AFTER the most earnest efforts we can put forth for the salvation or restoration of souls they at times remain unmoved so far as we can judge. We may “speak love’s message low and tender,” but the heart seems still untouched. We may pray earnestly and long for some particular soul to be saved, and yet not see the answer to our prayers. In such cases it is surely wise to trust these beloved objects of our hearts to the will of Him who is perfect in all His ways.
But sometimes, before we have scarcely spoken a word, or dared to hope in the case of others, they have surprised us by their faith and love. Sovereign grace chooses infinite ways of working. In one case a line of a hymn, a text of Scripture, a word spoken in season, and the lost one is saved. In another case a conversion is seen as the outcome of persevering prayer, and is the result of years of patient waiting.
But the divine and varied workings of God’s grace owned and understood ought not to affect our earnest work for the salvation of men, nor to enfeeble our vision as to what faithful and fruitful ministry truly is in the sight of God. We can know from God’s Word the kind of service which He values, which He owns, and that which He disowns and rejects. We can find there instances of men who were faithful, and therefore successful, in service for Him, as we can find, alas, the eternal records of others who were not.
In 1 Kings 17:2222And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. (1 Kings 17:22), a widow’s son is raised to life by the ministry of Elijah, and in 2 Kings 4:3535Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. (2 Kings 4:35), a woman’s son is raised to life by the ministry of Elisha. Careful study of the two cases will show that Elisha learned much that was of value from Elijah. How happy when the younger can thus learn from the elder for weal and not for woe. Elijah and Elisha are illustrations of living ministry, while Gehazi answers to ministry which is barren and unfruitful.
In this work of raising the dead it is all important to notice the place where the work was done. It was not a public place with others looking on, but in both instances a private chamber or closet. Let us heed this.
Is it not thus in the seclusion of their own closets that God’s faithful servants ever prevail? Elisha’s shutting to the door is most significant, and full of suggestion as to the value of private prayer. (Compare Matthew 6:66But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:6).) When Gehazi was sent with the staff of Elisha to the closet where the dead child was laid, there was no shutting to the door for prayer. How different the behavior towards the dead child of the two men, Gehazi and Elisha!
Gehazi reminds us of those nowadays who, as it were, put too much of the work upon God. As we sometimes hear people say in reference to the conversion of souls, “We must leave that to the Lord.” It is quite right to count on God fully, but not, in an indolent way, to leave everything for Him to do. He insists that we through grace shall serve Him really. “Loose him and let him go,” was a service which human hands could render Lazarus, and thus there was no need for Christ to extend the miracle to the removal of the grave clothes. It is possible to be asking God to do for us what He has already told us in His Word to do for ourselves; and the talent that ought to be in circulation and gaining interest is sometimes hidden in a napkin.
Gehazi returned to Elisha with the message, “The child is not awaked.” Had he done all he might to awake him? Had he placed, by his indifference, too strict a limit on the letter of his master’s instructions? Was his heart concerned in the quickening of the child? Perchance he had not the time to spare! But there was that about Gehazi which seems to mark him out as a type of the stranger referred to in John 10:55And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. (John 10:5). The woman whose child was dead said to Elisha, “I will not leave thee.” She would not follow Gehazi. He inspired no confidence in himself. In this she illustrates Christ’s sheep. “A stranger will they not follow,... for they know not the voice of strangers.” On the other hand, she could trust Elisha. There was evidently no reserve or distance or coldness about him, but fullest sympathy for the sorrowful.
It is usual to put the dead in a spare room, but in the cases before us they were both deposited on the prophets’ own beds. Does this not suggest an intimacy which is important in the work of ministering in the gospel. God does not commend those who hide themselves from their own flesh (Isa. 58:77Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? (Isaiah 58:7)). In preaching the gospel to men, there is danger of not getting near enough to them. Visiting in homes, and inviting to our own in order to reach souls is highly to be commended. On one occasion two disciples of John were following Jesus. They addressed the Lord saying―
“Rabbi, where dwellest thou?” “Jesus said unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where He dwelt and abode with Him that day” (John 1:38, 3938Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. (John 1:38‑39)).
The Lord was not in a hurry to get rid of them. We must be careful that our engagements with man do not collide with our service for God.
Fruitful ministry will adapt itself to the capacity, the prejudices, the feelings, and the measure of those it seeks to serve. We read of Elisha that
There is a vast difference between the stature of a prophet and the stature of a child. The prophet made himself small for the child’s sake.
In the family of God there are the little children, the young men, and the fathers. But they have not all the same degree of intelligence. In the world around us there is a limitless variety of material to work upon, and we cannot reach all men for Christ in the same way. The apostle Paul was ever ready to adapt himself to the capacity, the weakness, and the prejudices of those he sought to win. Not that in doing this, however, he ever compromised the essential truth of God. Yet he “measured himself,” so to speak, upon the dead souls around him. He writes:
“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more.
“And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law (not being myself under law), that I might gain them that are under the law;
“To them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law.
“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
“And this I do for the Gospel’s sake,” &c, (1 Cor 9:19-2319For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 20And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 22To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. (1 Corinthians 9:19‑23)).
What a study this scripture presents for the servant of Christ! The apostle knew what it was to be under the law. He had groaned out his wretchedness in that condition. There seems to be a sea of pity in his heart when he writes, “That I may gain them that are under the law.” But he knew by experience the strength of a Jewish prejudice, and that it could only be overcome in others by adapting himself to their measure.
Paul had no special testimony to stand for. In addressing the elders at Ephesus he says, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:2727For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. (Acts 20:27)). Our fruitfulness in ministry may be impaired if we, as servants of Christ, take a narrower ground than the apostle took. At certain periods of the Church’s history the Holy Spirit may choose to emphasize certain truths, but we must be on our guard against getting into a rut, and pressing one-sidedly what the Spirit of God is not.
Elijah measured himself upon the child three times. To Orientals three times carries with it the force of perseverance. In China, to say one has pressed three times for a favor means that an unlimited number of appeals has been made.
Who has not failed in service through lack of perseverance? Elisha, too, like his master Elijah before him, made repeated efforts for the restoration of the child:
“Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.”
Have we all remembered this? This was something like the prophet having the dead child on his bed, and measuring himself upon it over and over again. A verse like this just quoted from the apostle’s farewell address at Ephesus suggests the thought of very arduous labor, and it kills the idea that the service of Christ is an easy-going profession; but to the apostle himself the time may not have seemed so long before he came to reflect upon it. Time is not much thought of in a service of love.
Thus we read:
Love for souls, for Christ’s sake, and for their own too, is the secret cause of fresh unwearied labor in the service of the Lord. Such labor is “not in vain in the Lord.” It came to pass that
There must be something wrong in any ministry which drives away the young. A little love will touch their hearts. The cold dead body of the child received heat from the warm living body of the prophet. Love filling our hearts for the young can alone win them for Christ, and make them attentive to grave questions. At the same time we must adapt ourselves to their measure, to what they can understand, what they can speak of, and what they can do. May not all this be suggested by the manner of God’s prophet in repeatedly embracing the dead body of the child?
There was much which called into practice the patience of the prophet. “The child sneezed seven times.” We have on the one hand to see that “all things be done decently and in order,” but on the other hand, is it not possible to be decorous over much?
Sometimes one would like to see young people more active for Christ. The little they can say for Christ may often prove helpful to others, while saying that little will do good to themselves.
Preaching the gospel is an incentive to the person himself who preaches it. The young are at a disadvantage if they are deprived of this. It would be a temptation to some to go back to the world, if forbidden to tell to others what they know and feel of the love of the Lord.
The Holy Spirit has been infinitely patient with us all, and this ought to make us patient with one another when we make mistakes, and especially with beginners. Perhaps we should not all be prepared to say that a man could be mighty in the Scriptures who only knew the baptism of John. Yet this is what the Spirit of God does say of Apollos, even in Christian times, in Acts 19:2424For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; (Acts 19:24). How continually we need grace to be able to appreciate at their true value the feeblest attainments of any! It is possible to dishearten young beginners in their service for the Lord at a very difficult period of their lives. But may it not be that young workers are sometimes kept back by imagining their elder brethren are not in sympathy with them, when all the while their elders are ready to help them on?
But all this energy of prayer and perseverance in service, seen in the cases we have been considering, may be attributed to faith. “Through faith... women received their dead raised to life again.” Faith, no doubt, on the part of the women, but faith, too, on the part of the prophets. Now true faith leads to activity. This is seen in every instance of it recorded in Hebrews 11. It was faith that sustained the energy of the two prophets, and it will ever make us active and earnest, persevering before God until the blessing be given.
T.H.