He stopped the oxen who were pulling the plough and wiped the sweat off his brow. He took the water flask from his belt and took a nice long drink. On the next pass of the field he would stop and let the oxen have a drink as well. He could see that they needed a bit of a rest.
He started his oxen pair moving again, and as he walked behind them, he looked out over his father’s vast farm land. The farm was so big that it took 12 teams of oxen to plough it all. Elisha could see the other 11 teams spread out in the distance. Those 11 teams of oxen were handled by his father’s servants. If he had a shekel for every time he and his father “discussed” the fact that the landowner’s son was handling a ploughing team, he could have bought his own land by now.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make his father understand that he actually liked being out in the field. He didn’t think the job was beneath him. From his perspective, the landowner’s son should know his father’s business in every particular. His father thought that it bordered on disgrace to have his son doing manual labor. Elisha decided it was a point they would never see eye-to-eye on.
Yes, it was a hot, dirty, and tiring job. But he loved being outdoors tilling the earth that God created. Somehow Elisha felt closer to God out in the fields with the oxen. He certainly had a lot more time to pray out there. Sometimes, when the other ploughing teams were out of earshot, Elisha would sing praises to God at the top of his lungs. The fields were his refuge from the government corruption and the national apostasy. He could almost hear God whisper to him as he plodded along behind the oxen.
That day Elisha was ploughing on the edge of his father’s land, when he saw someone in the distance walking toward him. He couldn’t imagine who would be out this far in the middle of nowhere. Curious, he stopped the oxen and let them rest a bit while he waited to see who was coming.
As the person drew nearer, Elisha could see that it was a man. It wasn’t anyone who lived nearby. Elisha didn’t recognize the walking gait. Once the man’s face came into view, Elisha held his breath as recognition dawned. What is HE doing way out here?
“Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.” (1 Kings 19:19)
Elisha stood there with the man of God’s mantle on his shoulders watching Elijah’s back as Elijah kept on walking. Elijah didn’t slow down for a second as he walked by. Elisha gathered his wits about him, understanding what had just happened.
“And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, ‘Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.’ And he said to him, ‘Go back again, for what have I done to you?’” (1 Kings 19:20)
Although Elijah gave him the option of thinking about the offer just made, Elisha didn’t need to think twice. He was all in!
“So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.” (1 Kings 19:21)
Elisha didn’t just make a decision to leave his home and occupation to become Elijah’s apprentice. Through the power of the Word, Elisha made a clean break so that going back to his previous occupation was not an option. He slaughtered the team of oxen he ploughed with, using the wood from the plough itself to make the fire to cook the beef that was served to all on his father’s estate as a good-bye dinner. His decision to follow the word of God that came through Elijah’s call was final and complete. He never looked back.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’” (Matthew 16:24-26)
This is why Binding Broken Hearts is passionate about getting God’s Word into prisons and into the hands of inmates who so desperately need that Word so that they can hear God’s call on their lives and make their own final and complete decisions to follow Jesus and never look back. Because these are men and women who need Jesus most.
Perhaps you want to help spread the power of His Word to an inmate who desperately needs its power. If so, please consider becoming a financial partner with us. Click here to see how you can help.