4. The Choice of Elisha

The Choice of Elisha

"And the Lord said unto [Elijah] ..... Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." (1 Kings 19:15-16)

God chose Elisha, and God does not make any mistakes when He calls His outstanding servants. He has called us all, every one of us, and we are all small compared to those who have gone before, serving the Lord, but there is something for us all to do in our generation. Elisha was an outstanding servant of the Lord. There are more references to Elisha as a man of God than any other (31 times), far more than either Elijah (7 times) or Moses (6 times). The term "man of God" comes to light when things are difficult. So Elisha, the man of God, is chosen by God to serve in Elijah’s place, it was a divine choice. Now we find this all through the Bible. God has the right to choose, after all, it is His work. So very wisely and carefully He chooses His servants for a particular purpose. When the Lord Jesus Christ was here He chose twelve special disciples and also another seventy, and sent them out two by two. He chose them carefully. They did the work He wanted them to do and His choice was vindicated. ’Oh,’ you say, ’they were a poor lot! they made so many mistakes. They all forsook Him and fled at the time of His greatest need.’ That is true, but before we criticise them let us all take a look at ourselves. The point is this however, that after the Lord went on high and the Holy Spirit was sent down, oh, how wonderfully they served the Lord, what faithfulness, diligence and sacrifice they showed, and if we are to believe tradition (and there is no reason to disbelieve it) each one laid down his life for the Lord with the exception of John, who died at a very old age in exile. Even Judas Iscariot was chosen for a specific purpose. They laid down their lives willingly in sacrifice for their Master, and it takes a lot of courage and faithfulness to do that. So the Lord was vindicated in His choice of the twelve. When we come to the Acts chapter 1 we find two men who were short-listed by the disciples at that time to take the place that was vacated by Judas Iscariot in his unfaithfulness, and a lot is drawn. They did not make the choice in an arbitrary fashion. They did not only say ’We will draw lots and the winner of the lot will be the one we will choose’, they also prayed. They asked the Lord to support them in this matter. They knew that the Lord knew the hearts. Outwardly these two brothers had the same qualifications, having been with the Lord from the time He was baptised until the time He died and went back to glory. They had all the qualifications, but God knew the heart, and so they asked God to choose the one to fill up the space, and the Lord made the choice. One was chosen and the other put aside. This is always right; the Lord knows best. In Acts 6:1-15 we have the choosing of people to look after the administration in the church at Jerusalem in relation to the widows. Certain qualifications were required and the choice was made, the service was completed, and as far as we know, the problem was resolved. In Acts 15:25-26 we find the church making a decision, choosing two men to go along with Paul and Barnabas in connection with another company of believers in another part of the world. It says they were men who had "hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". In all cases qualifications were attached to the choice. When Paul sent Titus to Crete to choose elders there he told him not to look for the men who were most influential, the best educated people, the richest people or the people with the best standing in the world, he told him to choose people with the best spiritual qualities, people who could be relied upon to do the required service. So this question of choice is one that is associated with quality and this is very important in times of great difficulty.

Now we come to ourselves; has God chosen us? Without a shadow of a doubt He has. This is one very important choice that we can all take to our hearts this evening and rejoice in it because before ever time began, before ever the world existed, God chose us in Christ for the greatest possible blessing. In Ephesians 1:1-23 Paul unfolds this wonderful choice of God, describing how He chose us in His sovereign love and grace that we might be with Him eternally in sonship’s dignity for His praise and glory and for His blessing for all eternity. Dear brethren, this is a wonderful thing. He knew us each one by name before we ever existed and He chose us in His own sovereign choice and will. When we come to 1 Corinthians 1:1-31 we find another kind of choice. "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty" (v.27). God takes up the weak instrument in order to testify to the outside world that in His power those weak instruments can overcome for His name and for His glory. I believe this is what we find illustrated in Elisha, the son of Shaphat. He, a weak instrument, had to face the king, had to face those who were lukewarm and had to face those who were enemies. In himself he was a weak instrument, but in the power of God it was another story. He was an instrument in the hand of God to overcome the enemies of the truth. God chose Elisha for this, and I think that we can say humbly God has also chosen us for this, not to occupy a place like Elisha, a man of God in dignity and power and wonderful miracles performed through him, but in our humble situations, wherever we are at home, amongst our neighbours, at school, in business, wherever we are found, I believe that God has chosen us that in our weakness might be demonstrated His power so that there might be a testimony for Him. You might say ’What use am I?’ That is a common place statement. Many great servants in the Scriptures have said that. Jeremiah said "Ah, Lord God! Behold I cannot speak; for I am a child" (Jeremiah 1:6), Moses was most reluctant to perform the service that God had in mind for him (Exodus 4:1; Exodus 4:10), Jonah, also, ran away (Jonah 1:3). In all these cases there was a great deal of reluctance, but when God takes hold of His servant He forms him and moulds him to His will so that He can do great things through the servant’s weakness, and it must always be so. The moment we begin to think that we are able to do this work ourselves we are heading for a fall. However, Elisha was chosen by God and we are very thankful for the way he reacted to the call.

"So [Elijah] departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah cast his mantle upon him." (1 Kings 19:19)

Elijah did not find Elisha sitting down enjoying himself or having a snooze in the heat of the day, he found a very industrious man, plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. I think this is a good thing to see in the Lord’s servants. We see this all through the Bible, that God chooses men of action, men of industry, men who can do things. There are many instances of this. Take the Lord calling the fishermen. What were they doing? Were they sitting chatting about their exploits at sea and the large catches of fish they had? I come from a fishing village and when you see some fishermen congregated together it is very likely that this is what they are talking about, their boats, their nets and their catches. But the Lord called the fishermen as they were mending their nets (Matthew 4:21, Mark 1:19). They were industrious, they were busy, they were concerned about the well-being of the nets in view of catching more fish. When God called Moses he was occupied with tending sheep (Exodus 3:1). David was a very industrious and reliable man (1 Samuel 17:34-37; 1 Samuel 22:14). So we could go on. God called this man, a man of industry, a man who was concerned about his daily calling, and performed it in a correct manner. Many, many great men of God have been called from very, very active lives to serve the Lord; they proved themselves in their secular calling, and then they proved themselves in the calling of God. Oh, when there is so much to do, it requires much energy to follow out the Lord’s will in the midst of difficulties and opposition. So Elisha is found with the twelve yoke of oxen and is carrying out his daily calling according to God. Also, I believe that this little incident would indicate to us that he was a man who was deeply concerned about the work of God. He was not plowing with an unequal yoke, but instead he was plowing with something that is commended by God (Deuteronomy 22:10). Now I think this is a very important thing that in our lives, without necessarily being engaged in some particular service for the Lord, we should be governed by the word of God. You see, if we become habitually governed by the word of God, it is very easy to be submissive to it when God makes a special claim upon our allegiance. I think the sixth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews presents this that those who are feeding upon strong meat are those who have their senses exercised habitually to discern between what is right and what is wrong. So I think the fact that Elisha is plowing with twelve oxen indicates that he is the kind of man who can be relied upon, he was industrious and his life was governed by the word of God. In short, he was an ideal man to serve the Lord. And so Elijah casts his mantle upon him.