“And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (2Ki 2:11 AV)
Prior
to this verse, Elijah had asked what it was which Elisha would like as a
parting bestowment before the LORD took Elijah home. Elisha’s response was a double portion of the
spirit that anointed Elijah. Elijah’s
response has always bothered me. Elijah
said, “…Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am
taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.”
(2Ki 2:10 AV) Why would Elijah state to
seek double the power of God on his life a hard thing? Why would it be he placed the condition of
watching the chariot ascend as a condition on that double spirit? Why would not Elijah simply give him his
mantle and bestow the blessing? What Elisha
was asking was the ability to go further than his predecessor ever did. To understand the difficulty of what Elisha
asked and why it was the chariot parted them both asunder is to learn a secret
of being used by God.
Elijah
had been used by God to confront the worst of the worst. Ahab, king of Israel was married to a
Phonecian woman, Jezebel. These two were
responsible for setting in motion the wickedness which would eventually be the
downfall of Israel. They set up an
entire priesthood of men dedicated to the worship of Baal, the god of the Phoenicians. Further, they killed all the prophets of Jehovah
God save those hid in a cave by their servant Obediah. At one point, Elijah gathered all the prophets
and priests of Baal for a test. Both they
and Elijah were to call down fire from heaven in the name of their respective
gods and the true God would be the one who consumed the offering upon the
altar. After God harkened to the voice
of Elijah, the prophet had all the priests and prophets of Baal killed. This set Jezebel over the edge and she
threatened to hunt down Elijah. Elijah
fled into the wilderness and expressed to God that he had no more to give. He had burned out. In short, Elijah lacked the constitution for
the dramatic. Elijah simply did not have
the personality or gift to endure extreme circumstances.
Now,
we come to the request of Elisha.
Elisha, in essence, is asking Elijah for the constitution which Elisha
did not have. This did not offend
Elijah. It shouldn’t. We are what God makes us and as long as we
invest the talents He has given, there is no shame one doesn’t have as much as
another. Elijah knew Elisha would have
to endure a dramatic experience without losing focus. That is the whole point of the dramatic way
in which Elijah was taken up. A charging
chariot ascending out of the sky would have gotten my attention. Enough that it would have diverted my
attention to the carrying away of Elijah.
As that chariot charged and came ever so close, I might have dived away
protection my face and core. Watching
that chariot ascend would not have been high on my priorities. However, as Elisha fell to the ground and
didn’t watch where his hands were landing.
As he dove for cover, his eyes remained fixed on that chariot. In other words, for God to use the prophet to
the degree he wished, nothing can divert his focus on the task at hand. Not his own safety, the wonder of the
miracle, or the consequences thereof.
Nothing was allowed to get in the way of seeing God work all the way
through. This is the difference between
someone with five talents and someone with ten.
He never is overcome with the peripherals. He has complete control of his faculties. The most important of all is watching, and being
a part of, God’s hand at work.
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