Movie fans will read the title of this and likely recall it from the popular 1999 film, The Matrix. It’s an interesting sci-fi movie even for those of us who are not sci-fi fans like me.

 

In the movie one of the main characters, Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) has new information for Neo (played by Keanu Reeves) as he is dealing with the craziness of the world back then – at least Neo believes it is the only world that is real.

 

But Morpheus tells him: “You’ve been living in a dream world, Neo. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”

 

 In the upended days we are experiencing now those words sound a bit more significant than they did in the sci-fi movie.

 

Have we been living in a dream world?

 

Have we succumbed to believing only what our natural eyes can see?

 

Have we been lulled into thinking we can order our lives each day with a certain rhythm and predictability on a routine basis except for the occasional hurricane, tornado, or war?

 

I am not so sure the world has not been pulled over our eyes as well.

 

It comes at us in more forms and fashions than ever before exposing us to what we are told is reality. It shows up in the themes of movies, TV, ads, music, news broadcasts, and more. If we are not very judicious, we even fail to recognize what we are told is real is only a sliver of all there is to know and still that is within the physical natural realm.

 

Have we forgotten that there is an unseen world in the spiritual realm that is vaster than we can comprehend?

 

I love the story in 2 Kings. The part that I am focusing on begins in the eighth verse. Elisha, the prophet, has been with those in the school of the prophets and the king of Syria discovers this and determines it is the best time to plot to capture Elisha whom he fears.

 

The king of Syria sends a great army with horses and chariots during the night and surrounds the city. When Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, gets up early in the morning he sees the army surrounding the city and the imminent danger they face. He is full of fear, but Elisha is not. The world was not pulled over his eyes. He was in touch with the unseen world in the midst of the natural one and he prays for Gehazi so he might be able to see that as well:

 

“And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that 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 6:17 (NIV)

 

What a powerful reminder in this time for us!

 

We are shut off from our usual lives, the familiar we thought would always be there, and we are surrounded by an unseen enemy – a virus – that we can be so focused on that we miss the power of the unseen spiritual reality of all the angels and power of heaven and the Lord’s armies that are there.

 

We are bombarded with news and concerns that would seek to undo us and shift our focus from the unseen angel armies and the Lord’s presence with us in the midst of this chaotic fearsome time.

 

But the Lord would remind us though we live with the truth of the enemy, He is greater than the enemy and will be with us in and through this trial for as long as it lasts and whatever may come.

 

My prayer would be for each of us each day that the Lord would open our eyes so we too can see beyond the world that has been pulled over our eyes.