July 10, 2024 | Be God's Light
Elijah Anoints Elisha
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:19-21(NIV)
19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”
“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
Devotional
At the end of yesterday’s reading when Elijah was on Mt. Sinai, God gave him these instructions: “anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet” (1 Kings 19:16). This meant that Elijah would have to walk the long distance back to near where he had started from. Forty days there. Meet with God. Forty days back. Nobody ever said a mission from God is easy.
Elijah’s ministry wasn’t finished. But God told him to go find his successor while he was still active in ministry. Elijah was to think about his legacy in terms of who he could develop to carry on when he was gone. So, while he had the strength to take a forty-day journey, climb a mountain, then take another forty-day hike, Elijah found his apprentice. He showed Elisha that he was going to pass him the baton when he threw his own cloak on the young man.
After saying goodbye to his dad and mom, Elisha was all in. In a burn-the-ships moment, he made a barbeque out of his plowing equipment and pair of oxen, turning them into ash in the air and meat in the stomachs of his fellow workers. This former farmer would become protégé prophet to Elijah. The concluding verse says it all: “Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”
This is the same attitude that we are called to have with Jesus, who said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). These three actions (deny, take up, follow) are about being all-in with Jesus (surrendering self, surrendering life, surrendering freedom). Elisha couldn’t become a prophet by listening to epic stories about Elijah. We can’t become disciples of Jesus by attentively listening to sermons.
Perhaps in a reference to this Elijah-Elisha story, Jesus told would-be followers, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). What about you? Are there any familiar things in your life you need to surrender in order to become a committed follower of Jesus? If so, it might be time for a little backyard barbeque.
Poem
Lord Of The Mountain,
Lord Of The Valley
Lord of the mountain
Lord of the valley
The highs, the lows
My life, you know
Where can I go
That you are not with me?
Flatten the mountain
Raise up the valley
Prepare the Way
Make straight your day
Repent, I say
Behold the Lamb of God
When joy does fill me
When grief distills me
Lord, you are there
Minister care
Comfort You share
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
