Can you dig it?

The story of Elijah and Elisha is an incredible story. I believe the elements of 2 Kings chapter 2 constitute one of the most important events in OT Biblical History yet it is rarely seen as important. I will unpack the relevance of 2K2 in subsequent blogs but here I want to highlight Elisha's walkabout with the Kings. This happens in 2 Kings 3 when the kings join forces to defeat the Moabites. The assembled armies soon run out of resources in the desert on their way and they look to 'the man of God' for assistance. In the Old Testament there was a system where people were allocated by God to fulfil certain tasks. These tasks were often accompanied by signs and wonders and they would be recognised as someone God accompanied, thus becoming 'the man of God.' Today there is a clamour to be seen to be 'the man/woman of God.' In these New Testament times God still leads people to fulfil certain tasks but there is no system of 'haves' and 'have-nots.' If someone seems to be accomplishing in forwarding God's Kingdom today there are a few guidelines I would recommend:

1. Check that people involved are not claiming they are superior or special. In the New Testament no-one has special or superior status. They didn't in the Old Testament but as in those days we still lift the 'famous christian' high.

2. Is this work genuinely and miraculously showing God's accompaniment or is it a business method at work? Receiving money from people for product or passion is not a miracle. It is business. God can guide giving but as paul said it is not under compulsion... free will.

3. Is there a human benefactor taking money or status beyond 'wages' or reasonable respect?

4. How are people treated by the work? Ask people who have left!

5. What are the roots and shoots? in other words, who do they associate with and are these Godly people etc?

Elisha told the kings that he wouldn't even look at them if it wasn't for the presence of the Godly. We should take that advice and weigh even the renown Godly ventures before throwing support their way. Elisha went on to demonstrate a vital principle that applies to us today. Having worshipped God he told the people to dig ditches. The self important kings had work to do! When the water came the capacity to hold the water was increased by the ditches. Today many place themselves as kings of organisations and churches. God's ways are always consistant, his work is to excavate our lives in order to make us more like Jesus. If we elevate ourselves we can only expect a man-made experience. If however, we hold back on self promotion and personal notoriety, we will be better placed for God to make us more and more like Christ, the central purpose of our christian life.

There are many organisations and churches who do not seek notoriety, fame or claim miraculous intervention over a collection plate. It is the way they have accepted a business or institutional structure and constitution that suggests they encourage hierarchy and superior/inferior paradigms. Because the human heart LOVES to be special and superior, often those involved in structured churches and organisations succumb to behaving this way. The answer isn't to just 'guard your heart,' it is to repent of our associations with anything that fosters self-ism or even the dangers associated. Here is a list of Biblical charachters God used and the status they recieved on earth:

Jesus: man of sorrows, rejected, beated, crucified, left position to do God's will

Paul: beaten, imprisoned, rejected, traveller, left position to do God's will

John: beaten, rejected, exiled

Isaiah: outspoken, sawn in half

Jeremiah: Just read it!

Ezekiel: Just read it!

Moses: Criminal, exile, overworked, undermined, missed opportunity