“For What have I Done to You?”
1Kings 19:19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”
”Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.
I know there are a lot of folks that probably think Elisha is nuts when he asks to go back and say goodbye to his family. Many people might think of Luke 9:62 where Jesus says:Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”This is not the point of this scripture in Kings. We miss what Elijah was telling Elisha. Elijah was being obedient to God and was doing what He told him to do. It was Elisha’s choice to follow Elijah or not. Thus the reason Elijah said” What have I done to you?” It’s God who calls us, not man. It is up to us to answer the call.
It would been so much easier on Elisha to have Elijah come up to him and say:” I have called you to be a prophet. You will do great and mighty things in the name of God if you will follow me around and wait on me.” It doesn’t say this at all! Elijah promised nothing. He told him nothing. Elisha knew he needed to follow this man. How did Elisha even know that this was the famous Elijah the prophet? Did they have newspapers? No! of course not! This was God moving in the heart of this man. He had no assurances of anything! He knew he needed to go and he wasn’t coming back!
This is like today, Pastors are asking (sometimes begging) for us to get involved in some way, shape, or form in what is going on in the church and what God is doing through it. You have folks that look at it like: “Pastor’s asking for volunteers again!I’m too busy to do anything!” “Pastor’s asking for money again! Must be pushing that prosperity message again so he can get a Mercedes!” and we are totally missing the whole point to it all! God is calling you to get out of your seat and serve! God is calling you to dig a little deeper in your wallet so He can take the body of Christ to the next level! If you don’t trust your pastor is speaking the Word of God from his lips, then it’s time to leave and find a pastor you can believe! “What has he done to you?” There are no guarantees that if you serve with all your heart that you will be praised in the annuls of Christian history! There is no guarantee that you will be an elder, or a member of the board , or you will get a title! Are you serving God, or are you serving a man?
The time has come be servants, not to look for how we can be served, or entertained. God is calling, will you heed?
