Image from The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., ISRAEL MY GLORY, March/April of 2020, available online at https://israelmyglory.org/?issue=march-april-2020
Have you had a great mentor? Not everyone has. When I was a young man, I was privileged to have two mentors during my college years. I found the process useful: it was great to have someone to talk to about my spiritual life and the work I was trying to do among the youth to whom I was teaching the Bible. Both mentors taught me valuable lessons and I appreciated them.
What I did not appreciate at the time was that neither of my mentors could hold a candle to my father. I had been raised by a “prominent man of noble character,” Ruth 2:1. My dad had more integrity than both these mentors put together. What my mentors had was the gift of gab, and an intuitive grasp of social situations, team-building, morale, and the like, areas in which my father did not excel. My mentors could “read the room” and charm people in ways my father could not (nor would he want to). He was a brilliant yet simple man in whom there was no guile, John 1:47. But he was kind, and he was doggedly, absolutely honest in all situations and at all times.
One day God revealed to Elisha that he would be losing his mentor, Elijah. But the two prophets would spend a long, final day together. That morning in Gilgal, Elijah told Elisha to stay behind, but Elisha said, “I will not leave thee.” They walked from Gilgal to Bethel—eight miles. Elijah told Elisha to stay in Bethel. But he answered, “I will not leave thee.” So they walked from Bethel to Jericho—twelve miles. For the third time, Elijah told Elisha to stay behind, this time in Jericho. But again he answered, “I will not leave thee.” So they walked from Jericho to Jordan—six more miles, for a total of twenty-six miles. The two prophets walked an unscheduled marathon that day.
At the Jordan river, Elijah removed his cloak, rolled it up, and tapped the water with it (like Moses’s staff) and the waters “were divided hither and thither, so that the two went over on dry ground” as the nation of Israel had done so many years before, 2 Kings 2:8.
Elijah knows these are his final moments on earth. He knows he will be leaving Israel in the care of his protégé, the prophet Elisha. The older man turns to the younger and says, “What can I do for you before I am taken away from you?”
Elisha answers, “I pray thee, let a double-portion of thy spirit be upon me” 2 Kings 2:9.
Elisha could have asked for something selfish—for gold, or a long life, or all sorts of things. But his request is unselfish. He has seen the good Elijah has done, so he asks that God would use him to do more of the same. A “double-portion” is what the eldest son inherits from his father. Elisha is asking that the gifts of Elijah, whom he regards as a spiritual father, would be bestowed on Elisha so that Elisha can continue to draw the hearts of Israel to the Lord.
Elijah knows it is up to God to grant such a request, but he says, “If you can see me when I am taken from thee, it shall come to pass.” Suddenly horses of fire pulling a chariot of fire race toward them on the road, split the two men apart, Elijah is swept up in a whirlwind and taken to heaven—and Elisha sees it, which confirms he received the double-portion he had requested, 2 Kings 2:10-12.
Like Elisha, you will become like those you admire. We take on the traits we value in others. We become like our mentors and fathers, our coaches, our trainers, our best friends, our encouragers. People you love influence you. People you spend time with influence you.
However, if you were to meet the two men I described as my mentors, you would see nothing of them in me. We simply spent too little time together—and perhaps we are cut from vastly different cloth. On the other hand, if you knew my father, you would have no doubt about his influence. We are so much alike. Not entirely, of course. But we have a great deal in common. I think like him, tell stories like him, build arguments like him, use homespun wisdom and metaphors from simple country life to address complex modern problems. And I hope to be guileless, kind and doggedly, absolutely honest in all situations and at all times.
I would be proud to receive a double-portion of my father’s spirit. Perhaps I already have.
Some might argue that is the very nature of fatherhood. I am thankful for a godly father.
Dear God, fill us with Elisha’s desire to be more like Elijah. Help us request the right things, to hope, dream, and pray for the right things. Show us what we should strive for, what our ambitions ought to be, what our goals ought to be. Make us more like Jesus every day. Fill us with a double-portion of YOUR spirit.
AΩ
Household Words: 