“Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” 2 Kings 2:14 

A friend of mine was in the midst of a job search, trying to find the job to which he was called. Things were not falling into place. My friend had chosen his career with the conviction that he was called to it and the fact that he was unable to find a job was confusing. One day after fruitlessly searching the classifieds yet again and feeling demoralized and frustrated my friend sat at the computer and typed in www.Godswillformylife.com. After typing the web address and pushing enter the browser flashed to a screen which demonstrated the limited usefulness of the Internet.  It read “Internet Explorer can’t find God’s will for my life.” Change can be difficult; whether it is change in health, change in job status, or change in the number of people living at home change challenges us, it makes us stop and think for a moment about who we truly are and who God calls us to be. Change can causes us to doubt or question what we are doing, where we are going, and what our purpose in life actually is.  

This morning’s lesson from 2 Kings presents us with an amazing story of change and doubt in the life of the great prophet Elisha. Long before this story filled with chariots of fire and whirlwinds Elisha had been called to the life of a prophet by his teacher, the great prophet Elijah; a man who had called down fire from heaven, healed the sick, and raised the dead. Elisha had followed his master Elijah to and fro throughout Israel watching him challenge the political authorities of the day and perform miracle after miracle. Elisha had become well versed in the life of the prophet of the LORD and was well aware that he was being groomed to be Elijah’s successor. If anyone should have been ready to take over the position of “head prophet” it was Elisha.  

As an ancient Jewish midrash (an explanation of a Biblical text written by a rabbi over one thousand years ago) states concerning Elisha, “you will find that through the agency of the righteous (that is through the prophets), the Holy One anticipated in this world everything that He will do in the world to come.... The Holy One quickens the dead (2 Kings 4:32-34) and the prophet Elisha quickened the dead. The Holy One remembers barren women, and Elisha remembered barren women (2 Kings 4:16). The Holy One blessed the ones who have little, and Elisha blesses the ones who have little (2 Kings 4:43-44). The Holy One makes the bitter sweet and Elisha makes the bitter sweet (2 Kings 2:21-22).”[1] If God demonstrates his will in the world through Elisha in such amazing ways surely Elisha, one of the great prophets, groomed as he was by the prophet Elijah should be more than ready for the departure of his teacher. As he follows Elijah in our reading this morning he already knows what is about to happen. If anyone should have been ready for change, if anyone should have been ready for what was about to happen, it was Elisha. 

And yet, as Elisha watches his master be taken up into heaven, as he picks up his master mantle which had been used to call him into the life of prophecy and which had been used to part the waters of the Jordan just as Moses had parted the waters of the Red Sea Elisha seems unsure. Elisha, the great prophet, seems to be filled with doubt. As he arrives at the Jordan he takes that fallen mantle and strikes the water saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Where is the Lord now that my master is gone? How am I to find the Lord when the man who had showed me God’s ways has been taken from me? It seems as if Elisha’s statement is filled with doubt, filled with a questioning even after he has seen God act in so many mighty and amazing ways, even after he had been prepared and groomed for this very day for years. And yet, in the midst of that question, “where is the God of Elijah now?” God acts in a mighty way through Elisha the prophet. The waters of the Jordan are parted by Elisha just as they had been parted by his master, just as they had been parted by Moses many years before. Even in the midst of Elisha’s gnawing doubt, even in the midst of massive change, God continues to act, God continues to be present, God continues to be faithful. 

From that point on God acts powerfully and clearly through the prophet Elisha. As noted by that ancient Midrash I quoted earlier God uses the doubtful and questioning Elisha to speak truth to the people of ancient Israel and to the people of modern day America. God acts through Elisha to bring about the healing and restoration of humanity brought to its fullest purpose in the person of Jesus Christ. 

We may say that we are not an Elisha, picked from the side of the road by a wandering prophet, groomed to be his successor as prophet to the people of Israel. But we are people chosen by God to speak good news and truth to the world, to each other, to our families and friends, neighbors and enemies. Along with Elisha we too have been called by others to learn about God, to learn what it is to be disciples. Along with Elisha we too have had our lives transformed, not by a mantle being thrown over our shoulders but instead by water being poured over our heads in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We have been transformed by the Holy Spirit being breathed into the very core of our beings. Along with Elisha we too have gone forth to demonstrate God’s plan for redemption by teaching children about God’s love through Vacation Bible Schools, through planning Sunday school curriculums for adults and youth, through supporting missionaries in the Dominican Republic, through studying the Bible in small groups, through sending out mission teams to places like Appalachia and New Orleans, through outreach work in inner-city Detroit. We too have been called to follow in the footsteps of our master just as Elisha was called by Elijah to follow in his footsteps.  

Just like Elisha we too encounter times of difficulty, doubt, and fear as we follow that path. We too stand at the edge of the Jordan unsure where God is calling us now, unsure where the God we have learned about, prayed to, and worshiped may be in the midst of times of change and difficulty. We too find ourselves in the midst of storm tossed seas just like the Disciples, fearful, straining at the oars doing our best to reach the goal that Jesus has given to us.  

And yet, even in the midst of our doubt, fear, and uncertainty God is present with us. God promises to be with us, guard us, guide us, and act in powerful and amazing ways through even us. God will, even in our times of doubt, fear and change, part the waters of our Jordan rivers and provide us with a way to the promised land on dry ground. God sees us just as Jesus saw the disciples in the midst of the sea and God will come to us, comfort us, and give us the strength to carry on. 

God does not abandon us when doubt and fear fills us. God does not leave us alone to face difficulties and trials. Our God, the God of Moses, the God of Elijah, and Elisha, is with us. Our God has come to dwell among us in the person of Jesus Christ; he has come to strengthen us even as we despair, even as we strain at our oars, even as we face uncertainties and changes. 

My friends, my sisters and brothers, take heart at the fact that we have been called by God to be disciples of his Son. Take heart in the fact that like Elisha we have been chosen to be people who enact and point to God’s good and gracious plan for this broken yet beautiful world. Know in your heart that through your baptism God has given you the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you in the midst of every time of doubt and fear.   

“Elisha struck the water, saying, “where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” and even there, in the midst of that question, in the midst of that doubt, in the midst of that uncertainty, God was there and God acted. And “the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.”  

AMEN