Believe and See

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. ~Hebrews 11:3

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh, my lord, what shall we do?’ the servant asked. ‘Don't be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ~2 Kings 6:15-17

“The Bible assumes as a self-evident fact that men can know God with at least the same degree of immediacy as they know any other person….We apprehend the physical world by exercising the faculties given us for that purpose, and we possess spiritual faculties by means of which we can know God and the spiritual world if we will obey the Spirit’s urge and begin to use them. God and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them with as much assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world around us. Spiritual things are there (or rather we should say here) inviting our attention and challenging our trust.” ~A.W. Tozer

Here is one such example…

Excerpted from On Call, a missionary autobiography by Dr. David Thompson. It takes place in Cambodia in the early 1950s during the French-Indochina War.

We had been in Kratie for perhaps a year. French troops were garrisoned in the city because it was a provincial capital. One day the French commander received secret information that a large force of rebels was going to attack the French rubber plantations outside of the town of Snoul, 80 kilometers away. Confident that his information was correct, the commander loaded his troops on trucks and raced to Snoul, hoping to surprise the rebels. The purported attack never materialized. It was a rebel trick.

The actual plan was for a rebel force of about 2000 to attack Kratie where we lived. As dusk fell…Father and Mother prayed. God had not brought them to Kratie to be destroyed before they had done the work they were sent to do.

I remember having to stay under the bed with my sister while Dad and Mom knelt and prayed. As Dad told it, around 2 a.m. a white flare lit up the square. The attack started soon after.

Bullets flew everywhere. Suddenly, a red flare shot up and burned briefly in the night sky. The shooting tapered off. In the morning there was no sign of the rebels and nobody understood why the rebels had abandoned the attack. The French commander returned later that day from Snoul and was surprised to find the city intact.

In 1955 the French granted independence to Cambodia, returning power to the king of Cambodia. The king promised amnesty to all the rebels who would turn in their weapons and pledge allegiance to him-some of the rebels were communists. On the announced day, the provincial rebels came by the thousands to the town square and stacked their weapons in a great pile. There were speeches and ceremonies all day. Towards the middle of the day the retiring French commander asked Dad to translate for him while he spoke to the rebel commander. After introductions, the commander asked the rebel leader, “Why did you not take the city the night we were diverted to Snoul, leaving Kratie defenseless?”

The rebel commander seemed surprised by the question. He remembered the night very well, he said, and suggested that the French commander was mistaken, for when the rebels attacked Kratie they were confronted by thousands of French soldiers. There were troops everywhere-more than he had seen at any other time during the war! Since the rebel force numbered only 2000 men, they had decided to flee!

With Dad interpreting, the French commander and the rebel leader argued about the events of that night. Only Dad understood what had happened: the army of the Lord had saved us. God’s angels had appeared as French soldiers in such great number that the rebels withdrew. (pp 17-19)

Believe in God; believe also in me [Jesus]. ~John 14:1