“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 no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

¹⁷ 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.”

Do you do puzzles? I’ve recently gotten really into puzzles. I’ve done a variety of them: puzzles of places, events, Lego puzzles and a puzzle of a dog pooping (that was a gift from my husband). I’ve done puzzles where the actual puzzle doesn’t match the picture on the box and puzzles that are a seek and find theme. My favorite puzzles to choose are ones that are colorful with a lot going on.

Puzzles seem to help my brain settle. There is something about looking at a piece; the color, the shape, a small section of a picture and making a connection to where it belongs in the puzzle. There is a satisfying feeling when the piece clicks into place.

When I first open a puzzle, I have a process. First, I turn all of the piece right side up. Then I look for all the edge pieces and set them aside. And then I sort by four main color families and put the pieces away in drawers. Recently, I’ve noticed something when I sort. When I set about looking for edge pieces or a specific color it’s almost as if those pieces jump out at me from the pile. I could be skimming through section of 100 pieces and my eye catches something. I go back, all because there was definitely an edge piece in the pile. Sure enough, as I dig, I find the piece.

And that’s because our brain is WIRED to do this. It’s called selective attention.

Selective attention is really helpful in every day life because it helps us filter the information that is most useful to us. Driving down the road there are ads and signs everywhere, but our brain knows to focus more on the road signs when we’re driving. Because, in the past, we’ve told our brains that those signs are important. It’s also why, when we’re looking to buy a car and we’ve picked a specific model, we’re more likely to see that model of car EVERYWHERE on the road. We’ve “told” our brain that a specific model is important.

Selective attention is particularly helpful in puzzles because it helps find a piece to fit in specific spot based on the shape and color that I’ve told my brain is important.

But selective attention isn’t always what we need. If someone is thinking about having a baby, chances are they will see babies everywhere. This can be painful if a couple is struggling with infertility. Or if someone wants to be in a relationship, he or she will see couples everywhere, which can also cause heartache.

If we decide something is important our brains will subconsciously notice it more.

There is a story in the Bible that has recently captured my attention and it has me repeating the phrase “LORD, open my eyes.”

The story begins in 2 Kings 6:8. It’s a story of Elisha who is a prophet for Israel. He’s causing trouble for Israel’s enemy Aram because Elisha is revealing the plans of the king of Aram, helping Israel. So, the king of Aram wants to capture Elisha so that he can stop Elisha from ruining his plans. Elisha and his servant escape to a city called Dothan. The king of Aram finds out about it and surrounds the city. And that’s where we pick up.

“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 no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

¹⁷ 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.”

Elisha’s servant had selective attention in what he noticed was around him. Elisha “saw” more.

This story has got me thinking about what I’m looking for IN LIFE. If it’s possible to “tell” our brains that something is more important and our brains will notice it more, what happens when we are navigating life without thinking about what’s important? Or worse, if we’ve unintentionally told our brains to focus on the wrong things. We can do this in a million little ways. When we look around our house or apartment, do we see the things that we wish were different or the things we love about the space? When we’re driving down the road do we see the one person who cut us off or the million other people who are following traffic laws? In our home and in our work we will see what we focus on.

I know that I’ve done this. When I trust myself to identify what’s important, I frequently focus my brain on the wrong things. An acquaintance or friend may do something to hurt me and suddenly I’m looking for evidence of all the ways I’m vulnerable to be hurt again. Or I’m looking for evidence of the ways I’ve been hurt in the past by people I trusted. I can look at the place where God has planted our family and “see” all the ways that I’m disappointed, all the ways that things aren’t what I want. I “see” what I’m looking for. It’s a pattern I’ve played too many times in my life.

Each and every time I fall into this pattern, when I finally seek God, He patiently guides me out of it. When God has the microphone to speak into my heart, He identifies what is actually important and helps me to see my next step, or where I’ve gone wrong. He reveals beauty that I’d never noticed before. Instead of seeing the things I’ve identified as important, God opens my eyes to see the things HE thinks are important. Because my “heart is deceitful” it’s more likely to pick the things that will drain me, instead of bringing me joy and life to the full. God is the only one that can keep me on course to an abundant life.

How does God course correct? Through trusted people who are willing to be honest, through scripture, through listening prayer and by (mostly) living an unhurried life.

In my experience, being able to be guided by God regularly requires a few “ingredients” in my life. This is not a recipe, more like consistently working the soil of my life and ensuring that the soil is good soil. Having these things present in my life isn’t a “plug and play” kind of relationship with God. God’s voice shows up differently every time. Side note: Each time I think I’ve figured out God (oh the arrogance!) He surprises me. So, I approach my ingredient list with humility, knowing that God is not a god who is controlled. He created me, I did not create Him. He will not always do what I expect or think the things that I think. Which is why He’s such a great God and I am not. These suggestions are what I have noticed in my life and what I have read about in the lives of many people more godly than I.

Margin. It’s hard to hear God when I am so busy that I don’t have time to sit. If I’m running around from the moment my feet hit the floor in the morning until I finally collapse in exhaustion at night, it’s hard to hear God. If my to-do list is so long that I don’t have space to sit, look out the window, slowly drink a cup of coffee, I’ll miss God’s gentle whisper. If I don’t have time to pull the weeds in my actual garden, I will have no space to hear God point out the weeds in my life.

Scripture: I am more likely to hear God if I am reading God’s words in scripture. In the same way I’m more likely to get a job if I apply for more jobs, the more I read God’s word, spend time learning about who He is through His word, the more likely I am to know His voice. I don’t know what else there is to say, except that this is just true. You can read scripture and be unchanged by it, which is why it’s not the ONLY way to hear God. Just as only sunshine will not grow plants, reading the Bible should be done in conjunction with the other ingredients. There are many tools to help you spend time in scripture: The Bible Project, She Reads Truth, Bible Gateway or even a reading plan from the back of your Bible. You could also just start in one of the gospels and start reading or listen to THIS podcast that will read the gospels for you.

Wise people in my life: I have a friend, whom I love dearly. When I am mad about something, she is mad for me. I don’t have to convince her to be mad. She just chooses my side. Always. And if I am looking for ways I’ve been wronged, she’ll help me find them. It feels so great to have her on my side. Yet, if I want to allow God to be the loudest voice in my life, when I am upset about something, she isn’t the first one I should call. I need people who will challenge me and ask questions. People who know Scripture, who love God more than they love me and who will help me see things from a different perspective. Wise people in my life occasionally make me uncomfortable and frustrate me. Yet they are God’s gift to save me from myself.

Listening prayer: This last one is the one I am least confident in because I have practiced it the least. When I was little, I was taught to pray “Now I lay me down to sleep”. Later I learned to pray using the acronym ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). I was taught to talk TO God but never taught to sit quietly and listen. But God speaks to us. There is evidence of it all throughout scripture-Moses spoke to God face to face as if a friend. All of the prophets heard God speak. Jonah was told to go to Nineveh, Isaiah was told to tell dry bones to rise up. And Elisha knew the battle plans of the King of Aram. God speaks. And he can tell us what to see. But we have to position ourselves to listen. To sit quietly and wait.

Elisha’s servant knew they were being pursued. He was afraid and he woke up and saw what he expected to see and he assumed the situation was hopeless. But Elisha was unhurried and unfazed. He did not rush to join his servant in looking out at the men surrounding them because He already knew what was actually true. Then he asked God to open the eyes of his servant so he could see and know what was true too.

The rest of this story is amazing. You should read it because of the mercy and compassion on display. The king of Aram pursues Elisha to capture him, but Elisha does not respond in kind. Elisha has the opportunity and the power to kill all of Aram’s army and yet he doesn’t do it. As you open the text, perhaps say a prayer, “Open my eyes, Lord, so that I may see.”