No Turning Back

SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 18:19-21

“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.  Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,’ he said, ‘and then I will come with you.’

      ‘Go back,’ Elijah replied. ‘What have I done to you?’

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 attendant.”

OBSERVATION:

I guess the first thing that I see in this passage is that has never in all of history been easier to follow God than it is right now - at least in the United States.  Yet the United States (along with much of the Western World) is getting increasingly hard to reach.  The people are getting increasingly humanistic and atheistic.  Even those who are open to the concept of God seem to do so very academically rather that relationally - their ascent to God has little impact on how they do life.

I think of how people pass on opportunities with God because they seem “too scary.”  It might put a cramp on their plans to party it up in college.  It might “squeeze them a little too much financially if they tithe.”  It might swing them in a different direction career wise or muddy the waters with ethics and values that “don’t work in the business world.”

I want to have the faith and the zeal of Elisha.  These were tough times for God followers.  They were dangerous times for prophets.  They were being hunted down and killed like animals.  Yet Elisha didn’t have to think about it - He immediately said, “Let me say my good-byes and I’ll be on my way - wherever God takes me and whatever may happen.  So sure was his decision that he burned down his old business as if saying, “I’ll never return to this work again, the door back has been nailed shut, plan “B” is non-existent.  He threw a party for his neighborhood to celebrate his new direction in life.  He slaughtered his oxen for the BBQ and use the wood from his tools to cook the meat.  It was a done deal.

He could have put it in storage, you know just in case this whole prophet thing didn’t work out.  At least he’d have something to fall back on if God didn’t quite come thru for him.

APPLICATION:

Seeing this makes me sad about the many back doors and alternate plans I make.  All in the name of godly wisdom of course.  It sounds smart.  It looks right and not as crazy.  However, I wonder if it limits the fullness of my experience as a God follower.  Does it keep me too pinned down to only an earthly/physical reality?  I never want to be so “heavenly minded that I am no earthly good”; however, the opposite is probably more dangerous to our walk with God.  I never want to be so “worldly wise” that I plan myself out of the miraculous and fulness of following God.  I want to let heavenly realities trump worldly concerns.  I want to commit to God so surely that I can burn down my past, knowing that I’ll never need it again.  Knowing that I’ve taken the right road and won’t need to U-turn.  Over and over again Elijah says something to the effect of “Surely as God lives”.  It almost seems that our ability to experience the miraculous and fulfilling plan that God has for our lives is determined by the degree that we believe that statement - “as surely as God lives.”  As surely as God is able to sustain you, give you purpose, keep you, give you fulfilled life, see you thru, do significant things thru you, build His kingdom with your hands, overcome your issues, meet with you....

PRAYER:

Father, I want the faith and faithfulness of Elisha.  I want to commit to the path you place before me in such a manor that I burn down my past, knowing that I will never have to return to them again.  That I will pursue you and your will afresh every day and will depend on you for my future.  No turning back Lord.  In Jesus name, AMEN!