19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was ploughing 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?’ 1 Kings 19
Elijah didn’t exactly encourage Elisha to follow him, but the younger brother took some necessary steps which completely closed the door on his previous way of life. He told his parents, those who’d loved him and raised him, what he was going to do. He also burned his plough and sacrificed his oxen and blessed those who were part of his life. We could say he left those around him, ‘good standing’. My sister has a saying, ‘bad endings make bad beginnings’, so always try to leave the people around you on good terms.
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing 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. 1 Kings 19
I know a prophet in this land, who is finishing his last day in work today, to go into full time ministry. This will certainly involve changes and no doubt some challenges, but I believe God has a call on his life and wish him every success in all that he puts his hand too.
What should we expect when we close the door to our old life and step into God’s calling for our future. Most times I think the call of God will be much more far reaching than we realise. Elisha went from having twelve yoke of oxen to, ‘pouring water on the hands of Elijah’. 2 Kings 3:11 He became the personal servant to the national prophet of Israel. Close association with those God has chosen to put us beside, may be the only way to enter the call of God upon our lives. These relationships should be very precious in the life of a young believer!
Change of pace – Elisha moved from an agrarian calendar with definite seasons of sowing and reaping to following the prophetic calling of God on Elijah’s life and later his own. He never returned to the plough, that door had been firmly closed.
David Pawson, an English Bible teacher and prophet, now at home with the Lord, had a similar choice to make in his life. He’d graduated from Cambridge University, but was working on a dairy farm. He felt God was calling him to full time ministry but was looking for some confirmation. I believe it was one his fellow workers who told him that he, ‘‘wouldn’t serve behind the plough, but behind the pulpit’. God confirmed his calling in that one short phrase.
3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3
Of course the really important question is how can we walk in agreement with older leaders and with the Lord Himself. We must keep in step/in unity with those around us, but more importantly with the Lord. This process may mean great changes of attitude. Moses and Elisha both had to learn humility, but they were heroes in the Bible narrative of God and His people. May we also step into all that God has called us to with boldness in the days ahead.
May the Lord bless and keep you. Immanuel, God is with us.