April 27, 2020

So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.

I Kings 19:19-21 NKJV

How do you respond to your calling from the Lord? Do you carry out the Lord’s calling wholeheartedly without reservation or do you do so begrudgingly, wishing for something different? 

When the Lord answered Elijah’s prayer at Mt. Horeb (Sinai), the anointing of a prophet was third on the list. Nevertheless, it was the first action that took place after Elijah left Horeb.  We do not know much about Elisha’s life before he was called to be a prophet, but we can discern something from these verses. 

Elisha was from a family of considerable means. He plowed with twelve yoke of oxen just after a terrible famine had been in the land for 3 years. He had sufficient oxen to kill some to give a feast for the family, servants, and perhaps neighbors. He lived in a good location in “the valley of dancing” (Abel-Meholah), which is believed to have been along the Jordan river and would have been one of the essential sources of sustenance during the famine. Elisha was a hard worker. He did not leave the work to the servants nor was he idle while waiting for a new vocation but he put all his efforts into the present calling God had given him: plowing the fields.

Elisha seemed already to be a follower of the Lord at the time Elijah threw him his mantle. He would almost certainly have been one of the 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal (19:18). Elisha seemed to know who Elijah was and perhaps was at or near Mt. Carmel to observe the fire of the Lord and the victory over the prophets of Baal. He also seemed to be aware of the prophet’s calling (throwing the mantle). 

Elijah’s mantle would take a very important place in Elisha’s life in the coming chapters, but what we will focus on today is the willingness of Elisha to forsake mother, father, home, and wealth to follow the call of the Lord.* The call of a prophet was not a luxurious call nor a safe call. Israel was in rebellion against the Lord. Bounties were on the heads of the prophets. Many had already been killed, and many more would be killed. And yet, when the Lord called him through the prophet Elijah, he forsook all and followed the Lord.

We can be reminded here of Isaiah’s calling in Isaiah 6 and of Jesus calling the disciples. Common men and noble men, fishermen, farmers, and tax collectors, they left their vocations immediately and followed the Lord. They carried out their callings through pain and suffering, sorrow and grief, for the rest of their lives, with most suffering terrible and cruel deaths as their entrance into glory. 

Elisha responded to his call by wrapping up his worldly affairs quickly. He said goodbye to his parents and had a farewell meal. Elijah recognized the great task ahead for Elisha and did not hinder him from this farewell.

After wrapping up his worldly affairs, Elisha followed Elijah and served him (19:21). He who had been a leader of men went and served the Lord’s prophet. He who had put his hand to the plow would give his life to plow the fields of the world with the Word of God. He who harvested the grain would labor in the harvest of the Lord. 

We have been given all varieties of callings. Some are more challenging than others. Some allow the living of comfortable lives while some require much sacrifice, difficulty, and pain. How will you carry out the calling God has called you to? If you are a stay-at-home mother, do you recognize the magnitude of your calling and do it with all your heart?** If you are an officer in the church, do you view your duties as a great responsibility from the Lord to be carried out with joy and much prayer? If you are a child, do you honor your parents and do your school work seeking to glorify God each day?

God has called each of us to different tasks. Perhaps some day He will call us to other tasks. Only the Lord knows. Until the Lord calls us to glory may we pursue our callings with all the energy and zeal that we see from Elisha the prophet of God who put his might into his labors for the glory of the Lord. 

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* “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39)

** It can be tempting for homemakers and mothers to view their lives and callings as less important than their husbands’ callings and perhaps less important than the callings of other women who we see in the news. But who was it that taught Timothy the Word of God? Who was it that preserved Moses’ life? Who was it that killed Sisera, a great enemy of the Lord, in her tent? Each day I go to work to earn income to support my family, my church, my country, etc. This is important, required by God, and I would be worse than an infidel if I did not provide for my own. But my wife is home teaching our children the ways of the Lord by instruction and example that will have lasting spiritual impact for many generations. Let us never look down on our callings that God has given us. If that is plowing fields, may we do it with all our might. If that is janitorial work, may we glorify God in that labor. If that is as the CEO of a company may we carry out that work for God’s glory. In all that we do, single or married, student or laborer, old or young, may we do it all for the glory of God. (Colossians 3:17; I Cor 10:31). 

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