Don’t Quit

August 24, 2019

Yesterday I wrote about knowing what we want so we can ask God for big answers. We often pray little prayers because we don’t know what we really want. When Elijah asked Elisha what he wanted, Elisha was ready with a big ask. I wonder what I would have said?

Bold prayers don’t just spring up from nowhere. They are rooted in the soil of faith and faithfulness. Before the question is asked, there is a back story. Elijah and Elisha were walking along together. Three different times as they walked from village to village, they came upon “schools of prophets,” groups of apprentices who were learning the ropes, but not quite ready to step out on their own. At each village, Elijah told him, “Stay here.” Each time, Elisha refused.  At each place, the apprentices asked him, “Don’t you know your master is leaving you today?” Elisha did know, and kept walking.

Elisha’s big ask came on the heels of his big loyalty. Three times he was given the option of turning back. The other prophets stood at a distance while he walked on. He chose to stay close by Elijah’s side, listening and learning, gleaning every bit of wisdom that might happen to fall from the master’s lips. Instead of staying with the crowd, he walked on alone...almost. 

Asking big things of God doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There must be a willingness to stand out from the crowd, to ignore the temptation to stop moving forward. The crowd you have reason to believe is with you may in fact, be the ones questioning your calling, looking to bring you down. Those who have never asked big things think it’s foolish when you do, because they’ve never stood apart from the crowd.

I’m still learning what it means to ignore the distractions and to reject the invitations to turn back, and am grateful that even at my age, God is still in the business of testing my resolve, giving me those invitations to quit, but even more, the opportunity to keep going and ask big.