles are fought in the Spirit. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV). We are ready to take revenge against a person who has offended us, forgetting that this person may have been pushed by a dark force, and that by showing them love instead of repeating their wickedness, we will melt their walls.
When we ask God to open our eyes, He can show us the needs of the people around us. By occupying our time with the growth of the Kingdom of God, our problems seem smaller, and less important. Above all, when we take care of God’s business, He takes care of ours (Haggai 1:2-9). When we ask God to open our eyes, we are dazzled by its beauty. Through the horrors around us, we will see a ray of His glory, the splendor of His love for us. Our tense faces will then be transformed by a sweet smile. “Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame” (Psalms 34:5 NIV).
When we ask God to open our eyes, we may see solutions we never imagined. Maybe we will even finally find our life partner. They might have been around us for a long time, but we couldn’t see them! God can make us realize that this special someone, who until now was just a good friend, may be God’s answer to our prayer.
Asking God to open our eyes can also show us our mistakes, weaknesses, and fears. The Lord may show us that we are walking in the wrong direction or that we need to give up a bad habit. The vision that God will give us will not always be encouraging, it will sometimes be a difficult correction to take. But we must dare to make this prayer. We miss so many good opportunities, we fight with so much darkness, that no matter what it will cost us, let’s dare to say this prayer. “Lord, open my eyes, that I see.”