The Calm Before the Storm

Oswald Chambers’ daily devotion (My Utmost For His Highest) – August 11

As I read 2 Kings 2 this morning, I felt like I was reading this for the very first time. Actually, it may have been the very first time that I’ve actually read this passage. I have certainly heard of the story about Elijah being carried off by chariots to Heaven, but I didn’t recall so many of the details of how it actually played out.

For example, I was sad for Elisha when I saw how he was desperately holding on to his mentor and friend. He was following him everywhere like a puppy because he knew the time was coming for Elijah to leave him. It was as if he didn’t want to let him out of his sight because he wanted every waking moment with him before he left. He didn’t even like it when other prophets reminded him that Elijah was going to be taken from him.

Yes, I know…but do not speak of it.

2 Kings 2:3

It made me think of life, and how we grow so comfortable with familiarity. We enjoy the people in our lives, the jobs or careers that we have, the possessions that we keep…and we will go to great lengths to keep from losing those things. And why wouldn’t we – especially if they are good things? Why would we want to see them gone?

But when I stop to look at my life and consider the times that I’ve grown, it wasn’t in the moments of familiarity or comfort that I grew, it was the times of change where I was met with a challenge of unprecedented proportions that forced me to yield to a fork in the road. Those were the moments where I grew. Those were the times that I became a man.

Take, for instance, my move to Bucknell University. I was scared out of my mind. I didn’t know a single person. And now I had to start all over, make new friends, prove myself all over again. What scared me most was that maybe I wouldn’t deliver this time. Maybe I would have lost my touch. Maybe I had become too comfortable, and was banking too much on the infrastructure and empire that I had built. At that point, I had a choice. I could have transferred out, and run back home to familiar ground, back to where I was comfortable. Or I could face the challenge, and use what I had learned to test my skills, and see if I could do it on my own.

Then, at 25, after I had built my empire of success and familiarity back up, my “Elijah” was taken from me again, and I was stripped of everything I ever had – my money, my career, my girlfriend, my friends, my credibility, my dignity, and my pride. My journey was long and painful. Prison was no joke. And once I got out, I had to start from the beginning.

I admire those who come from third world countries and “make it” in the U.S. I know there are people out there that hate the idea of someone coming from another country and staking their claim in “our home” so to speak…but personally, I admire them. I would imagine that life for them is not all that different than someone coming out of prison. For starters, no one seems to want them around. We look at them as a disease to our society. The way I see it, shame on us. One of the reasons we don’t like the idea of foreigners coming here and taking our jobs is because we just want to continue doing business as usual without any threat for change. What kind of growth would we experience if we were never challenged?

And imagine for a minute, what it must have been like to come from a foreign country, speak little to no english, have barely enough money for the basic necessities of life. What would you be thinking? Many of us would grow depressed and give up at just the thought. Are you the type of person that would embrace that opportunity and move beyond just striving for mediocrity, but rather, for exceptionality? I would venture to say that not many would. If I were to be honest, I would be tempted to say that I would settle for just paying the bills. And yet, somehow, it’s many of these desperate yet exceptional individuals who are the ones that end up making it big. Why? Because they were put to the test, they were challenged, and they were forced to apply what they had learned. We have become far too complacent a society…that’s why many of us don’t succeed.

Elisha was met with this challenge. His master and friend was whisked away, and he was left all alone. He had to prove himself now. He had to “put to the test now what [he] had learned when [he] was with…Elijah.” (Oswald Chambers – My Utmost For His Highest – August 11) And what did he ask for? What did he want? Was he looking to just get by as an average, run of the mill prophet? No way! He asked to inherit a DOUBLE portion of Elijah’s spirit. Boy was he thinking big!

Who is our Elijah in our life? Is there someone that has been doing the thinking for us? Is there someone who has been leading us? Have we become dependent on them? What would happen if they suddenly disappeared? Would your world crumble? Or would you stand up and face the challenge? Maybe your “Elijah” is a lifestyle of comfort or familiarity. What choices would you make (or did you make) if your Elijah was whisked away in the blink of an eye?