HoHum:
During a lecture on mental health someone once asked the famous Dr. Carl Menninger: "What would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?" Most people at the conference thought he would say, "Go see a psychiatrist immediately," but he didn’t. Much to everyone’s astonishment, Dr. Menninger replied, "Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find somebody in need, and help that person." To overcome discouragement he said: "Don’t focus on yourself, get involved in the lives of other people."
Thesis: Let’s talk about Elijah, Elisha and Jesus in regards to relationships and leadership
For instances:
I. Elijah
Go to 1 Kings 17. The nation of Israel has split into two kingdoms. Things in the south seem to go from revival back into apostasy, back again into revival. In the north things just keep getting worse until we come to the worst of the worst and that is King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. In the midst of this depravity and Baal worship comes Elijah the Tishbite, read 1 Kings 17:1. We have no information on how Elijah got his calling and power, his background, nothing. He just shows up on the scene and pronounces judgment through a drought. The king and queen want to get rid of this prophet so we find in vs. 2-5. Elijah is alone in the Ravine.
The drought gets worse and we find this in vs. 6-8. Elijah stayed with this widow and her family (probably only one son). Many miracles to bless the widow but also to keep Elijah hidden from Ahab and Jezebel. This widow was probably a Gentile and Elijah was not there to pass on leadership but to be hidden. We find this in chapter 18:10 when Elijah presents himself to Obadiah to take him into the presence of King Ahab.
When Elijah comes before Ahab Elijah proposes a contest between the prophets of Baal and himself. Ahab agrees and so on Mt. Carmel is the great contest. Elijah is the lone prophet of the Lord against 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. We find the outcome of this in 18:38-40. This is a great day of victory for the one true God and his prophet Elijah.
Rain comes upon the land and Ahab goes home and tells Jezebel what Elijah had done. Here is her reaction in 19:2. Big deal, Elijah has just won a great contest and the false prophets are all dead. The Lord could strike this woman dead. Seems like a ridiculous threat. However, we find Elijah reaction in 19:3-4. Why is Elijah reacting this way?
After this Elijah takes a 40 day journey to mount Horeb and there the Lord appears to him in a gentle whisper. We find Elijah saying this to the Lord in 19:14.
The Lord answers Elijah in 19:15-18. He tells Elijah to anoint 3 people. Hazel will be the new king over their enemies to bring them to repentance. Jehu will be the new king of Israel and he will wipe out all of Ahab’s family. The third one he is to anoint is Elisha to succeed Elijah as prophet. Lastly, the Lord corrects Elijah by telling him that he is not the only one worshiping God, there are 7,000 others who have not bowed down to Baal.
The process of developing Elisha would serve two purposes: One, it would help Elijah overcome his depression by giving him companionship. Most of Elijah’s ministry was done alone. Being alone can be healthy at times but spending too much time alone may distort our view of reality. Everyone needs a friend and Elisha would become that friend that Elijah needed most. Second, it would allow Elijah to pass on his leadership to Elisha. Every leader has the responsibility to pass on the lessons of leadership they have learned to the next generation of leaders.
Read 19:19-21- From that day on Elisha was Elijah’s attendant or more like apprentice.
II. Elisha
We find in 19:19 that Elisha was a man of great business skill. He had a team of people with 12 yoke of oxen. After saying goodbye to his family, Elisha slaughtered one yoke of oxen and gave it to the people. Here we see that Elisha has a team of friends and family. Different from Elijah from what we can tell. Elijah is a loner and at this time that was good but times will change. Elisha seems to be more focused on teams of people.
We find Elijah doing much prophetic ministry without Elisha being mentioned in the following chapters but I am sure that Elisha was around and taking it all in. WE find in 2 Kings 2 that Elijah is going to be taken up into heaven. Elisha refuses to leave Elijah because he knows something is going to happen through the company of the prophets. They are first mentioned in 2:3 and they keep being mentioned until chapter 9. Many prophets like Elijah would would arise at the right time but now we see something more here. There is a group of prophets and they are in contact with Elijah and Elisha.
Before Elijah is taken up into heaven, Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. When Elijah is taken up we find Elisha doing some miracles in the last half of the chapter to show that Elijah’s spirit (ministry) is now being performed by Elisha.
In the life of Elisha we see something different in the culture. 2 Kings 3 we find the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom coming to Elisha to give them advice about a war with Moab.
In chapter 4:1 we find this. The Lord performs a miracle to provide for her but we find again the company of the prophets being mentioned. In 4:14 we have the first mention of Gehazi. Possibly apprentice to Elisha like Elijah was to Elisha. We find in 4:38 that Elisha is meeting with company of the prophets. 4:42 we find someone bringing food probably for this company of the prophets. Elisha performs miracles that resemble many that Jesus would do in the NT.
In chapter 5 we have the story of Naaman. Naaman was commander of the army of the king of ARam or Syria, Israel’s enemy. He was told that someone in Israel could heal him. He finally found Elisha’s house but Elisha sent a messenger and told him to dip in the Jordan 7 times and he would be healed. Important people are coming to see Elisha different than in Elijah’s day. At the end of this chapter we find that Gehazi tricks Naaman into giving him two talents of silver and two sets of clothing. Gehazi said that two young men from the company of the prophets needed them. Again we find the company of the prophets. Because of Gehazi’s deception he has leprosy until he dies. Judas sold out Jesus and Gehazi sold out as well. Sad but we see that Elisha seems to be involved with the company of the prophets.
We find the greatest evidence that Elisha was involved with the company of the prophets in chapter 6. Read 6:1-4. We also find that a servant (apprentice) is with Elisha when they are surrounded by Arameans. Toward the end of chapter 6 we have a famine because the city of Samaria is surrounded by the enemy. During this we find that Elisha is there in the city, with some elders sitting around him. Interesting!
In chapter 8 we find that the king of Israel is speaking to Gehazi (a new Gehazi or did we go back in time?) about a woman that Elisha helped. We find also that Elisha is visited by Hazael, the new king of Aram.
In chapter 9 we again see the company of the prophets. 9:1-2. This young prophet succeeds in his mission.
In chapter 13 we find Elisha at the point of death. The king of Israel goes to be with Elisha in his dying days.
We find that the culture had changed. Because of these changes, Elisha was also involved in much mentoring, referring to the company of the prophets and Gehazi.
III. Jesus
We find Jesus doing many of the things that Elijah and Elisha did but on a grander scale.
Jesus was alone for 40 days after his baptism by John. However, we find that soon Jesus gathered 12 around him and appointed them as apostles. Jesus was intentional about being with these men much like Elisha was intentional about being with the company of the prophets.
We find that Jesus sent them out 2 by 2. We find this same pattern in the ministries of the apostles. Starts with solitude, goes to community, and then to ministry- Luke 6. I do and you watch. You do and I watch. You do. Find someone else to do the same with. 2 Timothy 2:2: And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
So what?
The church is to be a place where no one stands alone. I am thankful that on our special events, many sign up as coordinators in twos. “If you’ll help me, we can do this together.” Even have small groups sign up together and this is good.
In the family it is best to have two parents working together. Have been times that my wife was not able to work with me on certain things and this was not good. Felt like I was alone.
Even the church leadership is set up that no one stands alone. We have deacons and the deacons stand with the elders. We have elders and the elders work with the evangelist as a team. This is good because we find from the life of Elijah to stand alone can lead to burnout and depression.
I find it interesting how God helped Elijah’s depression. He didn’t sign him up for a Tuesday night Bible study. He didn’t lash him with the Scriptures. He didn’t tell him to fast and pray.
God comforted Elijah in 1 Kings 19 in several ways but the greatest change was Elijah’s strategy.
Elijah, like most of us, had the mistaken idea that God’s entire mission depended on him. He looked at Israel and the corruption and sin and bore the entire weight on his shoulders. He adopted a martyr complex. He saw himself as the solution, instead of God. To correct this God sent Elisha to Elijah. In fact, Elisha would have a “double portion” of God’s blessing. In other words, the guy coming after Elijah would be better at the job than he was.
Here’s the point. God doesn’t really need us. God is sovereign. He’s in control. And God gives us permission to be human. As humans we need each other and that is something Elijah had to learn. Sad that some fail to understand their humanness and face devastating consequences.
