Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
We’ve all had the experience of ‘new beginnings‘, can you remember some of yours? It was your first day of school. Your first day on the new job. Your first day married! Your first day after the birth of your first child. Your first day as an ’empty nester’! Your first day of retirement. Your first day after the death of someone you loved. First days in the adventure of life can be exhilarating and frightening at the same time, can’t they?
Let’s rejoin the young prophet Elisha as he is experiencing his first moments after his mentor, old prophet Elijah was swept up to heaven in a chariot of fire and a whirlwind!
Elisha was standing where he stood a few moments ago as the unexplainable happened. He is holding Elijah’s cloak which had fallen from Elijah’s shoulders as Elijah was swept up into the sky. (2 Kings 2:11) It was the only tangible thing that remained of Elijah! Finally Elisha turned to walk back toward the Jordan river and begin the rest of his life. The record describes it this way: “Elisha took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and he struck the water of the Jordan river with it. ‘Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah’, he asked. When he struck the water it divided to the right and to the left and Elisha crossed over. The company of prophets from Jericho, who were watching this, said, ‘The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.'” (2 Kings 2:13-15)
The passing of the mantle of leadership is a big deal isn’t it my friends? It happens in a family, in a business, in education and health care and politics. It happens in every segment of society as a leader retires or dies, leaving the leadership to someone else. Leadership transition is always a time of change and uncertainty, right? Even those transitions which some might describe as ‘seamless’ still bring uncertainty and change to the organization and everyone touched by that transition.
Now we need to ask ourselves what happened with Elisha in this moment at the Jordan? It seems to me Elisha was asking God to confirm his request for a double portion of God’s Spirit which had been on Elijah. It also appears to me God chose to prove that His Spirit was now anointing Elisha by repeating the very same miracle which Elijah had experienced earlier that day, as the waters of the Jordan river parted for Elisha to walk across on a dry riverbed.
As we will see in the days to come, my friends, this anointing of the Spirit of God upon Elisha actually resulted in the Scriptures recording more miracles for Elisha than for Elijah, did you know that?
For Elisha we don’t have any details of the mentoring he received from the prophet Elijah, nor do we see any initial, specific instructions from God as to what the assignment from God was for Elisha!?
It appears to me Elisha understood his priority purpose, now that Elijah was gone, was to BE a man of God for the people of Israel, and then let God define the things Elisha was to DO as those assignments or opportunities came along. But Elisha was quickly about to learn that people always have plenty of opinions and expectations when the mantle of leadership has been passed. Have you found yourself bearing the heavy weight of expectations and the flurry of opinions?
The record of 2 Kings 2 tells us those young prophet students of Elijah’s who had come from Jericho, following Elijah and Elisha as they walked along, had witnessed Elijah’s striking the Jordan river and it opened for Elijah and Elisha to walk across on dry ground. They had also witnessed the unbelievable and sudden departure of Elijah in a whirlwind and now they’d watched Elisha strike the Jordan river with Elijah’s cloak, and the river had divided for Elisha as it had for Elijah. So they had only one conclusion: “The spirit of Elijah is resting now on Elisha.”
But with that conclusion quickly came expectations, for the group of young prophets approached Elisha offering their ideas. They suggested Elisha authorize a search party to go looking for Elijah. Now, I suppose that makes sense. These young prophets loved their teacher and what they’d seen had no explanation. But Elisha saw no need, for God had promised Elijah would be permanently taken from Elisha that day, so Elisha responded, ‘no, it’s not necessary, don’t go’.
But Elisha was about to experience his first leadership transition test! The record says the young prophets “persisted until Elisha was too embarrassed to refuse.’ So he yielded to the pressure and allowed 50 men to be sent searching for Elijah! They spent three days searching and finally returned admitting Elijah was nowhere to be found.
While we don’t have much detail, it was a very important lesson for Elisha. He needed the courage of God to be able to stand up against the social pressure of opinion, applause and manipulation, all of which can be very powerful, as I’m sure both you and I have experienced many times in our lives. How is your courage and boldness to withstand the social pressure my friends, and what lessons have you learned in these times when people are urging you to do something contrary to what you think is best?
Evidently Elisha spent those three days staying in Jericho with some of these young prophets, perhaps passing to them some of the great wisdom he’d learned from Elijah. During those days Elisha was presented with his first request of the people to fulfill his prophet role. Evidently Jericho had one spring that produced salt water brine which was unfit to drink and was ruining the land around it.
So here we go Elisha, what will you do with the expectations of the people, now looking to you to fix their problem as the new spiritual leader?
Let’s pause here my friends and reflect on what Elisha is experiencing as the mantle of leadership is suddenly and powerfully passed to him from the prophet Elijah. My friends, what expectations do you feel from the people around you these days and how is God leading you to deal with those expectations?
Here’s a new song I’ve found to help us think about how we follow God’s leading and tomorrow join me again and we’ll see what Elisha did about the salt water problem in Jericho.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 2:13-25.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.