Surrounded But Not Defeated

In the middle of the night a great army has surrounded you. And you do not even know it…yet.

A lot can happen while you sleep.

A vast army can move into place and be ready to attack at first light.

You get up early as you always do.

You go outside for a moment of fresh air.

And then life says good morning.

You look around your once quiet little world in disbelief.

What seemed so peaceful when you went to sleep just a few hours ago, has now turned into utter chaos.

Every imaginable thing that could go wrong is going wrong.

During the night, “the enemy has placed troops, horses, and chariots everywhere.”

You say to yourself, “I am completely surrounded by disaster.”

Within just a few hours your world has fallen apart.

You cry out, not knowing who hears you, nor do you care what they think.

“What do we do now?!!”

All you see with your temporal and limited sight is that you are surrounded.

Then, this peaceful presence comes upon you.

 It quietly says within your spirit, confidently and calmly, “Don’t be afraid!  For our army is bigger than theirs!”

Our army?

We do not have an army.

Are you blind?

We are surrounded by troubles, by devastation, by sorrow and despair.

There is no good that can come from this.

That same calm voice then says, “Open your eyes and you will see!”

You blink once and everything has changed.

Wide with miraculous vision that you did not have, even a moment ago.

Outside the ring of the army that you saw as surrounding you, is another army, surrounding the army, which is surrounding you.

You squint and rub your eyes.

And without question, there they are.

Bigger than life.

Horses and chariots of fire everywhere, now completely surrounding the army that you thought was going to overtake you.

You can be confident that what you might see as defeat, God sees as victory.

What you see as surrender, God sees as assured triumph.

If you feel as though you are surrounded by the enemy, look again.

Ask God to open your eyes to the real battle.

Ask God to give you uniquely keen vision to his plan for your life.

You may in fact be surrounded.

But you are in fact certainly not defeated.

Just open your eyes.

That which has surrounded you is itself…surrounded.

Scripture reference taken from 2 Kings 6:14-17 (TLB)