| “And the Lord said unto him (Elijah), Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus … and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room” (1 Kings 19:15-16). |
| If you read about what happened after Elijah’s victory on Mt. Carmel, you will find that he became very discouraged. Ahab’s wife Jezebel threatened to kill him, and instead of trusting the Lord, he fled for his life. Then he did something that we are all likely to do sometimes; he started to feel sorry for himself. Perhaps he expected even Jezebel to repent, but this did not happen. Then Elijah actually told the Lord how bad the people of Israel were, and how he felt that he was the only faithful one left. The Lord had to tell Elijah that this was not true; there were thousands of others who had not worshiped idols in Israel. |
| When he took this attitude, the Lord could not use him anymore, and he told Elijah to go and anoint Elisha to be prophet instead. I am sure that this was a real blow to Elijah and made him feel sad, but he did it. However, it is interesting that the Lord did not take Elijah away to heaven for about ten years. It seems that Elijah learned a lesson by what happened, and repented. During those ten years, Elisha was the one who served Elijah and learned from him. We will see tomorrow what Elisha did differently. |
| When we do something for the Lord, it is important not to get thinking about ourselves, and how important we are. Elijah had won a great victory for the Lord on Mt. Carmel, and the prophets of Baal had been destroyed. But later, when everything did not go as Elijah had expected, he became very discouraged. |
| Let us remember that the Lord can use us only when He gets all the glory, and when we do not think of our own reputation. He will look after us if we trust Him. |
