2020 Vision: I Can See Clearly Now (The Remix) Lesson 5: Things Are Not Always As Bad As They Appear

by | Feb 10, 2021 | 2020 Vision: I Can See Clearly Now (The Remix), Bible Studies

A Labor Of Love Bible Study Prepared by Pastor C. E. Hawthorne
Scripture Text: 2Kings 6:12-17

INTRODUCTION

We tend to be visual people.  We tend to believe what we see.  How soon we forget that your eyes can play tricks on you.  Your eyes can have you thinking one thing is true when in reality it is not true. 

If you were stranded for several days in a wilderness or desert place without drinking water or some other liquid refreshment, you might very well experience what is called “a mirage.”  A mirage is a hallucination.  It is an optical illusion or an optical delusion.  Or as one songwriter put it, “It was just my imagination running away from me.”  

A thirsty stranded traveler might see an oasis.  An oasis is fertile ground in a desert where the level of underground water rises to or near ground level.  To run to such a place, only to discover that there is no water at all, can be very disappointing to say the least. 

As it is in the natural, so it can be in the spiritual.  Things are not always as they appear.  This is especially true when it comes to bad things.  Don’t be like the person who always sees the bad in things.  Flip the script and learn how to see the good in the bad.  No matter what, something good is going to happen to you this year!  God has said so in His Word (Psa.65:11 God’s Word Translation). 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. What did Elisha’s servant see (vs. 15)?  Was he mistaken?  What does his question imply about how he saw the situation?
  2. What is the first thing the prophet Elisha told his servant in verse 16?  Why?
  3. What did Elisha see in contrast to what his servant saw (vs. 16)? 
  4. What did Elisha pray in verse 17?  How did God answer his prayer?
  5. What did the servant see in contrast to what he previously saw?
  6. What lesson(s) can you learn from all of this?