A DIVINE ASSESSMENT

Vol. 18, No. 6, Nov. - Dec. 1989

A DIVINE ASSESSMENT

Alan Nute

'You have asked a hard thing' 2 Kings 2:10
'This is an easy thing' 2 Kings 3:18

2 Kings chapter 2 is a record of the final episode in the life of the prophet Elijah. For some years he has been training his successor, Elisha, but the time has now come for the two to be parted. Elijah's ministry is ending, Elisha's is about to begin. At the end of their last journey together Elijah says to Elisha 'Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?' Elisha replies 'Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit'. He asks, not that he will be 'twice the man' Elijah was, nor possess twice the gifts, nor experience twice the power, but that he will receive a first-born son's portion.

He requests that he will be, in reality, all that [110/111] he is being called upon to be, and be enabled to do all that God is asking him to do. To this Elijah's response is -- 'you have asked a hard thing'.

The next chapter sees Elisha already embarked on his life's work. He finds himself involved with three kings (of Israel, Judah and Edam) in a military expedition against the king of Moab. It has been a period of severe drought and the three kings find themselves in a desperate situation -- 'the army had no more water'. They enlist the prophet's help. He tells them to dig ditches and predicts that despite an absence of rain they will fill with water. This is exactly what happens. An outstanding miracle has occurred. But how fascinating the prophet's comment: 'This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord'. Frankly, I think I might have reversed these assessments having regarded this as the hard thing, and Elisha's spiritual endowment as the easy thing. But the plain fact is that the meeting of material needs is always simpler than the meeting of these needs which occur in the spiritual realm.

Of course, we must not undervalue God's gracious interventions for the resolution of life's recurring problems and needs. God works powerfully and indeed miraculously through Elisha again and again in this way. A contaminated water-supply at Jericho is purified. A poisoned stew is made edible. An inadequate supply of food is multiplied, so that a hundred men are fed. A widow woman and her two sons in dire straits are miraculously provided for. An army general is cured of leprosy. A woman's son is restored from death to life. A borrowed axe-head, lost in a river, floats and is recovered. Each of these is the act of a compassionate, omnipotent God for the relief of a current, urgent, social need. It is right to 'wonder' at such, thus Scripture designates them 'signs and wonders'. But there is a sense in which what God does in the heart and soul of the individual is a greater wonder. Of the most remarkable works of God in the circumstances of His children, He says 'This is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord'. The statement must surely constitute the firmest of foundations for a confident reliance upon God and His willingness and ability to meet our every need. Our greater concern, however, must be with what the prophet calls 'a hard thing'. Clearly it is not hard for the Lord, but for us. The difficulty is on our side. The issue relates to the personal spirituality of the servant of God.

Years before, Elisha had been enlisted as a trainee to Elijah and as his successor. The time has now come to take on this responsibility, to assume the mantle of Elijah in more ways than one. It is a testing time for Elisha. The senior prophet seems intent on dissuading his young colleague from accompanying him on his last journey. The two of them arrive at Gilgal. Elijah bids Elisha 'stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel'. The latter replies 'as surely as the Lord lives and you live, I will not leave you'. An identical conversation recurs at Bethel and at Jericho. Eventually they reach the Jordan, which divides as Elijah smites it with his cloak.

The check on Elisha's loyalty repeated at each staging-post reminds us of the incident on the journey made by Jesus and the two disciples to Emmaus. 'As they approached the village to which they were going Jesus acted as if he were going further'. The test, doubtless deliberately devised, issues in a response similar to Elisha's -- 'They urged him strongly "stay with us"' He accompanies them to the journey's end. It is this calibre of determined devotion that is required of us.

Having crossed the Jordan, Elijah turns to Elisha and asks 'Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?'. It is a searching question. 'What, above all else, do you want?'. The invitation, as Solomon was later to find, probes deeply, uncovering our controlling desires, disclosing our secret ambitions. As for Elisha, the tremendous responsibility of carrying forward the work Elijah had done produces in him the awareness of a great lack. The only remedy is an empowering by the same Spirit that had energized Elijah. His is a noble response. Put in today's terms it is for the Holy Spirit in his fulness to transform, equip and enable for all the will of God. But this is not within Elijah's competence to bestow, for such a blessing no man can grant, only God Himself. It is, however, a legitimate request and Elijah tells Elisha how it may he his. 'If you see me when I am taken from you it will be yours -- otherwise not.' 'It is dependent on your being willing to go all the way -- right to the end'. It is in this sense that it is 'a hard thing'. Whilst [111/112] it is true that the good gifts of God are never earned or deserved but graciously bestowed, yet they are not given to the indolent, but to the determined and devoted.

James and John request of Jesus 'Let us sit one at your right and the other at your left in your glory'. Sadly their motives are wrong and Jesus has to reply 'You don't know what you are asking'. At the same time He tells them what is involved in sharing His Throne-life. It is contingent on going the full journey with Him -- to drink of the cup of which He drinks, to be baptised with the baptism with which He is baptised.

Similarly, the apostle Paul expresses his profoundest need and deepest longing when he exclaims 'I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection'. He has asked a hard thing and is aware of it; that is why he adds 'and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death'. It is the way of the cross. One fears that we too glibly sing -- 'I have decided to follow Jesus -- no turning back. The world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back. Though none go with me, I still will follow -- no turning back'. And yet that is exactly the challenge we face, it is what is required of us, but it is 'a hard thing'.

Elisha fulfilled the condition and his request was granted. When presently 'the company of the prophets ... watching' see him take Elijah's cloak and strike the Jordan with it so that the waters part, their comment is 'The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha' -- not 'what a wonderful miracle' but 'what a wonderful transformation'.

We need constantly to adjust our spiritual focus so that we maintain a right perspective. Too often our prime concern is with things and circumstances, with material needs and external trials. Of course these are important and the Christ-inspired prayer-request 'give us this day our daily bread' encourages us to bring all such needs and place them before our heavenly Father, resting confidently in His readiness and ability to meet them. At times His answer will make us gasp with surprise and gratitude. We might even term it 'miraculous'. But the fact remains that in comparison with the meeting of our inner spiritual requirements these constitute, for God, 'an easy thing'.

Our chief burden must every be our soul's state and in particular, the ongoing experience of God's Spirit within, directing, controlling and enabling us for all the will of God. There is a sense in which this is 'a hard thing', but only as this relates to the discharge of the condition imposed, namely, that we 'go all the way' with God. Let there be no reserve and no retreat as we press forward in the company of our Lord. And even though the path be a Via Dolorosa let us remember that the cross leads to the resurrection, and the resurrection to the ascension and the throne of God.