Power Belongs to God

 2 Kings 1-2     Psalm 12     2 Corinthians 11

It is easy to turn to other sources to seek advice when God is right there, especially when we feel that the voice of the Lord will not tell us what we want to hear. It will not change what the Lord will do.

The transition from Elijah to Elisha is one of wisdom and power. The faithful voice of the Lord, at great cost to himself, is about to end his time on earth and both he and Elisha know it. So does everyone else clearly see that Elijah’s life is about to end. When asked what he wants from Elijah, he asks for not some possession but the power of the spirit of God to rest on him in a more powerful way even than it has on Elijah. At first glace this appears to be asking for something for himself, but clearly the cost of being the voice of God is not an easy one and more often leads to rejection and danger.

Elijah makes it clear that he is requesting something he cannot give, only God alone can grant his request. It is important to remember that all we can do is seek the will of the Lord and trust that what he provides is sufficient to our needs. It quickly become clear that Elisha understands that he can trust God’s way but they people question his faith. He allows them to look for what he knows is not there. The foolish young people mock him and make fun of him, and Elisha curses them in the name of the Lord. The cost is those young lives. It is God’s action, not Elisha’s action that costs them their life, as a result of their own actions.

The song is a call of David for the Lord to cut off the voice of those that lie to get their way or to brag about what they have done when the glory belongs to God alone. He tells us the words of the Lord are pure, they are the truth, and that sometimes the process of being made pure is going through the fire. While the wicked dance around the faithful exalting the vile, the Lord keeps the faithful and preserves them.

Paul makes clear the cost of following Jesus is great but also the only way worthy of the Lord. He outlines for the Corinthians the tremendous cost he has paid with his body and his freedom because the message he proclaimed, while received by some, was rejected by many and resulted in an attempt to destroy him. Paul’s concern remains the wellbeing of all the churches, and he is willing to become weak that the Word of the Lord can be strong.

Today we are reminded that the power belongs to God alone. We are called to reflect him to the world by serving that world with love, grace and compassion even to those that hate us. The call is to trust in God even when all seems lost and that too becomes our witness.