Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. (2Ki 6:14-18 NKJ)

The enemy surrounded the city like an impenetrable wall.  The moment Elisha’s servant saw them, fear gripped his heart. He was probably at the worst possible place in his life, knowing he could not fight nor run.  All he could do, so he thought, was to submit and capitulate to the enemy.  At best, the enemy might keep him as a slave. At worst, he would lose his life.

Politically, there is a lot of talk these days about building a wall between the US and Mexico.  What we don’t see is the wall that the enemy is building in the hearts and minds of the people, a wall of fear.  Fear of immigrants, refugees, Muslims, fear based on color, sexual orientation, even a fear of authority as we see evidence of police brutality by the few, and so the wall gets higher. The lie is that a wall will keep us safe and secure. The reality is as that if we submit and capitulate to fear, fear will paralyze us, making us ineffectual. The key to making America great again is not building a wall of fear. Instead, we should:

1.      See the host of heaven that surrounds us and know that God is the only one who can help us. Therefore, love him, trust him and surrender only to him.

2.      Create a circle of love, and invite your neighbors to join the circle, Muslim, Christian, gay, black or white.  There should be nobody excluded from the circle of love (Isa 56).  Then let those circles like with other circles tearing down the wall of fear.

3.      Let peace and justice be the banner for all and change the light bulb in the lamp held by liberty.  Making it bigger and brighter.  Fear functions in darkness, therefore shine the light even brighter. (Isa 60)

In God we trust should be a lifestyle, not a motto. #teardownthewall