Trust for Your Own Elijah Mantle

Elisha looked back at the Jordan. The water walls had fallen, and they flowed down-river once again. The sunlight glittered, sending blinding comets of light back to him.

He blinked and looked straight ahead. "Elisha," Elijah called. He was surprisingly energetic for a man of his age as he was quite a ways ahead of Elisha. The older man was extremely eager today.

And so he should be   he was going  back to Yahweh today. He couldn't stop talking about it.

Elisha quickened his pace to catch up. Elijah spoke when he fell into step with him. "What shall I do for you? Ask, before I am taken from you."

Blunt and to the point   a true prophet.

Elisha knew his answer already. He had been thinking about it for a long time. It was big and radical, but he wasn't leaving Elijah's side until he got it! "Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me."

Elijah was quiet for a moment, and Elisha started to worry. What if he was wrong? What if he wasn't supposed to be a prophet of God? He kicked a stone in his path. He watched it bounce three times and roll ahead of them.

Finally Elijah spoke, and there was a smile in his voice when he did. "You have asked a hard thing. However, if you see me as I being taken from you, then you will receive a double portion of my anointing. If you do not see me, then the Lord's answer is no."

Elisha nodded dumbly, his mind racing like crazy. So he couldn't let Elijah out of his sight. He would follow him and stick with him like tar on chicken feathers. Night was going to be especially difficult, but perhaps if he stayed awake   

Stop it! He mentally kicked himself. While he had already planned to stick with Elijah, and stick with him he would, he was human. There was only so much he could do. He may fall asleep, need to relieve himself, or be slurping up soup. He needed to trust Yahweh. If he was meant to pick up Elijah's mantle, then God would see too it.

So Elisha tried to put the worry and stress out of his mind, and focus on what was before him   a bumpy road.

For the better part of two hours, they walked and they talked. Then they walked some more. All the while Elisha was praying about his request.

The wind started to pick up as they were talking. It built in strength, and soon Elisha couldn't hear a thing. Dirt was swirling around him, blinding him. He groped around blindly for Elijah. I've lost him! Before he could really start to panic about that, Elisha heard the sound of tromping hoofs. Horse hoofs.

He looked around frantically for the source. To his right, he spotted Elijah. His arms were raised, and his head was thrown back like he was enjoying the first rays of the summer sun rather then a sandstorm.

The sound of horse hoofs grew stronger, and Elisha realized they were coming from above! Looking up he saw it   a golden chariot of fire and a ferocious team of fiery horses. The walls of sand only made their light shine brighter, and the winds made the fire flash and pulse stronger. Crouching down low and shielding his eyes with his right hand, he looked back to Elijah. The sandy winds whipped around him like a whirlwind. Faster and faster they spoon, until Elijah was lifted off the ground. The whirlwind was under divine direction though, as it deposited Elijah into the chariot of fire.

"My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" He screamed into the wind.

However, Elijah was gone.

Almost immediately, the wind stopped, and the dust settled. His mind was on overload. Elijah being taken into Heaven, the sandstorm, the whirlwind, the chariot of fire. He wasn't really processing anything.

Something was lying on the ground about ten yards away. Walking towards it, he realized it was Elijah's mantle. That's when it really hit him.

He'd seen Elijah taken.

And here was his mantle.

He picked it up carefully.

There was his answer from God.

Based on 2 Kings 2:8-13

Elijah knows it's almost time for him to go back home. Elisha had been faithfully following him around for awhile, and he wanted to take care of him. So he asks what he can do for Elisha before he is taken from him. Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's anointing. Elijah knows that's up to God, not him. So he puts it back in God's hands in 2 Kings 2:10, "If you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so."

Now came the hard part. Elisha would need to keep his eyes open, pealed back, and watchful. He couldn't sleep a wink. Why, he couldn't even blink his eyes for fear that Elijah would disappear from his sight.

Right?

"And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And he saw him no more." 2 Kings 2:11-12a

No.

Elisha asked for the double portion. He knew what he was getting into with that request. I don't doubt for a second that he wasn't watching, looking, and being spiritually alert, but there is only so much a man can do. He had to trust God, and that this was God's will for him.

"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands." Psalm 138:8

God has an amazing plan for you.

"A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?" Proverbs 20:24

When God directs our steps, it doesn't always make sense. Our once straight path has become a jumble of turns, jumps, bridges, and climbs.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap." Galatians 6:7

God has sown into you. He has started work in you. God will finish that work in you, and reap His harvest. Ask for your double portion. Be spiritually alert, but trust God to deliver your mantle when it's time. In His time.

Go about your day, but always be prepared.

You never know when God is going to drop that mantle on you.



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