Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday October 18, 2011

Sunday evening past I commented on the character traits that God tends to favor in choosing folks for leadership positions. One passage among many that is glaring along this line is 1 Kings 19:19:

"So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him."

In the verse Elijah is on the hunt for his successor as God had directed even down to the new prophets name. As he travels he comes upon Elisha, and the scriptures reveal a number of things about Elisha's character. Keep in mind the choice here is not about salvation but about high leadership. Dissect the verse and note Elisha was not filling out applications for prophet hood. Leadership sought him out.

Secondly he was working. The dreamers that sit around wishfully fiddling their life away awaiting the fire are very unlikely to experience said fire. Twelve yoke of oxen were plowing in a staggered well organized manner and Elisha was in the last place. Here in the Midwest we often see a field being worked by numerous tractors in much the same way. The lead tractor sets the course and each one following in the inside track of the one before and down the line. Each one must follow the prescribed pattern or everything behind the errant one gets out of line. Elisha, possibly the least experienced is in twelfth place where the least damage would result if he got out of synch.

The character traits demonstrated in the above are really simple. God was/is looking for leadership material in the ones He chooses for leadership who are working at what they do, in harmony with others, and understand the importance of cooperation in even the least significant part of the operation. Aspire to leadership? Are you working in harmony within an organized effort and are you willing to take the last or least position?

I often lay awake on Sunday night thinking through the events of the day and wishing I had said this instead of that and thus learn. As I was ruminating the other night I recalled a cartoon I had seen long years ago, and I sure do not recall the mag etc. The cartoon featured a large field being plowed by twelve yoke of oxen. Eleven yokes (22 oxen) were working in the above described manner. Way off to the right was the twelfth yoke and a leadership junkie, at least halfway across the field, coming in the opposite direction was Doofus with the bubble about his head showing his thought which was similar to "I'll show these imbeciles what real leadership is all about." In all likelihood he spent his allotted time on earth wondering why "they" missed his greatness.

You will find many similarities to the choosing of Elisha in the selection of the Twelve by Jesus.

Larry Lilly Copyright � 2011 Use with credit.

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