Title: Holding On, Letting Go and Taking Hold
Text: II Kings 2:1-12
Thesis: We find our way through the changes in our lives by recognizing God is present and at work. Changes are more than just changes. They are transitions.
Introduction
The following clip is very brief so a little background might be helpful. Sheldon Cooper is a very eccentric character… he is easily unhinged. On one occasion someone attempted to serve him French toast on oatmeal day which resulted in him dumping the French toast, which smelled absolutely delicious, in the trash. You can’t eat French toast on oatmeal day.
In this clip he learns his upstairs neighbors and moving he will be getting new neighbors. When asked if he had ever met them this is what he said, “I never met them. That’s what made this perfect. There were no awkward hellos in he halls. There was clickety-clackety of high-heeled shoes on the hardwood floors. They may as well have been a family of cats… only without the annoying ammonia smell.”
This is how he reacted to the news of an impending change in his life.
YouTube Clip: Sheldon Cooper on Change
• Sheldon: Change is never fine, they say it is, but it's not.
This biblical account is about the changes or transitions in life. In our individual lives transitions bring out strong emotions: putting your kindergartner on the bus, watching the graduate march down the aisle in cap and gown, a mother dissolving in tears at her child’s wedding, a once-healthy person suddenly becoming a patient. Death. Unemployment.
One of the most traumatic transitions in my life was when our daughter Lorri got married. I was officiating the ceremony but Bonnie’s father was conducting the ceremony through the part where I walked with Lorri down the aisle.
The music was beautiful. The bridal party stood in their places at the altar… beautifully dressed bridesmaids and handsome tuxedoed groomsmen. Lorri was strikingly beautiful in her wedding gown. The bridal march had begun and it was time to escort my little girl down the aisle. The moment I took the first step, I burst into tears. Lorri was sobbing. I couldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop…
For 21 years I was the man in her life and now I was about to lose her to a younger man.
Change or Transitions are not the exception. They are the rule. Change happens. We are all being altered in appearance. We are changing. To live is to be in transition… changing. So how do we do change? As people who love God and want to live for God and be in the center of God’s will, how do we navigate the transition in our lives? Do we go kicking and screaming into tomorrow? Do we question the wisdom and will of God? Do we bitterly stew angrily in our juices? Do we blame someone for messing with a perfectly comfortable status quo?
I like our text today. Though it speaks to a particular situation, I think what we can glean from the story is transferable to nearly every transition we experience. I think our text is instructive in helping us navigate our way. Change was in the wind. Something big was about the happen. One man was about to check-out, so to speak, and the other was about to check-in.
As the narrative moves along we initially see Elijah and Elisha… holding on. By holding on they are not abandoning ship. They are faithfully riding out the storm.
I. Holding on
“Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” II Kings 2:2, 4 and 6
There is a back story to this narrative. Elijah was a powerful prophet of God. He was known for confronting whomever was in power in Israel and calling them to turn from their sinful ways, back to God. The powers that be did not necessarily appreciate his confrontations.
The bible says in I Kings 16, King Ahab did more to provoke the anger of God and any other before him. He married the infamous Queen Jezebel, a pagan queen who brought the idolatry of Baal worship into the land. So on one occasion Elijah paid a visit to King Ahab and told him that because of his ungodliness there would be no rain in the land for several years… and there was no more rain.
Three years later Elijah went back to see Ahab and challenged him to choose… if God is God follow him. If Baal is god, follow him. They arranged a showdown at the OK Corral on Mount Carmel where Elijah challenged the Prophets of Baal to a contest. Two altars would be built and a sacrificial bull would be placed on each. The prophets of Baal and Elijah would each pray that fire would come down from heaven and consume their respective sacrifices. The prophets of Baal failed to call down fire from heaven to consume their altar. Elijah succeeded. A lightning strike consumed the bull and the altar as well. Consequently all of the false prophets of Baal were then killed…
Then Elijah prayed for rain and a monsoon like rainstorm blew in from the sea drenching everything and everyone. God had demonstrated his power not only with the lightning strike but with a drought breaking, thunderstorm as well.
The outcome of that show-down enraged Queen Jezebel who vowed, “May the god’s strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you Elijah, just as you killed the Prophets of Baal.” Elijah promptly tucked his tail between his legs and fled for his life. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Sinai where he holed up in a cave. It was there in the cave that God spoke to Elijah and told him to snap out of it and get back in the game.
It was after leaving the cave that he happened upon Elisha who was plowing with eleven other teams of oxen. He was plowing with the twelfth team. That is in I Kings 19. Elijah walked up behind Elisha and put his cloak across his shoulders and Elisha then followed Elijah as his new protégé.
Nothing is said about Elisha again until this II Kings 2 text where Elijah is an old man about to go to be with the Lord and Elisha is a young man about to pick up where Elijah left off. One man was taking off and the other was taking on; one man was giving up his mantle and the other was putting it on; one man was crossing the Jordan for the last time and the other was crossing the river for the first time. The master was leaving and the student was staying.
So three times we hear this conversation between Elijah and Elisha. The fact that it is repeated three times means something. Three times, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” II Kings 2:2, 4 and 6
In this story God is heavily vested in the life of the older man as well as the younger man. The change that was in the wind was not outside the will of God, i.e., God was working in the lives of both men at the same time but in different ways.
So how was Elisha supposed to cope with the huge transition that loomed before him? He was about to lose his friend and spiritual mentor.
In the opening clip, Sheldon’s upstairs neighbors were moving and new neighbors would be moving in. Of his old neighbors Sheldon said, “I never met them. And that’s what made them so perfect.” He was actually oblivious to their presence. He said, “There was no clickety clackety of heels on the floor. For all I knew, they could have been a family of cats.” And now he was about to get new neighbors and he did not like it. “Change is never fine, they say it is, but it's not.”
Things were about to change big time. How would Elisha react?
A. With Fear – is a good excuse for staying put. Fear paralyzes. Immobilizes.
B. With Faithfulness – is a good reason for moving forward.
1. “Stay here in Gilgal while I go to Bethel.” 2:1-2 “No, I won’t stay.”
2. “Stay here in Bethel while I go to Jericho.” 2:4 “No, I won’t stay.”
3. “Stay here in Jericho while I go to the Jordan River.” 2:6 “No, I won’t stay.”
One of the things Elisha had to do was be willing to let go of the old in order to fully embrace the new.
II. Letting Go
“Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?” “Of course I know, but be quiet about it.” II Kings 2:3, 5, 11 and 12
In the course of experiencing and observing changes and transitions, I have found that there is always someone who knows more than I know or wants to know what I know or who under the guise of concern, tend to discourage rather than encourage.
Remember Job’s three “friends” – Eliphaz, BIldad and Zophar? Job had just lost everything, his family, his possessions, his health and even the support of his wife. So his friends came to encourage him. They wailed loudly, tore their robes and threw dust in the air… for seven days they sat in solidarity with Job. When Job finally spoke it was the lament of a broken man who did not understand why this had happened to him. But instead just listening and offering prayers and support, they piled on the suffering man. In the NFL they would be called for unnecessary roughness.
“Job… why aren’t you confident in God. You always trusted God before? Job you must have done something bad because innocent people do not suffer like you are suffering.”
Elisha had to listen to the hurtful comments of the local prophets in every town.
A. Listening to insensitive people
“Did you know that the Lord is going to take you master away from you today?” “Of course I know, but be quiet about it.” II Kings 2:3, 5, 11 and 12
We get the impression that the prophets of Bethel and Jericho were hardly concerned about Elisha’s emotional or spiritual well-being. They were more like the nosy, well-wishers who with hand-wringing insincerity inquire, “Are you losing your home?” “Did you lose your job?” “Are you having problems at home?” “Do you mind if I share your stuff on the prayer chain…?”
When they got a chance the prophets pulled Elisha aside and poked around a bit. They were like boys in a cow pasture who can’t resist taking sticks and stirring the manure to make it stink… they just can’t seem to leave things alone. “Hey Elisha, did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?”
Our text says that Elisha said, “Of course I know, but be quiet about it.”
It was one of those classic polite replies when what Elisha wanted to say was, “What do you think I am, an idiot? Why don’t you just shut-up already?”
Then toward the end of the narrative fifty of those prophets stood at a distance and watched to see how Elijah was going to bite it and how Elisha would respond to his loss.
B. Loss
And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress. II Kings 2:12
We sometimes wonder whether it’s harder to be the one leaving, or harder to be the one left behind.
In the old days… a church often had a sexton. The sexton’s job was to take care of the church grounds, ring the church bell and dig graves in the church cemetery. I once had a conversation with a modern day grave digger. As the cemetery grave digger, he was also the one responsible for closing the graves. At most cemeteries you can see the sexton in the background… observing the service and waiting until he could do his job.
Being a curious person I asked him, “What the most unusual thing you’ve observed at a graveside?” He said, “The wildest thing I’ve seen was a brawl between family members. As soon as the casket was lowered the cease fire was over and they went at it. The funeral director had to call the police.” Then he added, “The second and saddest thing I’ve seen was a graveside where, as the casket was being lowered, a woman jumped on top of the casket and rode it to the bottom.”
I would say the wildest thing Elisha ever saw was a chariot of fire, dawn by horses of fire galloping between Elijah and him as a whirlwind carried his mentor and friend into heaven. Though not a death, it was a death of sorts for Elisha.
Elisha handled his loss pretty much like we all handle that kind of loss. He was upset. He tore his clothes in distress and likely shed a few tears.
This transition took a relatively short period of time. There was a period of what may be thought of as dread as Elijah and Elisha walked from village to village and crossed the Jordan River. There was the traumatic moment when Elijah was taken away. And then there was the aftermath when Elisha felt the distress of his loss.
But even before the fact, Elijah and Elisha were making plans in light of the inevitable changes they would soon face. I think of it as a taking hold.
III. Taking Hold
Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up… II Kings 2:13
Elisha had some big shoes to fill and knew it. He had been playing in the minor league and now he was about to go to the show. He knew it and his mentor knew it.
So Elijah asked his protégé what he could do for him before he left.
A. Anticipation
Elijah said, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” And Elisha replied, “Let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become our successor.” II Kings 2:9
What might we ask for… maybe a chunk of the 564 million dollar jackpot on Wednesday night?
Getting wishes can be tricky. A woman was walking on the beach in southern California when she spied a bottle which had washed up on shore. Picking it up, she had no sooner begun to examine it when a genie appeared before her.
"I am so glad you let me out of here," he said gratefully. "I'd like to grant you any wish you might have. But I am a bit rusty, you know. I'd like to give you three, but I'll have to limit myself to one. What can I do for you?"
The astonished woman collected her wits and then paused for a moment of thought. "I've always wanted a vacation in Hawaii, but since I am afraid to fly, and get seasick on ships, I have never been able to go. Now if you could build me a highway from L.A. to Honolulu, I could drive over and have the vacation of my dreams."
The genie, was somewhat frustrated. "Lady, do you know what you're asking? Putting a highway in over the Pacific Ocean would require incredible engineering. Do you have any idea of the problem of setting caissons and pilings in these kinds of waters and in this kind of depth? I'd like to help you, but maybe you'd better ask for something else."
The woman nodded sympathetically. "Well," she said. "I want to vacation with my husband. I think it would be good for the two of us. We've been married for 20 years, and I still don't understand him. I've read the books, attended seminars, and just when I think I have him figured out, he does something really stupid and I am back to square one. What makes him so weird? My wish is that I would like to have a complete understanding of my husband."
A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Then the genie said, "Would that be a two-lane or a four-lane highway to Hawaii?"
When God asks us, "What do you want me to do for you," you can have confidence that God will deliver on his promises.
Recall God’s question to Solomon? Solomon chose wisdom
Remember Jesus question to the sick man? The sick man chose healing.
In the face of the changes and challenges of life what might we ask of God?
A double portion of God’s Spirit and grace to go on?
Elisha pulled it together pretty quickly… Elijah’s cloak, the same one Elijah had thrown over his shoulders back when he was plowing that field, was lying there on the ground.
B. Action
Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak… He returned to the Jordan River bank and struck the water with the cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Then the river divided and Elisha went across. II Kings 2:14
• He struck the water…
• He cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” (The water parted…)
• He went across.
I would never suggest that Elisha did his happy dance. My guess is that Elisha had a heavy heart for a long time. My guess is that he missed his old mentor for a long time. My guess is that Elisha had to get used to being the new, numero uno, prophet in town. But there was no hint that Elisha would do anything other than move forward. There was no going into seclusion to stew in his juices or wallow in his sorrow.
Conclusion
Our ten years at Lund Covenant Church were wonderful years for me and our family. In retrospect I realize “timing sometimes is everything.” We arrived at a time when the family farms were being passed down to the sons and daughters. The parents were pleased to see their children picking up where they were leaving off… and it carried over into the church.
Over the years I have been asked to come back? There was a time many years ago when I would have but Bonnie, wiser than me, reminded me that it’s not the same anymore. Things have changed and they continue to change. The church changed. Bonnie and I changed. With every transition we all change or adapt or evolve in some way. We move forward.
God is constantly working in our lives conforming us to the image of Jesus and preparing us for the next step. Philippians 1:6
In life there are times when we would like to go back…
• Back to the days of Elijah
• Back to an old job
• Back to the way things were
• Back to those days of sweet innocence
• Back to before a spouse got sick or passed away
• Back to when you could or should have gone to college
• Back to the time you needed to begin saving my money
• Back to when investments were paying big time and equity was accruing like crazy
• Back to Globeville, Pastor Hammelman or Pastor Ketterling or Pastor Feak or Pastor Brooks
Elijah’s day was over… Elisha’s day had begun. There was no going back. There was only going forward.
So what to do in times of transition?
• We hear the thought provoking question, “What do you want me to do for you?”
• We answer, “I would like a double portion of your Holy Spirit.”
• We ask, “What is possible now that was not possible before?”
• We cross the Jordan River… leaving the past and moving on, alive to God’s blessing and guidance for the future.
