II Kings 2:14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
Don’t Seek the Man; Seek His God
It is often discouraging when you try to seek out what is left of great men of the past. I am thinking just now about a great man, a great author and preacher, who wrote extensively on prayer. I suppose that millions of people have read his books. Over 100 years ago he pastored a church that still sits no more than 20 miles from my home. When I went to see the historic building of the church he had pastored, I was astonished to find that the receptionist there did not even know who this man was! He has been a great blessing to many, yet the people in the church he pastored no longer even remember his name. We should learn from great people, but we should seek their God and not them.
This is the lesson we can learn from II Kings 2. The Bible sets the stage for this in verse 1, “And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.” Elisha was Elijah’s protégé, the one he was training.
Elisha had stayed with Elijah to learn from him. It appeared that Elisha’s ministry would carry on with even more effectiveness than the ministry that Elijah had had, but when God took Elijah up in a whirlwind, Elisha was, it seems, almost dismayed. He called after Elijah as Elijah was taken up into the heavens. Almost immediately after Elijah was gone Elisha “took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he had also smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.”
In many cultures, to take the mantle of a mentor was a sign of taking on his authority and gifting. Even today we use this analogy. God was now going to continue His work through Elisha, and yet the sons of the prophets were eager to find Elijah.
The prophets said to Elisha, “Let’s go see if we can find Elijah.” Elisha said, “No, we don’t need to go find Elijah.” But they continued until he was embarrassed and said, “Fine. Go see if you can find him.” Well, they couldn’t. It is natural for us to seek out what is left of great people to try to emulate them. We want to be like them, yet Elisha was wise when he asked, “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?”
Elijah is gone, and he is not coming back. The God of Elijah is undiminished and unchanged. Elijah’s God was not born, will not die, and will never leave. He has always been and He is here right now.
Don’t seek the man, seek his God. It is not as if we cannot learn from people of the past, be thankful for them, and learn much from their example. We should learn from those in the past, but our power comes from serving, obeying, and following relentlessly the God they served.