Trusting the Unseen - Martin Wiles

Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. 2 Kings 6:17 NLT

Financial crunches sometimes reveal the unseen.

Ours was a financial crunch like we hadn’t seen lately. The payment for our low-mileage used car drained from our bank account, so we had to decide. As much as we hated parting with it, we had to let our car go back. In its place, we purchased an older vehicle of the same model with more miles. The seller advertised it as having 100K and told us before we gave it a test drive that the odometer only worked periodically.

As we drove down the road, we discovered he was right—at least in one respect. The odometer wasn’t showing the mileage. But then, suddenly, the mileage appeared. Although the owner had been truthful about the odometer, he hadn’t been about the mileage. One hundred thousand was 205,000. Now we had another decision.

Three years later, we didn’t regret our decision to purchase it. We experienced no trouble, even though we rarely saw the odometer. Occasionally, it appeared--long enough for us to know it was working and to mentally note the mileage so we could tell the service attendant the next time we had the oil changed. We trusted the unseen.

A foreign king hounded the prophet Elisha, wanting to end his life. When Elisha’s servant saw the army surrounding him and his master, he cried out in fear: “What will we do now?” Elisha prayed that God would help him see the unseen—and God did. The hillside around them ignited with horses and chariots of fire. Elisha trusted the unseen.

The times I’ve seen God’s hand at work in vivid color are somewhat like the odometer on that car—rarely seen. But they come around regularly enough to let me know he’s continually working behind the scenes. My life is in his hands, and he is constantly working to form me into his Son’s image, to protect me from unforeseen danger, and to supply my every need—even if it’s an older model car with high mileage. Through explicit and unexplainable occurrences—as well as through the kindness of others--God leads us to trust his unseen hand.

We don’t always observe God’s hand, but he lovingly controls the world and faithfully works to provide for our needs. Trust him in the unseen.

Father, thank you for letting me know you work behind the scenes even when I can’t see your hand. 

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