This morning, we’re continuing our message series “Pressing On” where we’re learning from the pioneers of the faith who have gone before us. We’re realizing that they were people just like you and I with real problems, real struggles, real emotions, but what enabled them to press on through them and become great was their real faith.
Philippians 3:8-14
8 …I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
We started with the life of Elisha. He had just suffered the loss of his friend and mentor, Elijah. Simultaneously, he was given a double portion of the Holy Spirit that was upon Elijah and promoted to the lead prophet. He observed firsthand the power and authority and responsibility that came with that reality.
Elisha was faced with the fact that there was no option for him left but to let go of what was behind and to press on toward what was ahead. Each day, we are faced with this reality as well.
Today, we continue on through Elisha’s life and again see that even faithful and righteous people face difficult circumstances. However, they are often just the first step in encountering the miraculous power of God!
When we choose to turn to Him with our troubles, there is nothing that He cannot do to work them together for our good and His glory!
2 Kings 4
1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
There is a whole lot packed into this one verse.
Here we find a widow whose deceased husband was a prophet who served under Elisha’s leadership.
Not only is she dealing with the loss of her husband, but she is now also a single mother.
Although her husband revered the Lord, he had built himself up some debt and now his creditors are going to take her sons away from her as slaves to settle his debt left behind.
How tragic! As if losing her husband wasn’t bad enough, she was about to lose her children as well! She had nothing and no way to repay this debt…
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
We may not have much, but God can do mighty things with it if we trust it into His hands. If He can speak and create everything from nothing, just think of what He can do with whatever we possess!
Sometimes we have need instead of plenty simply because we don’t reach out and ask those around us. God was about to work a miracle, but He was going to do it through a community and not an individual.
As with almost all miracles, God cooperates with people to bring them about. It is a cooperation and an opportunity for us to express our trust and faith by simply doing what God asks us to.
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
This makes me wonder how often we’re not seeing the miraculous as often in our lives as we should simply because we aren’t surrendering much from our lives for Him to work with.
We could think of this oil and these jars as illustrations of us and God’s Presence and anointing through the Holy Spirit. So long as we empty ourselves, God can fill us. It’s only when we stop surrendering and serving and pouring out that the oil gets stopped.
Pressing on…
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
God made a way for not only all of this widow’s debts to be paid off, but also enough to support her and her kid’s as well.
We now continue on to an account that is a bit of the opposite situation. This woman still has her husband, was very wealthy, but has no children. Still, she faced troubles.
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
Oh, our wives and their projects…
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”
She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
She was quite happy and content in her life and really had no need that she could think of mentioning. She had her home and her people and she was content with that.
What gift do you get for the person who has everything?
14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”
17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
Awesome news, right? A miracle and great joy! Sadly, the story doesn’t end there.
18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”
His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
This has to be one of the most difficult things for any parent to experience. Their child in pain and passing away on their lap and not being able to do anything about it.
Whatever caused this boy’s headache that lead quickly to his death couldn’t be stopped with all the money in the world… She knew who to go to who could do something about it, though!
22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“That’s all right,” she said.
Her husband apparently wasn’t the smartest guy in the town… He just didn’t get it.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.
Why do we do this? We lie. It’s OK to not be OK. Everything was not alright. Her child was absolutely not all right and neither were her nor her husband as a result!
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
Even a prophet cannot see everything. Although we don’t know or understand, often God simply does not answer the question, “Why?”
Elisha could tell that something wasn’t right. He knew that this woman was in bitter distress, but God wasn’t filling Elisha in on anything about it.
With just a few of her questions, he quickly figured out what was going on.
28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
Elisha did what he discerned the Lord was directing him to do.
30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
It didn’t work. What should we do when we do what God tells us to do, but we don’t get the results that we were expecting? Press in and press on!
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord.
Did Elisha miss it? Did he hear wrong? Was it just God’s will to take the child away so young?
The only One who knew was the Lord.
When things got difficult, when things got tough, when troubles came, they prayed and sought after the Lord.
They didn’t give up on their faith, they pressed into their faith.
They didn’t give up on God, they pressed into God.
They didn’t complain or whine, they pressed on.
They didn’t just shrug their shoulders and walk away from the challenge, they pressed on!
34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm.
OK, a strange thing to do to this young boy’s dead corpse, but Elisha apparently felt like it was what the Lord was leading him to do. The boy’s body got warm, but that was it. He was still dead; still unresponsive.
35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room
Did Elisha miss it? Did he hear wrong? Was it just God’s will to take the child away so young?
The only One who knew was the Lord.
When things got difficult, when things got tough, when troubles came, they prayed and sought after the Lord.
They didn’t give up on their faith, they pressed into their faith.
They didn’t give up on God, they pressed into God.
They didn’t complain or whine, they pressed on.
They didn’t just shrug their shoulders and walk away from the challenge, they pressed on!
Pacing back and forth through the room, Elisha kept seeking after God. We can only speculate, but it seems that he didn’t receive any new direction or guidance, so he went back and did what the Lord had instructed him to again.
and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
Finally, breakthrough! The dead raised to life! Only God can do such a miracle!
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
What would have happened if the woman had not came out to see Elisha?
After all, he was a very busy man. He had more important things to do.
People die every day. At least God gave her a child for several years, right?
What if she had just went back home after Gehazi pushed her away from Elisha?
What would have happened if Elisha had just sent one of his prophets instead of dropping everything and going there himself?
What would have happened if Elisha had given up when laying his staff on the boy’s face did nothing?
What would have happened if Elisha had given up after laying on top of the boy’s body did nothing?
Faith is pressing on until God’s promises are fulfilled and until His will is accomplished.
Sure, God could have just never allowed this boy to suffer and die in the first place.
Sure, God could have raised the boy back to life while he was sitting in his mother’s lap that morning.
Sure, God could have raised the boy back to life as soon as the staff was laid on his face.
God had a purpose for everything that happened that day.
And guess what.
God never revealed that purpose…
We don’t understand it, but that’s OK. Pressing on in the Lord doesn’t require our understanding, just our faith and trust in God. Things don’t have to make sense to us for God to work a miracle. Things don’t have to make sense for them to end well. We just have to trust all of our “things” to God and press on in and through Him!
Speaking of not making sense to us, let’s skip to the end of Elisha’s life.
2 Kings 13:14-21
14 Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died.
Elisha, the one who carried and operated under a double portion of the Holy Spirit who was upon Elijah. The one who healed so many people of their sicknesses. The one who raised the dead to life. The one who was powerfully anointed by God. Elisha, himself, got sick and died from that illness.
Knowing that he was about to lose Elisha, the king of Israel cries out as Elisha did when he lost Elijah.
Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
Even in what we assume would have been a weakened state from his illness, Elisha leads the king into a few prophetic acts.
15 Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. 16 “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.
There is power and impartation in the laying on of hands. There is something significant about just having someone place their hands on us while they are seeking out the Lord. It’s as if though that anointing flows in and through us by doing so.
17 “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”
Awesome and easy enough, right? Victory prophetically declared and later came to pass all by shooting an arrow out a window. Victory earned by simply obeying the Lord through His prophet. Just doing what God says to do and trusting Him with the rest. Now, on to the next prophetic act.
18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. 19 The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”
Now, Elisha didn’t tell King Jehoash how many times to strike the ground with the arrows. Elisha already declared that the king would completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek after shooting the arrow. There were apparently 5-6 more battles that the king would face with Aram to completely destroy the Arameans altogether. It’s unlikely that the king knew that.
Again, it is very easy for us to try and understand and figure out what happened here and how the king should have known to strike the ground multiple times with his arrows and how unfair it might seem that he didn’t do something that wasn’t clearly defined.
We’re not going to try and understand all of that this morning because that is kind of God’s point today.
We need to stop trying to figure things out and start living by faith.
The king gave up half way through after striking the ground just three times.
How many times would have we struck the ground, though?
How many times do we typically do what we feel God is calling us to do over and over without seeing any results?
If we’re honest with ourselves, that’s usually once and not even three times. Sometimes, we get so in our own heads and overthink things that we don’t even do what God calls us to once. Not even once. We talk ourselves out of it. We shrink back in fear and doubt.
If we’re bold and courageous enough to do it once and then nothing happens, we come up with all kinds of excuses and reasons for it. We figure that it’s just not God’s will or that we just didn’t hear Him right or it’s just not the right time or countless other reasons.
We don’t very often just do it again. If we do it twice and still nothing happens, we surely don’t try again a third time or a fourth time or a fifth time or a sixth time. Therefore, we don’t defeat our enemy altogether and we end up in the same difficulties and troubles that we found ourselves in in the first place.
How long did Moses have to hold up his arms to defeat the Amalekites?
How many times did Israel have to march around Jericho before the walls fell?
How many times did Jehoash have to strike the ground with arrows to defeat the Arameans?
How many times did Elisha have to lay on the boy’s dead body before he raised to life?
How many times did Elijah have to lay on the widow’s boy’s dead body before he raised to life?
How many times did Naaman have to bathe in the Jordan river to be cured from leprosy?
How many times did Elijah’s servant go and look toward the sea before he saw a cloud?
How many times did Jesus question Peter’s love for Him?
How many times did Peter refuse to kill and eat unclean animals?
How many times did Paul plea for deliverance from demonic torment before Jesus answered?
Faith is revealed just as much in an instantaneous miracle as it is in pressing in and pressing on despite trouble and difficulties and even impossibilities.
Don’t lose heart and don’t give up!
Just because life isn’t going well doesn’t mean that you aren’t in right standing before God!
Just because life isn’t going well doesn’t mean that you aren’t anointed by God; filled with His Holy Spirit!
Just because life isn’t going well doesn’t mean that God isn’t working a miracle through your life!
Elisha who had healed so many was sick, himself. Elisha had a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and performed many and even greater miracles than Elijah. Elijah’s life ended by being taken straight to Heaven in a whirlwind with chariots and horses of fire. Elisha’s life ended in illness.
20 Elisha died and was buried.
Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.
Even in death brought about by an illness, still the anointing of God rested powerfully in his bones. Elisha’s bones raised a dead man back to life!
This morning, God is encouraging us to dare to hope again, dare to believe again, dare to do what He has called us to do again! Let go of the past and keep your focus on Him and not on the results. He’s got you! He’s got this! It’s not over yet, so there is hope! Keep pressing on!