December 8, 2008

• "Please take my life"

  Many of you are probably familiar with the passage in 1 Kings 19 where Elijah, the great man of God, begged God for death (as did others throughout the Bible... Job 3, Jonah 4, etc).   Here's the link if you want to read the story again: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?interface=print&version=49&showxrefs=no&showfootnotes=no&search=1+kings+19

  It's interesting to see how God responded.  He did not say no.  Nor did He immediately grant the request.  At first glance, it looks as if God ignored Elijah's request, or effectively said 'no', because He gives him some new tasks to do.

  But if you look more closely, one of those tasks is to annoint Elisha as prophet in Elijah's place.

  This seems to me essentially like a 'yes' response... a 'just a few more things I want you to do here, then I will grant your request and take you home'.   A 'make sure you have a successor, a man whom you have trained to take your place and who will carry on the ministry after you leave, and then I will grant your request for death and rest.'

  This is encouraging.

  • 12:13 am
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