Circumstances of the Call of Elisha

Confession and Apology for Inappropriate Language

0:03 Turn to 1 Kings chapter 19 and resume our studies in the life and ministry of the prophet Elisha. There is a word of confession which I am constrained to make to you as a congregation. You who were here last Lord's Day evening perhaps will remember that in the course of making some application with respect to the life and ministry of Elisha in his nurturing of the school of the prophets, I dealt with the very sensitive matter of the temptation that no doubt some of you have already faced and will face to feel that perhaps we are treating our academy students with favoritism and in response to that I used the terminology about handing someone's head to them in the presence of such picayune and carnal attitudes. Well, that language was not befitting the minister of the gospel. The scripture says that the servant of Christ, is to be an example in word as well as in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity. And my own conscience smote me as I reviewed the day and I felt the language was inappropriate for the service of the Lord and of his word.

1:20 One of the requirements of an elder is that he is not to be a brawler or a striker. And I believe in 17 years in living amongst you by the grace of God I have not been that. And some of you perhaps put the best conditions, instruction on that and marked it off to one of Pastor Martin's enthusiastic overstatements. But I do know of at least one case where it was an occasion of stumbling and if it was so in more then I can only ask you to forgive me for my unguarded statements which are sin and no one is more conscious than I that a sermon is acceptable to God only as it too is washed in the blood of Christ.

2:02 And so if this was in any way to any of you an occasion of unnecessary offense I plead that you will show the forgiveness to me that Christ has done as I have acknowledged my sin to him. And now let us turn to the word of God in 1 Kings chapter 19 as we come to the second in our series of studies in the life and ministry of this mighty man of God, Elisha.

Elisha's Place in Redemptive History

2:38 Last week I sought to give you a broad overview of the life and ministry of this man in terms of his peculiar place in the history of redemption. And I would simply remind you of the point that was made on that occasion that when we pick up any segment of Old Testament history whether the history that Mr. Williams read in our hearing tonight from the wanderings of the children of Israel or this story of the children of Israel or this part of the history of the people of God we are not reading a collection of interesting stories with a lot of helpful little morals but we are reading the history of redemption. God is at work to fulfill his own word of promise to bruise the head of the serpent to give to his son a people even as he promised him before the foundation of the world. And our understanding of the word of God at best is very important. It is very truncated and limited unless we read these various segments in the light of their broader context of the history of redemption. And I suggested on the occasion of our initial study that Elisha's peculiar function in the history of redemption could be understood in terms of five very simple principles.

3:59 It was a function of preserving and encouraging the godly remnant. It was a function of continuing the work of the people of Israel. It was a function of reformation and judgment. A work, thirdly, of extending and continuing the prophetic ministry.

4:15 Fourthly, it was a ministry of preserving the actual existence of the nation. And finally, it was a ministry of vindicating Jehovah's name before the heathen. And when you read the many incidents in the life and ministry of this man surely we can see how each of these specific things was wonderfully accomplished in the life and ministry of this man. As God raised up this man at that particular point in the history of his people.

Interpreting Elisha's Call: General and Specific Principles

4:44 Now we come this evening to consider the first of two studies dealing with the call of this man of God. And the record of that call at least the part that we shall examine tonight is found in 1 Kings chapter 19. 1 Kings chapter 19 and I shall read verses 19 through to you. So he, that is, Elijah, departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he with the twelfth.

5:23 And Elijah passed over unto him and cast his mantle upon him. And he, that is, Elisha, left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother and then, I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again, for what have I done to thee? And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat.

5:57 Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. Now as we come to the examination of this very fascinating, and in many ways touching, account of the call of this man, Elisha, to the prophetic office, I wish to underscore a basic principle of interpretation which will govern my treatment of the passage and I trust your understanding of the passage. He who takes upon himself to interpret the scriptures must be able to give a reason and a sound reason for the manner in which he handles the word of God. Now the basic principle of interpretation is this. Though there are some things peculiar to the special call to the special office of a prophet and some things peculiar to Elisha's special call to that special office, there is undergirding all of these things a hard core of God's dealings with Elisha and Elisha. That are simply representative of his dealings with all of his people in every age and in every circumstance. To explain what I mean, conceive with me, if you will, a large target

7:25 before you that has three concentric circles. That is, three circles with the same center. And here in the center, the bullseye, is what we would call God's dealings with his people in all of his people. In all ages.

7:41 Then the next circle, or the outer ring, is God's peculiar dealings with those who are called to special office, such as the prophetic or the apostolic office. And then an outer ring beyond that, which would be God's peculiar dealings with the individual man, Elisha, as he was called to his special office.

8:07 Now it is obvious that if we were to take this passage in which a man is called to a peculiar office and function and attempt to make a one-to-one parallel between God's dealings with him and the way he deals with his ordinary people or his servants who are called to ordinary offices such as pastors and teachers, we would be mishandling the word of God. Now much of this mishandling of the scriptures goes on in our day. For instance, it's because people read that in the book of Acts God did a certain thing. They therefore get God in a hammerlock and say God must do the same thing since he's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

8:51 And it sounds very pious and very full of vigorous faith when in reality it's full of folly. We have no living apostles. There is no need for the authentication of any messenger in our day apart from that inward authentication by the Spirit, in the heart of the hearer. The scriptures very clearly teach that the signs and wonders performed by apostles were performed to authenticate their special office.

9:22 But we do not claim a special office. We have an ordinary office and therefore we claim no extraordinary gifts. Well, in the same way, you see, there are matters of God's dealings with Elisha that are to be found in that exclusive category of special, special call to special office. And then there are certain dealings with Elisha that are peculiar to him as an individual.

9:48 No two prophets of any eminence were called to their office in the same way. Isaiah had that unusual vision. Ezekiel had his visions of wheels within wheels. And other prophets were called in other ways.

10:04 But now at the center of all of this, there is God himself dealing with his people, in redemptive love and authority. And it is because of that principle that we can learn from God's dealings with Elisha. And we can, in the light of 2 Timothy 3, find profit for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Now then, with that principle of interpretation behind us, because I did want you to know what principles govern my handling of the passage, let us now seek to understand something this night, first of all, of the circumstances of the call of the prophet Elisha. And then as time permits, we shall then move on to the substance of his call. Next week, God willing, the sequel to his call and the seal upon his call. First of all, then, the circumstances in which this man was called to the prophetic office.

Circumstances of Elisha's Call: Parentage and Occupation

11:10 And those circumstances are limited to a few details. First of all, with respect to his parents or his parentage, and then secondly, to his occupation. Now notice the details. The man of God, Elisha, Elijah, departs and he finds Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was called to the office.

11:40 And he was called to the office. And he was called to the office. And he with the twelfth. Now all we are told about the parentage and the upbringing of this man, Elisha, was that he was the son of Shaphat.

11:54 We are told further in the preceding context in verse 16 that the peculiar location of this man was Abel Meholah, which means Meadow of the Dance. Apparently a very, very pleasant and fertile meadow, a lovely place in which to rear a family. But very little is told us concerning this man, Shaphat, in a direct way. All we are told is that they had a son whom they named Elisha.

12:30 And a few circumstances of their intimate family life are alluded to here in the section of the Word of God that has been read in your hearing. But you see, don't pass over some of these apparently inconsequential details. Remember the setting of this man's life. It was a day in which Baal worship was still rife in Israel.

12:57 Jezebel and her lackey named Ahab were still in a position of tremendous influence. It was a dangerous thing to be an open worshipper of the living God. It was a day in which the popular thing was to go along and to bow the knee and kiss Baal. But that they should bear a son and give him a name which means literally the God of salvation or my God is salvation is an indication that this man Shaphat and his wife were probably the both of them but they were not the two of them.

13:39 But they were the two of them. But they were the two of them. But they were the two of them. Part of that remnant of 7,000 who refused to bow the knee to Baal.

13:47 In a day in which to confess Jehovah as God and to confess Him and Him alone as Savior they are concerned as it were in the very name which they give to their son to declare to all their fellow Israelites apostate though they may be that they have not lost faith in the livingness of Jehovah and in the fact that Jehovah and Jehovah alone is God and is Savior. Furthermore it's clear that Shaphat and his wife had earned the respect and devotion of their son. For we read in this passage that no sooner does this strange man appear and perform this strange act in casting his mantle upon him than he will be called Jehovah. But that the first response of the heart of this man coupled with his reaction of implicit obedience to Jehovah is this desire to grant a respectful goodbye to his mother and father. Now there are some strong hints as to how they reared this man. The text tells us that when the prophet Elijah came and found him he found him behind a plow with twelve feet of wood with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he with the twelfth.

15:14 The indication being that there were probably other brothers or servants each of whom was behind a yoke of oxen and Elisha as sort of the foreman of the entire group brings up the rear of this other team of oxen. Although this was probably a wealthy family for wealth in those days was measured as it is in many agrarian societies in terms of cattle and beast of burden to have twelve yoke of oxen was the indication at least of an upper middle class family. They had at least a two car garage with cars in both stalls and maybe a third one out in the driveway. They had their twelve yoke of oxen probably had servants to man those oxen and yet as all good Hebrew children this man was a man Elisha was taught to work and to labor.

16:13 Yet although he respected them it's evident that they had reared him in such a way that they did not foster an idolatrous attachment to themselves as parents. For no sooner does the call of God come to him but that he says in verse 20 let me I pray thee kiss my father and mother and I will follow thee. You notice there is no hint that he must go back and somehow cajole and seek to persuade and play upon the emotions of his mother and father to relinquish him gladly. The assumption is that if I just tell mom and dad what you've done Elijah that in the name of the God of heaven the God of Israel whose I am and whom I serve the moment I tell them that he is exercising his sovereign prerogatives in laying hold upon me for special office their hearts will gladly comply but I do want to do them the honor of that final kiss and goodbye before I take upon myself the awesome responsibility of becoming acclimated to the awesome office of a prophet of God in Israel. Furthermore it would seem in a very real sense that we could describe the influence of this godly man Shaphat and his wife who is not even mentioned

17:41 as the influence of parents who reared a son with a tight rein and with an open hand. And I should like to use that analogy and come back to it in that imagery. They reared him with a tight rein but with an open hand.

18:04 There was the tight rein of teaching him the discipline of work teaching him respect for parenthood for parental authority teaching him respect for and devotion to his parents there was that tight rein of close and guarded discipline and training yet there was the open hand always holding him as God's possession realizing that he was but a gift that was given to influence for a time so that when Jehovah's claims come upon their son there is no tenacious cleavage with clenched fists saying well we want him to be a godly Israelite we don't want him to be a Baal worshipper but oh Jehovah keep him close to home. We've got our eye on him as heir to Pop's business. We've got hopes for him and plans for him oh we don't want him to be a Baal worshipper but Lord a prophet in Israel in these days that's dangerous business. Baal worship is right the worship of Jehovah is at an all time low prophets sometimes are killed and no doubt they had heard the news of those prophets whom Jezebel had slain this was nothing romantic this was not the idea of being in the Bible belt and having a preacher boy and everywhere you go having people slap you on the back saying I hear your son's

19:32 gone to prepare for the ministry no no this was dangerous business yet the indication is that they held him with the open hand the tight rein of firm godly discipline and training in the one hand yet the open hand of absolute yieldedness with respect to the will of God for their son. Well then the circumstances are also set before us briefly with respect to this man's occupation not only his parentage but his occupation. When Elijah comes by he finds Elisha doing what not sitting under a tree meditating waiting for a call he doesn't find him sitting under a tree somewhere with great schemes and great plans of how to bring revival to the nation of Israel the scripture tells us with artless simplicity so he departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with twelve yokelites of oxen behind him and he with the twelve.

20:48 He was a plow boy and when the call of God came to him he was fully engaged to the hilt in his legitimate occupation in the language of the New Testament he was doing what he did with all of his might as unto the Lord and not as unto men. He wasn't marking time waiting for an opening he was out under that hot burning Palestinian sun that you remember later on was hot enough to kill a little kid with sunstroke you remember the lad that was given to the barren woman and he goes out to help his dad in the field one day and the sun is so hot that he's killed with sunstroke and with the crude instruments of those days no doubt Elisha was no stranger to blistered hands and blistered feet and wrinkly hands and a fully sunburnt face and leathered skin but here was a man who was fully engaged in doing what he knew to be the will of God at the point at which God comes with a further indication of his will and his purpose to him. Well before we pass on from this matter of the circumstances of his call I do want to pause and bring a word of application

Application to Parents: The Tight Rein and Open Hand

22:16 as then so now here's the central circle you see of abiding principles of God's dealings with his people if there is to be any significant advancement of the kingdom of Christ any challenging of the bail worship of our own day and God knows it is right both within and without of the professing church then generally speaking there will be this challenge to the powers of darkness and the proclamation of truth through godly servants of Christ to the extent that the principles operative in that family relationship out of which Elisha came are operative in our family relationships and so I want to speak a word to you who are parents and then to you who are young people and then a word to you ministerial students you parents it's a sobering thing to face the fact that generally speaking the attitudes and character of an Elisha generally speaking are inculcated and taught by parents who raise their children with a tight rein and with an open hand now God is the God who is never bound by the ordinary means and there are sitting here tonight

23:46 men and women who are sensitive gentle gracious kind large hearted people with great sympathies for the work of the kingdom of Christ who've come out of the most hellish kinds of families and I know that but generally speaking the God who ordains ends ordains the means thereto and when you find a man with a Elisha's character and as we trace out his life we see it's such a well-rounded and balanced character it's a character marked by the kind of selflessness that when it means kissing the family inheritance goodbye he kisses it goodbye with abandonment when it means going into a home and sensing that there's a broken heart of the barren womb of a godly woman he can enter in with sympathy to her concerns and to her needs when you find a man who has social graces who has large spiritual sympathies who has this balanced well-rounded character marked by intense courage and yet sympathy for those who are not so courageous you remember his servant who's fearful he doesn't get mad at him and say oh what's the matter with you why don't you have faith he says Lord open his eyes

25:14 he deals with him gently he deals with him tenderly as we read read through and we begin to get a feel for this man's character it's a beautiful a balanced character and though we ascribe all of the praise ultimately to the grace of God and to the God of grace God's grace generally works in the formation of that kind of character by means of the tight rein and the open hand you see it is only apparent to understand that fine line between diligence that borders on idolatry and can steer that course himself who can impart that to his children there's a fine line between diligence in business and making an idol of business there's a fine line between teaching devotion to parents and respect for parents and encouraging an idolatrous attachment to parents but Shaphat and his godliness and the grace of God understood that fine line and by the grace of God they walked it and if we interpret what Elisha was by nature in the light of the rest of the word of God he was a fallen son of Adam he was as innately rebellious to God as any one of us

26:42 he was as innately dead and blind to spiritual realities as any one of us and somewhere in time God gave him a new heart and put a new spirit within him but the new heart and the new spirit do not automatically bring well developed full orbed balanced Christian character God says in Ephesians 6 for fathers nurture your children it is our task to bring them to that state of full orbed development and I would ask the question of you who are parents this night how do you have you caught the vision of what it is to rear your children with that tight rein but with that open hand it's a tragedy to see Christian parents who've reversed it and they are so idolatrously clinging to the affection of their children that they loose the reign of restraint for fear they will lose them and they compromise standards in the home and they compromise demands of their children why I'm afraid I'll lose them they're rearing them you see with the tight grasp of an idolatrous affection that means they hold a loose rein

28:12 upon the neck of the rebellion and the lust of their children God says you're to rear them with a tight rein but with an open hand you know what that means I came not to send peace but a sword I came to set a man against his father the daughter against the mother the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law and a man's foe shall be they of his own household and though the scripture cast a screen of silence over any struggles through which Elisha may have passed in those difficult years of maturing into manhood though there is a veil over Elisha over any of that surely surely unless God did an unusual work in him as he did in Samuel and as he did in John the Baptist filling him with the spirit from his mother's womb he passed through all of those stages in which as it were the young colt does everything to get the bit in its teeth and there are times when as parents you feel your hands are blue and every muscle in your rain hand aches but you dare not let the rain go for you know that that poor blind colt

29:40 will run itself straight into hell if you let it and so you'll hold back on that rain until your fingers are blue under God while all the while saying Lord if you'll break that daughter that son you can do anything you want with him even if it means if I've got to kiss them goodbye to go out and face Baal worshippers that may kill them you see there's some of you parents that want your children thoroughly saved so they don't go to hell but you don't want God to do anything with them that might cut your own heart Lord save them but keep them nice and close to us so we can always have Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays Lord don't save them and baptize them with holy compassion that will send them out so that I may not see them for years to lose their life in a ghetto somewhere ministering to the needs of the inner city Lord save them but keep them nice and sweet and close so everything can be cozy

31:04 so they can provide for me in my old age you see Shaphat and his wife are going to get old someday what happens when the eldest son is a poor preacher hmm well you see they settled all of that with an open hand what about you parents you really honest with God about your children what about you mothers you pray that God will help you to form true women of God by your influence you men oh what a wonderful thing to have a legacy of an Elisha what do we know about Shaphat nothing but that he was Elisha's pup

31:56 but I tell you what a privilege to live and die giving to Israel and Elisha and if nothing else is said of the man that's enough that's enough oh my dear parents will you pray and not settle your head upon its pillow tonight until you've gotten honest with this issue am I prepared to rear them with the rain tight tight until it hurts me tight until it causes pain to me but with the open hand of utter resignation to God that he save them any way he sees fit bring them to anything he knows is necessary and then when he's done that to do anything he wants with them and have no hidden reservations or fine print that you need a magnifying glass to see well it seems to me that's the great lesson of Shaphat and his household but this contains a word to you young people if you've got parents like Shaphat and his wife who though they may not have given you a name that expresses their ambition as they did with regard to him in the midst of Baal worship

Application to Young People: Honoring Parental Discipline

33:24 they identify their son with the name and with the salvation of the God of Israel and so in a sense their ambitions were bound up in the very name they placed them in upon him though your parents may not have given you a name that expresses their godly ambitions there's no question that they're seeking to rear you with a tight rein and with an open hand not the tight rein of legalism but the tight rein of true biblically implemented principles of discipline they make you make your bed in the morning and pick up your socks and say please and say thank you and they teach you manners and sensitivity to other people and you say all that garbage that's not garbage you live in a world with people and your mannerisms and your bearing will either endear you to people or alienate you from people and they're rearing you with a tight rein seeking you to teach seeking to teach you such common things as courtesy and sensitivity why? because the great model is our Lord Jesus who in the days of his infancy and up through his keen years and into manhood it is so said of him that he grew in wisdom and stature in favor with God and with men there was that total full orb development of his humanity he grew in wisdom there was concern

34:52 for the development of his mind stature his physical development for the rigors of the ministry that lay before him and he grew in favor with God's spiritual nurture and in favor with man's social cultivation and so you see children when your parents have that reign upon you and they won't let you just be a general old slob it's not because they've got some middle class hang ups when you think that way you kids listen you are despising what almighty God has placed over you for your good you're failing to honor your father and your mother which is the fifth commandment and the first with special promise and though right now everything in your nature may long to get that bit in your teeth if you've got parents that love you enough to pull back until the bit is pressing against the sensitive folds of your cheek have sense enough to thank God that you've got parents that won't let you go break neck and wild eyed into hell without attempting to have hold the rain upon your foolish and wild heart some of us

36:22 look back and say thank God for blue fingered parents and I'm not just waxing sentimental I want you to have this privilege my family gathers on Thanksgiving day the only holiday that I'm able to spend with my parents in fact usually it's the only time I go to see them once a year I'm not free to go off weekends as many of you are I don't say that disparagingly that's just a fact it's an occupational hazard of the ministry but we met in a rented hall between 50 and 60 of us that was just all my brothers and sisters nine of the ten of us were there with all of our wives and children and then my father stood at the beginning of the meal and after instructing all of his grandchildren like an old patriarch in Israel concerning the meaning of Thanksgiving and giving them a little test and a little prize for each age group that did the best on the test he then spoke of what he felt was the most selfless woman in all the world he'd ever met and he called my mother to his side and put his arm around her and pinned a corsage upon her and he broke down and he wept and we all wept because we were looking into the face and in a sense into the fruit of years of hands that were

37:49 blistered holding ten reins ten sets of brains upon ten wild young asses determined to destroy themselves and there's not a one of us that doesn't look back and thank God for the tight reign that was held upon us until God did something to tame us on the inside and there's not a one of us who has an ounce of ill will to my mom and dad that when we said why can't we do this everyone's doing it in the stock answer was we don't run this household by common consensus we run it by the word of God and when Poppins spoke he had spoke non negotiable unilateral decisions but I tell you how we thank God for it we bless God for parents who held us with that tight reign who had the gall to expect their children in the house by eleven o'clock at night when they were in their teens that's ridiculous I say to the praise of God it was no little factor in allowing me the joy and privilege of entering

39:19 marriage a virgin that there was a time my days tight reign and eleven was eleven five minutes after didn't count might as well come in midnight for the treatments you were going to get tight I look warped some of you don't answer that I don't feel warped but I thank God with that tight reign I was conscious of the open hand and when God was pleased to lay hold of me and subdue me in the eighteenth year of my life and with that subduing came the immediate consciousness that his hand was upon me for the work of the ministry it never occurred to me for one millisecond that I should even ask my mom and dad what they felt about it I knew that nothing would fill them with greater joy than that their son should give himself to serve his Lord and serve his people no matter what the cost might be no matter what reproach might come are your kids going to be able to give that kind of testimony to you my parents earned it in the agony of a blue

Application to Ministerial Students: Diligence in Present Callings

40:49 hand holding a tight ring and in the agony of the open hand before God you children thank God if he's given you such parents you men who have aspirations for the work of the ministry no doubt like Elisha your heart burns as you see the Baal worship Elisha did not all of a sudden become concerned with the issues in Israel because he was officially called living in the midst of all of that abounding wickedness no doubt like Paul when he stood at Athens and felt his heart stirred within him he felt many a stirring his own name was a reminder of the apostasy of Israel but he didn't sit around waiting his chance he hitched up his plow and went about his business until God's time came and for some of you in whose hearts there may burn there may burn literally a yearning to stand in the face of the bell worship of this generation and to proclaim the true and mighty name of Jehovah Jesus don't sit around marking time waiting for an opening hitch up your plow and pray on and nurture your holy longings and in

42:18 God's appointed time he will open a door for you to minister his word well we must hasten on now from this consideration of the circumstances of his call in fact as I look at the clock I don't think I should go on to the next heading because I just can't do justice to it there's too much in this that I'm calling the substance of his call and I think it would be best simply to leave it and to leave the challenge with you who are parents that I've sought to lay upon your conscience I had not intended to expand so much upon this aspect but when you sense that God is helping you to strike fire you stay with it that's one of the great lessons of preaching your notes will be there next week but maybe the help of God in that given point will not be so perhaps we should leave it with this and let me press the issue home to the conscience of each of you again have you come to that place where Elisha obviously was prior to the coming of the man of God the posture of his heart was one of present resignation to the claims of Jehovah present commitment to the revealed will of God and now in a sense it was only a matter of a change of circumstances where he served God behind his plow

Concluding Challenge: Resignation to God's Claims

43:47 he will now serve God following the mighty man of God Elijah what a wonderful thing to be the Lord's bondservant there is no freedom in all the world like the freedom of a bond slave of Jesus Christ you've got no , ambition to nourish but the ambition to please him you've got no goals to nourish to cherish you've got no dream castles to build so you've got none to be destroyed it's the most wonderful liberty in all the world do you know that liberty oh if I could make you jealous tonight I would do you know that liberty of being the Lord's bond slave being like an Elisha behind your plow but if Jehovah makes his will known that the plow should be left and the oxen slain and everything turned away you're in his hands and I would encourage you who are parents with this analogy of the tight rein and the open hand has struck home tonight to have dealings with God about your children I fear that some of you hold to them with an idolatrous attack I fear that and remember I don't speak as a priest who's never born children never held them in my arms never played with them wrestled with

45:17 them laughed with them wept with them I trust I speak as a father whose heart feels all the mingled affections of a father's heart that we must bring natural parental sentiment again and again under the discipline of the word of God and no matter what it may cost us commit ourselves to be like Shaphat and his wife to rear our children with the tight rein and with the open hand now is that an assurance that they will turn out to be Elisha's no they may turn out to be apostate Baal worshippers but if they do we shall go to the great day with a conscience void of offense and say Lord by your grace I did what you told me to do you see there is no automatic relationship between the means and the end but at the same time there is generally a close relationship between the means and the end but we are always in the posture of utter dependence upon God and again we must not expound or preach by imagination and make it very plain where in the realm of speculation but one cannot help but read this entire passage without

46:47 feeling something of the apparent joy of Shaphat and his wife as they enter into that meal of final celebration and confession as their son will leave them could it well be could it not well be that this was the fruit of their own prayers as they held with that tight rein and when God exercised his sovereign prerogatives their hearts leaped for joy the Lord gives grace for this parental task none of us none of us is competent to perform it but his grace and strength are made perfect in human weakness may God give us grace that we shall be parents like them and that we shall have the privilege of giving to this generation some Elishas and some Elishettes if we may coin the feminine of Elisha those who will not bow the knee to Baal who will take their place in this crazy mixed up man centered society and there manifest the reality of the living God by the way they live before him and serve him let us pray

Pastoral Prayer

48:09 our father how we do thank you for the scriptures and this blessed book that is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and we thank you for the record of Shaphat and his wife and their influence their apparent love for you and refusal to go along with the current philosophy and current religious climate for daring to confess you to be God and Savior when multitudes the whole nation is a whole was bowing its knee to Baal and we pray that as we live in the midst of a Baal worshiping society oh God grant that we by your grace may be like this godly man and his wife we pray for the many who are just beginning to bear their children and have their families oh God we tremble when we think of the climate in which they must rear when bombarding the minds of their little ones from every single quarter is everything that is so blatantly and militantly anti God and

49:39 anti Bible and anti morality when there is this cursed subjectivism when there is this crippling self centeredness oh God have mercy upon our young parents teach them oh teach them early holy father how to rear their little ones with that tight rein held in a hand of love and yet with the open hand of utter resignation we are not sufficient for these things left to ourselves oh Lord we shall either provoke our children to wrath by holding an unreasonable reign or we shall give them over to the devil by giving them a loose reign you must help us to hold with that reign of biblical firmness grant such grace to our parents we pray for those who can only have deep grief as they reflect upon the failures of the past oh Lord comfort them in their grief that not only does the blood of Jesus cleanse from all sin but that you're the God who can overrule our miserable failures and you can bring blessing where we have no grounds to expect such and we pray where there have been failings in those of us who are parents

51:09 of children of older years cleanse us of our failures overrule our failures oh our father we pray that you'd magnify your grace by yet making true men and women of God of each of our children then we ask for those who aspire to serve you in this generation deliver us we pray any one of us from being idle day dreamers give us grace to give ourselves to our present sphere of influence and occupation and should it be of your will that we serve you in another sphere we know that in your appointed way and time you will make that known though we do not ask for any direct revelation or any profit to cast his mantle upon us we thank you for your promise that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord hear then the prayers that we offer up on behalf of this congregation of your people and then Lord we pray for the children amongst us who do have parents who seek to rear them after the pattern of a sheaf hat yet who now at this very moment hate that rain and hate the pressure of the bit in their mouths oh Lord give them sense enough to know that that bit and that rain is their safety oh God if you will not give them

52:38 saving grace give them enough plain sense to know that that bit and that rain is for their good hedge them up and hold them in keep them from destroying themselves oh our great things of you in these moments of corporate prayer but you are a great God and we ask you to minister to us in grace and in mercy hear the cries that we offer receive our thanks for this day for your presence with us for your grace to us we now ask your blessing to rest upon us as we part from this place as we face the week before us give us grace so to live that others may know that this day we have indeed been with your dear son hear our prayer cleanse us from our many sins and quicken us in all the ways of righteousness we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen