Friends,
James
May shares this -- the flame in the Marathon Tower in each Olympic stadium is
the most recognized symbol of the Olympics, dating back to the Games of ancient
Greece. Athletes competed in a relay
race, passing a torch from one to another until the last runner, in a long
procession of runners, would sprint to the top of the stadium and light the
flame to signal the beginning of the competition among the greatest athletes in
the world for the Gold Medal. For many years the flame was extinguished due to
neglect, world turmoil and other events but it was officially reignited in
1928. The idea of the marathon relay, where runners would once again carry the
torch, was revived in 1936 for the Berlin Games. The relay began at the
location of ancient Olympia and ended in Berlin, Germany after passing through
seven countries and covering a total of 3,050 km. The journey of the torch took
12 days and 13 nights, and 3,331 torchbearers each took a turn at carrying it
along the way. From then on, the Olympic Torch Relay has remained an important
part of the Olympic tradition and the torchbearer is the person who is honored by
carrying the Olympic Flame. The flame carries a message as it passes through
each town, city and village. It announces that the games are about to begin; it
embodies and spreads the ideals of the Olympics and speaks of the union and
peace amongst the people, the allegiance, the courage, the fraternity and
solidarity of all of the competitors. As with the Olympics above, what is
taking place in this portion of 1 Kings 19 is a passing of the torch of sorts,
but there are other lessons intertwined in the text…and so, we explore.
When
we last left Elijah, he was discouraged and depressed. But, the Lord has a message of hope for his
frustrated servant. When Elijah was
having his self-pity party back in the cave, the Lord could just as well have
said – fine, just stay there, and I will move on, find someone else to do my
work. But, the Lord does not do this, as
he did not deal with Elijah according to his poor attitude, but on the basis of
His grace and mercy. And considering
this is how the Lord deals with us when we are struggling, we can all be
thankful. In 1 Kings 19:15-21, the Lord tells Elijah to
return to his place…to return to serve, to handle the tasks he has to
perform. No matter how much or how often
His servants fail Him, God is never at a loss as to know what to do. His servants’ responsibility is to obey.
Once
back on the horse, Elijah’s first responsibility is to anoint Hazael to be king
of Syria. This is interesting in that
this is a gentile nation…and yet, the Lord chooses the leader there. Once again, God can use whoever it is that He
so chooses. And in this case, He chooses
Hazael. Then Elijah is to anoint Jehu to
be king of Israel. Even though the
nation is divided, Israel is still under the divine covenant and is responsible
to the Lord. Elijah’s third task is to
anoint Elisha to be his own successor. Elijah
has complained because the past generation failed, and the present generation
has not done any better (v.4). Now,
God calls him to help equip the future generation by anointing two kings and a
prophet. This is sort of the Old
Testament version of 2 Timothy 2:2, “And what you have heard from me in the
presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach
others also.” True to what it often the
case with God’s leaders, the people he chooses are not especially
significant…Hazael is a servant to the king, Jehu is the captain of the army,
and Elisha is a farmer. Once again, as Paul shares, even the “foolishness of
God” is greater than “the wisdom of men,” as by the time Elisha and Jehu finish
their work, Baal worship is just about wiped out in Israel (2 Kings
10:18-31).
No
one generation can do everything, but each generation must see to it that
people in the next generation are called and trained…and that the tools to do
so are made available for them to continue working for the Lord. God is calling Elijah to stop weeping over
the past (because it cannot be changed), to stop running from the present (as
it accomplishes nothing of value), and start looking ahead to what God is going
to do. It is always a good lesson for us
to remember that when God is in charge, there is always hope! God is giving Elijah assurance that all of
his work has not been in vain, and that his ministry has not been a failure,
for there are still 7000 people in the land who are faithful to God. This is a big deal. There is a place for big lectureships and
mass gatherings, but we must remember the importance of one on one time spent with
those around us. Jesus spoke to large
crowds, but He always had time for individuals and their needs, not to mention
His own teaching, training He did with twelve individuals. When Elijah finds Elisha plowing in his
field, he doesn’t say a word to the young man, but simply casts his outer
garment over him to indicate that the Lord has called Him to serve the prophet
and ultimately be his successor. Elisha
makes certain preparations and then he goes to the task.
Bev
Sesink shares this -- Parents, if you get angry with your kids for something
they do wrong…and you lose it…do you wait for your children to apologize or do
you set the example and go to them? Teenagers, do you find it beneath your
dignity to humble yourself to obey your parents’ reasonable expectations? I
remember one time saying to my mother when I was 18, “this is beneath my
dignity.” If she could have, she would have rolled her eyes and laughed but she
was dumfounded that I would have displayed such a proud and haughty response.
Demonstrating my lack of humility. Do we display this kind of attitude toward
God when He speak to us?
I
think that we live in a time where a lot of folks believe that the things that
God asks them to do are “beneath their dignity.” I believe that we probably all have felt that
way a time or two. But, there are no
nearby caves in order to hole ourselves off from the world. Like Elijah, we have a responsibility to
fulfill the ministry of the Lord, whatever that might be. We can see that exercising an attitude of
contempt, pride was among the mistakes that Elijah made in his life, but God
overlooked and overruled it. Elijah was
walking by sight and not by faith, and this was not acceptable to the
Lord. He doesn’t like it any more when
we do it, either. But, Elijah had a sensitive
heart for the Lord and sought to do what God would have him to do. It is probably no secret as to why Elijah was
the representative of the prophets in the scene on the Mount of
Transfiguration. He was not and is not
recognized as a great person because he was extraordinary in any great way, and
in fact we have seen that he was quite flawed. But Elijah does have an
extraordinary belief and trust in a great God…and because of this, God is able
to use him.
God
has handed to each of us a torch to bear for him. That torch is the light of
the Gospel, the knowledge of God and His ways, and the Word of God. It is put into our hands and our hearts by
the Holy Spirit and the fire is ignited so that we may burn as lights in a
sin-darkened world. And as we learn from
this story, perhaps the greatest work that we can do is teach and train those
of the younger generation to be faithful to God’s calling, whether this be our
children, or other “young ones in the faith” that the Lord brings our way. As with Elijah, we are not perfect…all of us
have flaws…but, God uses flawed people to accomplish His purposes. We do indeed have a tremendous responsibility
to teach, mentor, so let’s seek to take this seriously, as the Lord leads
us. Let your light shine in such a way
that all men can see Jesus in us, and then, run with it and to pass it on to
the next generation so that we will not forget God, but carry on the faith and
work of the Lord!
Blessings,
Don
