“God does not show all the road at once,
even if it lead to glory,
but step by step,
and a second stage only when we have obediently traversed the first.
We get light as we go.”
~ MacLaren’s Expositions on 2 Kings 2

Elisha had choices in his life from which he sowed and reaped a harvest. The field (literally and figuratively) his parents trained/apprentice him in was not Elisha’s choice. Yet, even in the field his parents chose to train him, he had choices: choices of whether to do his best by spurring himself to produce quality work, attitude choices, kindness choices, contentment choices, respect choices, having-a-ready-smile choices.

When Elijah threw his mantle over him, Elisha still had a choice. He could have declined  (though we see often that even those who decline God’s call initially eventually accept his call due to the herding techniques of Yahweh). Elisha could have turned at that moment and left with Elijah, without a compassionate leaving of his parents. He could have thrown off the mantle in disgust at the probably earthy smell of the garment.  He could have taken an “If-I-Don’t-Like-It-I’ll-Bail attitude. Instead, at the moment of the calling, he intentionally committed to the training by burning the way back to his comfort, to the ways of his former apprenticeship.

From the beginning, he chose an all-in-attitude of commitment.

I don’t know if God spoke to Elisha through dreams to prepare him for the moment he would leave the apprenticeship through family. I don’t know if Elisha secretly dreamed of throwing off the yoke of becoming a Master Craft Farmer. Maybe he’d dreamed of being a Prophet like boys dream of being Bat Man today. Prophets, after all, were daring, powerful through the Spirit of God, doing stunning miraculous feats.

There’s so much more the former-journalist in me wants to know. Alexander MacLaren in a bit of humor points out, “The Bible does not foster the craving to know the exact situation where sacred things happened, the gratification of which might feed superstition, but could not increase reverence” (MacLaren’s Exposition of Holy Scripture, 2 Kings 2).

Elisha’s intentional steps to leave with Elijah were choices, too. Elisha’s parents had raised him to be discerning for things of God. His manners were that of a caring diplomat. He replied firmly but respectfully to Elijah; he needed to kiss his parents good-bye. He slaughtered his oxen and cooked them on the ploughs and yokes – the tools of his work – and with fed the cooked meat to his family and the workers. He gave the impression of a son kind and tender with his parents, respectful and firm with Elijah. Both sides had to have found peace in his responses.

Leaving Home Choices

I wonder if his family resented their beloved son leaving them. What parent wants to be separated from an affable, coachable child who took leadership in helping in the family business? An affable child is sunshine to the family hearth, joy in a storm, relief in a drought season. A coachable child was security for old age, a means of provision when they could no longer provide for themselves.

Maybe their hearts filled with fear of their son’s safety, as the mother of a son sent into battle? After all, Elijah was a prophet with a price on his head.

Maybe they recognized the honor of the call of a prophet such as Elijah. Maybe they understood God would be faithful to their son if he was faithful to God – and maybe they rested in that knowledge, choosing peace, joy, and contentment as their son chose to walk out the God-designed plan for his life. How hard it is when a child leaves the sphere of our control and walks out into independence! One day a parent is the CEO of a company of one child, or three or five—Until one day they each spin off to create their own God-designed companies. That spin-off can be a tricky adjustment for both parents and child.

The Choice to Live an Apprentice‘s Life

Elisha didn’t go out seeking to apprentice to a prophet, but he easily chose to say, “Yes,” to the call of God to go with Elijah, to accept his adoption into son-ship, to become the apprentice to Elijah. Not only did Elisha choose to say, “Yes,” but his attitude, his word choice, his behavior said, “Yes,” too. He intentionally, determinedly walked so close to Elijah that the Way of Elijah became The Way of Elisha’s life, too.

Is it hard to choose to admit you do not know it all? That someone who isn’t main-stream, isn’t a community influencer – that maybe God is directing you to share a cup of coffee with a seemingly everyday ordinary person carrying a boat load of Elijah in their spirit – and they are needing an Elisha to apprentice.

Did Elisha realize how much he did not know – not just about being a prophet, but of the power of God, of relationship with God beyond going to Temple, following the law, and Shabbat? Did he realize it wasn’t a cushy position? That he would be washing Elijah’s hands and, most likely, his feet, his utensils, his clothes? Was it hard, the things the Man of God asked of Elisha? Was his ego bruised when he realized that his role of affluence was changed to that of a servant to his master? It’s hard letting go of our positions of power or influence to sit at the feet of a mentor, to become a subservient apprentice to a Master Craftsman.

He chose to sit for eight years, under a man people did not seek out as a dinner companion. People did not seek Elijah’s company to increase their stature in a social environment. Nobody waited in line to meet him, and by association, meet Elisha. Elijah might be a Who’s-Who thousands of years later biblically, but back in the day, Elijah was someone most people would rather not see. Elijah didn’t train Elisha to be an influencer of cattle, crops, and the latest equipment for farming. Nobody asked them what scripture to read on the Sabbath – or even asked them to sit at their tables to give those tables more prestige.

The Apprentice Educated with Mentor’s Curriculum Choice

Elijah had choices, too. Elijah was a man who had opened a prophet school, but until he threw his mantle over Elisha, he’d never mentored one personally. He planned a totally different kind of training. Something in Elisha’s training taught him that he didn’t have to worry about provision, employment when his training was over. Future security was unimportant. No, there wasn’t a tidy nest-egg at his disposal to financially support him. There was God – and that was enough.

He could have left Elisha unprepared for his God-Designed task. He could have trained him for companionship instead of preparing him to bear the mantle he would wear when he was no longer there. Yet, Elijah, encouraged Elisha to make intentional decisions – and then to walk those decisions out. We see that Elisha has the confidence to walk his God-Designed path, even when Elijah discourages it. Yet, Elisha never seeks to change places, to become the leader, to act in a manner that diminishes Elijah’s leadership. He does not covet to wear Elijah’s mantle, though he is being trained to wear it. It is the relationship of a father to a son in the adult-hood of their relationship.

The Choice to Stay to the End of the Apprenticeship

On that last day, Elisha and Elijah walked together, though Elijah chose the path. . .

Elijah’s good-bye reads like a week-long good-bye with So. Much. Walking – yet it happened all in a day. It was not a long good-bye. On his way to meet God, Elijah met with the Prophet Schools to “to instruct, encourage, and bless them. Note, Those that are going to heaven themselves ought to be concerned for those they leave behind them on earth, and to leave with them their experiences, testimonies, counsels, and prayers.” ~ Matthew Henry Commentary, 2 Kings 2

In between each meeting, Elijah gave Elisha Final Exam Situations. After all, the man-servant he had left in safety years before when Jezebel wanted to kill him, before he ran to the Broom Tree – that man was content to be left behind. Was this the Final Exam for Elisha? The Big Test? Was it a test for God or just for Elijah’s heart? Was Elisha ready to move from apprentice to Master Prophet? Did Elijah’s work take root and grow? Was this gift of an apprentice to bear the hoped-for fruit?

The prophet and apprentice walked from Gilgal when Elijah said to Elisha:  “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.”
But Elisha said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!’  So they went down to Bethel”~ 2 Kings 2: 2

As Elijah readied to leave Bethel, he said to Elisha, “‘. . ., stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.’
But [Elisha] said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they came to Jericho.'” ~ 2 Kings 2: 4

As Elijah readied to leave Jericho, he said to Elisha, ““Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.”
Elisha didn’t balk. He didn’t waiver. He stood his ground firmly, saying, ” “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” ~ ~ 2 Kings 2: 6

“Elisha’s clinging to his master till the very last is but too intelligible to many of us who have gone through the same sorrow, and counted each
moment of companionship with some dear one about to leave earth as priceless gain, to be treasured in the sacredest recesses of memory for
evermore. . . sorrow often has to be stern in order to be unmolested. . . .” ~ Matthew Henry Commentary, 2 Kings 2

Elisha seemed to understand that each step with his Mentor brought More Revelation of God. . . and Elisha wanted every drop He could catch. Even at the end of a life, there is more to be gathered from those who have run to God.

What would make you want to walk close to a mentor? A Spiritual Mother? I imagine Elijah taught Elisha how to trust God, how to hear God, how to live in peace and contentment when circumstances were fraught and uncomfortable. How to take food from a crow? How to not be pulled into unhealthy relationships but how to let God lead you into God-designed healthy relationships. When to encourage conversation and when to embrace silence. Did Elijah teach Elisha how to stand with God when the world is chasing you down? Maybe Elijah taught him the things he wished someone had taught him as a young man called to serve God.

Who are you choosing to walk with? Is there someone who has poured into you that you would walk with to the last breath of their life? Maybe you need a mentor to guide you as you walk with a family member to their last breath. Are you spending time with someone who helps you walk more deeply with Our Father? Who equips you with the Armor of God to fight a life-time of battles – or the one you are in right now? Who through their story of how God rebuilt their broken places, you realize that you don’t have to live with that brokenness – that He wants to rebuild your broken places, too? Do you need a spiritual mother to be a mentor to your apprentice for this season of life?

The Life of an Apprentice to Elijah, the Prophet of God seemed to have built a keener want of following more closely the prophet who walked so close to God . . . and a relationship forged that grew Elisha’s faith, grew his understanding of the Power of God an the Presence of God.

Elisha’s attitude in all circumstances during the time we know him as Elijah’s apprentice is marked with contentment, peace, assurance. Elisha shows himself coachable, respectful, content in what life brings him – whether it is the comfort of home or the harshness of Elijah’s environments. Maybe one of the lessons Elisha’s apprenticeship gives us is the important of the attitude with which we walk out our choices.

“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.” ~ Samuel Johnson

Scripture doesn’t show Elisha’s attitude in all this, but he didn’t quit, he didn’t leave Elijah. It was a fulfilling relationship for the season God set aside for teaching, learning, one preparing for the end of life, one preparing to carry on a God-designed mission.

What do you think was more important – Elisha’s choices or the attitude with which he walked out those choices?

Dear Father,
I pray that you send an Elisha to those that need need an apprentice to mentor. I pray that you send an Elijah to those crying out to know you more, that know where your paths are in this up-side down world. I pray that you fill both the apprentice and the mentor with boldness to step into a God-designed connection, and through that connection grow closer to you, realize the bigness of your love, the tenderness of your care, to discover the blessings in God-designed paths, along with recognition of the dangers of the world’s paths. I pray that both these Mentors and Apprentice’s of God do not grow faint-hearted but stay the course for the season you have provided for them to walk together. In Jesus Name, Thank you God for answering these prayers.

Remember Me Monday: #112 Link-up

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
.    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!”  (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”

While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.

“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.

Let us delight in Him by telling the  stories of what He’s done!  If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!

Rules?  Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week! (Link opens Mondays at 6 a.m.)

Places I’m Linking at This Week:
  Instaencouragements, Legacy Link-Up, 
Recharge Wednesday, Scripture & a Snapshot
 Grace&Truth, Sweet Tea & Friends
Let’s Have Coffee Wednesday