Hi everyone its aunt Fernita
Today's story is called "more than meets the eye"
The memory verse is from Psalm chapter 34 verse 7
It says "The angel of the lord encamps around those who fears Him and He delivers them."
Today's message is: God helps us when we are in trouble
Can you remember a time when you were afraid of something? or someone?
was it a noise, a person or maybe a situation?
In our bible story for today
Elisha's servant was very frightened
Let's find out why
Israel and Aram were at war and God was helping Israel
Whenever the aramian king would plan to attack the king of Israel
God would tell Elisha
Then Elisha would warn the King of Israel
"Don't travel to the east today because the aramians are going to be there."
and sure enough the king of Aram would be hiding just as Elisha said
This happened time after time
and the King of Aram very very angry
"Who is a spy for Israel?" he growled at his generals
Only one general knew the truth. "None of us are spies" he said
"But Elisha the prophet,"
"He knows everything we're about to do."
"He even knows what you say in your bedroom"
"Where is this man?" The king of Aram roared
"Go find out where he is, so i can send men to capture him"
The report came back
"He is staying in Dothen"
"Then we will attack Dothen and get rid of this nuisance" the King announced
He called his fighting men and sent them off to capture one lone prophet
The king was sure that if his army could capture Elisha
They could defeat Israel
what a foolish idea
Elisha hadn't been spying
God who knew everything, was protecting his people
One of the first people to wake up in the morning was Elisha's servant
He saw the large aramian army camped around the city
He saw horses
He saw chariots
He saw armor glistening in the first rays of the rising sun
"Oh what would we do?" he cried
Elisha's servant was afraid, he had forgotten whose side God was on
Elisha hadn't
"Those who are with us are more than those that are with them " he explained to his servant
Than he asked God to open his servants' eyes
when the servant looked again
he saw another army
It covered the hills around Dothan and its chariots shone like fire
It was God's army
And His army wasn't going to let anything happen to Elisha and his servant
Elisha prayed again
"Strike the enemy army with blindness lord,"
So God made the whole enemy army blind
Then Elisha went out of the city
He marched right up to the blind general " this isn't the road you want" he said
"Follow me and i will lead you to the one you are looking for"
Elisha led the blind enemy army right to the king of Israel
Then God opened the enemy soldiers eyes
They were trapped inside Israel's capital city
"Shall i kill them?" asked the king of Israel
"No." Elisha responded thinking of God's grace
"Feed them and then send them home"
Thats exactly what the king of Israel did
God had conquered the enemy with blindness, a good meal and grace
God helped Elisha when he was in trouble
He will do the same for you because He loves you very much