Bat Cave : Mine eyes have seen

Mine eyes have seen

I play a lot of Champions of Norrath on the PlayStation 2 and you can win or lose a battle easily. You can have the best armor and weapons but you have to pay attention to small details and what you do during a fight. I’m here to provide you with the right weapons and hope.

I pay attention to words in songs and a lot of people miss some things when listening to a song. During the Civil War not the Marvel comics one but the one in American history a song was famous and it was called the Battle Hymn of the Republic but I want to show you some things in the song you may have never paid attention to. This week I’ve been listening to it a lot. I want to start though with Psalm 121.

“I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as a protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, not the moon by night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”

Where are you turning when your world turns to chaos because you have hope. This blog deals in the hope found in God’s Word and I want to show you what mine eyes have seen. 1 Peter 5:7 “Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about you.”

Maybe you like Elisha’s servant struggle with all this. These Aramean soldiers looked to trap and kill the prophet Elisha but God had other plans. In 2 Kings 6:15-17 we find this. And I’m showing you this because I want you to have your eyes opened and focus on God.

“When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. ‘Oh, sir, what will we do now?’ ‘Don’t be afraid!’ Elisha told him. ‘ For there are more on our side than on theirs!’ 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.”

We rarely ever see the spiritual battle going on around us but God is greater and more powerful than anything thrown at us and we need to fix our eyes on him and trust him. It’s a constant moment by moment thing.

Now I mentioned the Battle Hymn of the Republic because most people really don’t pay attention to the first two verses. God showed himself able to defend Elisha and his servant. In 1 Peter we are shown to cast our cares on God because he cares. The Psalmist shows us that we can run to God for help.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he hath loosed the faithful lightening of his terrible swift sword; his truth is marching on.

I have seen him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps

They have builded him an altar in the dews and evening damps;

I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;

His day is marching on.”

We serve a God who loves his people, cares for them and protects them. Fix your eyes on him. Your problems will not all disappear but they will be easier to get through with your hope fixed on God. It’s a perspective shift. You are loved and there is hope!

There’s a song also that was done many years later by Whiteheart which is very similar to the Battle Hymn of the Republic called My Eyes Have Seen.

“I stood on a mountaintop

With the heavens all around me

And I’ve stood on the ocean shore

Felt the power of the thundering sea

But I’ve seen no greater sight

Than the beauty and the Light!

The power and might of you

My eyes have seen the glory

My eyes have seen the truth

The bright salvation story

God of Israel, I have seen you”