The Surgeon Who Worked by Ultraviolet Light

In 2012, a surgical team at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York began using fluorescence-guided surgery to remove cancerous tumors. The surgeon would inject a special dye into the patient's bloodstream, then switch on an ultraviolet light in the operating room. Suddenly, what looked like healthy tissue under normal light revealed hidden networks of cancer glowing bright green. The disease had always been there. The surgeon's eyes simply needed a different kind of light to see it.

The reverse is also true. There are realities of goodness and protection surrounding us that our ordinary vision cannot detect.

When Elisha's servant stumbled out of bed that morning in Dothan and saw the Aramean army choking every hillside, his fear was perfectly rational. Horses, chariots, soldiers with drawn swords — the math was devastating. But Elisha lived under a different light. "Do not fear," he said, "for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then he prayed the most dangerous prayer in all of Scripture: "O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see."

And the servant saw. The mountains blazed with horses and chariots of fire — the army of the Almighty, present all along.

Most of us live like that servant before the prayer. We calculate our odds using only visible evidence. But the God who commanded Elisha's fire still surrounds His people with resources no audit can count. The chariots are already on the hills. We simply need eyes to see them.