Companionship
All of us should have close companions
who share our passion and vision
for doing the will of God.
Here's Gene to explain:
This is a very important Principle that
grows out of the life of Elijah.
And we see that it basically is a final step.
A final step that God took in helping
Elijah to overcome his depression.
And what happened is that God brought
Elisha into his life as a very special companion,
a very special friend.
To understand all of this, how it flows together,
let's just look at the steps in
God's healing process.
What did God actually do?
Well first: God ministered to Elijah
physically with food and rest.
That's where God started in terms of
helping him with his depression.
Secondly: God clarified Elijah's
theological perspectives regarding
God's presence aside from miraculous phenomena.
You see, as we've said, as we've looked at
the story of Elijah and the Principles that
come out of his life.
For those three years, particularly,
there was a lot of phenomena.
A lot of unusual things.
And God said: Hey, that's not normal.
And you can't rely upon all of that to
have spiritual highs and psychological highs.
You've got to deal with reality.
God is with you but it will be probably
in a still, small voice--a quiet whisper.
And then thirdly: God reassured Elijah He
was providing others who would
help him carry out his task.
And here in the context, he mentioned
a number of individuals.
And these were individuals with authority.
People with power.
People that could help handle some of these situations.
And Elijah wasn't doing this all by himself.
And then fourthly: God brought Elisha
into Elijah's life to be his friend and
constant companion.
And we see this final step here described
in 1st Kings chapter 19, verses 19 to 21.
Elijah left there...
That is, he left that area of the cave and
the darkness of that cave.
...Elijah left there and found Elisha
son of Shaphat as he was plowing.
Twelve teams of oxen were in front of him,
and he was with the twelfth team. ...
This was a huge operation, obviously.
He was on--he was with the twelfth team.
...Elijah walked by him [and] threw his mantle over him.
Elisha left the oxen...
God had prepared him for this moment, obviously.
...Elisha left the oxen, ran to follow Elijah,
and said, Please let me kiss my father and mother,
and then I will follow you.
[And then Elijah said:]
Go on back, he replied,
for what have I done to you? ...
And that sounds kind of strange.
But in the Hebrew, it's just colloquial in saying:
Hey, that's great, no problem.
Just go on back.
Take your time.
In essence, that's what he was telling Elisha.
...[And] so he turned back from following him,
[he] took the team of oxen,
[he] slaughtered them.
With the oxen's wooden yoke and plow,
he cooked the meat [and] gave it to the people,
and they ate.
[And] then he left, followed Elijah, and served him.
You know, as Christians we all need friends.
We are all friends.
But we need special people in our life.
We see this illustrated in the Scriptures.
Moses needed an Aaron.
And God said I'm going to send Aaron with you.
Joshua needed Caleb.
He wasn't to do this all by himself.
David needed Jonathan--a friend, a close friend.
Paul needed Barnabas and Silas
and later Timothy and Titus.
And let's not forget that Jesus,
in His humanness, had a very special friend.
And that was John. We read about that:
The disciples started looking at one another--
uncertain which one He was speaking about. ...
This is a scene there in the upper room.
...One of His disciples, the one Jesus loved...
Now isn't that interesting?
Didn't Jesus love them all?
Of course!
In fact, Jesus loves all of us.
That's why He came.
God so loved the world, that He sent His
only begotten Son.
We are to serve and love one another
as Christ loved us.
But here in the context of His
humanness, He had a friend.
...One of His disciples, the one Jesus loved,
was reclining close beside Jesus.
Now that's friendship.
And Jesus had that.
If Jesus needed that,
obviously, it shouldn't surprise us that
we need someone who is close in our lives.
Which leads us to a Reflection and Response question:
In what practical ways can believers
fulfill this friendship role in providing
mutual encouragement in carrying out
God's will in each others' lives?
Well we all need time alone.
We really do.
But the fact is, God created us as
relational people, relational beings.
God didn't design us to be alone.
Let's remember when God created Adam,
God said: It's not good for man to be alone.
And that's why he created Eve.
And marriage has been a very significant part of
God's plan in terms of dealing with loneliness.
But the fact is that beyond marriage,
we have the family of God.
We all have brothers and sisters in Christ,
whether we're married or single.
And within that relationship,
or within the body of Jesus Christ,
we can have close friends.
And we need those.
We need that in terms of having
someone that is close to us that we trust.
We trust one another.
That can help us, encourage us.
Hold us accountable.
We all need relationships.
But let's remember that in times of depression,
being alone is not going to bring healing.
Of all times, that's when we need
other people in our lives.
I remember in my own life, I went
through a serious time of depression.
As a young man--this was before I was married.
Part of the depression was related to
the fact that I was very disillusioned.
I'd put confidence in people.
Particularly, spiritual leaders
and they let me down.
And it just catapulted me into
a time of really deep depression.
I had gone through a lot of anxiety and a lot of
rejection coming to that point in my life.
Because I left a sect.
And because I left this sect to study the Bible
and to prepare for ministry--
well, I was rejected by those people.
So I'd experienced a lot of rejection.
And so coming out of that movement,
I put my faith in others--other leaders.
And they let me down.
And so I was in a state of disillusionment
and depression.
But to top things off, I was alone.
Because I had a roommate there in
Billings, Montana who I got to know well.
We roomed together. And then he left
to go into another ministry. Left the city.
And right in the middle of
my depression, I was alone.
Worst thing that ever happened to me
in the sense of my depression.
That fed the depression.
It leads you to a state of introspection, of aloneness.
And see, Elijah was facing a lot of that.
And God knew that.
And God was saying: Don't stay here
in this cave alone.
You need relationships.
And then the Lord brought
that summer, a young man who came to Billings.
He was assistant coach to Gil Dodds back then.
Who had the record, I think,
of the indoor mile. Runner.
The four-minute mile.
And this guy, Dave Cousins came into my life
as a godly man, right when I needed him.
And I remember that that was a very,
very significant part in my regaining perspective
in terms of that time of disillusionment and depression.
There was another thing that happened,
by the way, and that is the Lord somehow,
through someone, gave me a book that
was focused on what was called deeper
experiences of famous Christians.
And as I was reading through there--
and the whole purpose of the book was to
show that the people that God uses
in special ways, go through deep times
of darkness in their lives.
I think one of the reasons is that God
wants us to get our eyes off of people
and get our eyes on the Lord.
Because only one person will never let us down.
And that's Jesus Christ.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I needed to learn that lesson.
But at the same time, that's no excuse
for disillusioning people with our lives.
Yes, they need to see us.
They need to see consistency in our lives.
And that's another thing I learned
through that experience.
Though I was disillusioned by other people,
one of the commitments I made at that
point in time, by God's grace,
is I don't want to disillusion anybody else
with the way I live my life.
So you see, God used that experience in my life.
But one of the most significant things is to
help me to overcome the depression in my life.
And to give me a new perspective.
So let's remember this Principle to Live By:
All of us should have close companions
who share our passion and our vision
for doing the will of God.