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only could he be fitted or a calling which required such entire self-denial and elf-
sacrifice.
This further test also, which reminds us how our LORD set before ntending followers
the difficulties of their choice (Matthew :20) and before His disciples the absolute
necessity of willing elf-denial (Luke 14:26), did Elisha endure, as must every one ho
is to do service for God. It seems almost symbolic that the xen with which he had
been working, the yoke which bound them, nd the wooden ploughshare which they
had drawn, were now used o prepare the farewell-feast of Elisha. To forsake and give
up ll for the service of the LORD is only one lesson, which must e complemented,
not so much by abandoning all of the past, as y consecrating to our new life-work all
that we formerly had or id. Nor let us forget two other considerations, suggested by
he history of Elisha's call. All personal decision for God, and ll work undertaken for
Him, implies a leave-taking and a orsaking of the old, which must "pass away" when
"all things ecome new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). But this forsaking, though ecessarily
involving pain and loss, should not be sad – rather oyous, as leading through pain to
real joy, and through seeming loss to real gain:^34 a "feast," such as was the parting of
Elisha from his home, and that of St. Matthew from his calling and friends.
Thus the end of the old will at the same time be the beginning of the new; the giving
up of the former calling the first act of the new ministry. And however humble that
ministry, or however indirectly it may seem to bear upon the LORD, it is really
ministry of Him. Then, and for many years afterwards, Elisha did but "pour water on
the hands of Elijah" (2 Kings 3:11) – yet from the moment that "he arose and went
after Elijah" he was really, and in the judgment of God, "anointed to be prophet;" nor
had he, nor needed he, other earthly consecration.
(^)