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had dug a well in this wilderness (verses 22-31), Hagar, apparently, had no knowledge of
it:--
"And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
And she went, and sat here down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot:
for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him and lift
up her voice and wept . . . . . And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water . . ."
(Gen. 21: 15-19).
Once again, the need is met, not by the miraculous gushing forth of water in the
wilderness, but by the opening of the eyes to see that which had already been provided.
Presence.
Refer now to Luke 24: 13-32. Two disciples are walking along the road in the
direction of Emmaus, some sixty furlongs from Jerusalem. Their conversation was of the
things that had occurred at Jerusalem, and the record is that they were sad. As they thus
walked and talked, the risen Lord drew near, and went with them:--
"But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him" (Luke 24: 16).
Here was protection and provision in one--the risen Christ. Once again the provision
is there already, needing but the opened eyes to see it:--
"And their eyes were opened and they knew Him . . . . . Did not our hearts burn within
us . . . . . while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luke 24: 31, 32).
To this might be added:--
"Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures"
(Luke 24: 45).
Here we have brought together, opened eyes, opened Scriptures, and opened
understandings.
Is it true God-honouring prayer to ask for that which is already ours in Christ? Should
we not rather learn from these passages that we might often rightly pray, "Open Thou
mine eyes, that I may behold", rather than pray for either provision or protection.
Beloved reader, if you are in Christ, you are more safely garrisoned than was Elisha.
Pray for the opened eyes to see this. You are more fully provided for than Hagar. With
you walks daily the Son of God; and if your eyes are holden it may be slowness of heart
to believe that which is written, for had the two disciples really believed the Word of the
Lord, they never could have said, "and beside all this, to-day is the third day since these
things were done".
(cf.
BE-XIII, pp. 158, 159).