It is a very solemn thought, that one sin may for ever, so far as this world is concerned, wreck our usefulness. It is not always so. Sometimes--as in the case of the Apostle Peter--the Lord graciously restores, and re-commissions for His work, the one who might have been counted unfit ever again to engage in it. “Feed My sheep. Feed My lambs.” But against this one case we may put three others, in each of which it would seem as if the sentry angel, who forbade the return of our parents to Paradise, were stationed with strict injunctions to forbid any return to the former position of noble service. The first case is that of Moses; the meekest of men; the servant of the Lord; the foster-nurse of the Jewish nation, whose intercessions saved them again and again from destruction. Yetbecause he spake unadvisedly with his lips, and smote the rock twice, in unbelief and passion, he was compelled to bear the awful sentence: “Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” The second case is that of Saul, the first ill-fated King of Israel, whose reign opened so auspiciously, as a morning without clouds, but who soon brought upon himself the sentence of deposition. Yet it was only for one single act. Alarmed at Samuel’s long delay, and at the scattering of the people, he intruded rashly into a province from which he was expressly excluded, and offered the sacrifice with which the Israelites were wont to prepare for battle. The third case is that of Elijah. He was never reinstated in quite the position which he had occupied before his fatal flight. True he was bidden to return on his way, and work was indicated for him to do. Butthat work was the anointing of three men, who were to share amongst them the ministry which he might have fulfilled if only he had been true to his opportunities and faithful to his God. God’s work must go on; if not by us, then, through our failures, by others brought in to supply our place. “Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus,” etc.
I. The variety of God’s instruments. Hazael, King of Syria; Jehu, the rude captain; and Elisha, the young farmer. It is remarkable how God accomplishes His purposes through men who only think of working their own wild way. Their sin is not diminished or condoned because they are executing the designs of Heaven; it still stands out in all itsmalignant deformity. And yet, though they are held accountable for the evil, it is none the less evident that they do whatsoever God’s hand and God’s counsel determined before to be done. Joseph comforted his brethren, after his father’s death, by telling them that though they thought evil against him, God meant itunto good, to save much people alive.
II. No one can entirely escape from God’s personal dealings. God’s nets are not all constructed with the same meshes. Men may escape through some of them; but they cannot escape through all. If they elude the Gospel ministry, they will be caught by some earnest worker, apt at personal dealing. If they manage to evade all contact with the living voice, they may yet be reached by the printed page. If they evade all religious literature, they may still be the sudden subjects of the strivings of the Spirit. “Him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.”
III. God never overlooks one of His own. Elijah thought that he alone was left as a lover and worshipper of God. It wasa great mistake. God had many hidden ones. “Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” We know nothing of their names or history. They were probably unknown in camp or court--obscure, simple-hearted, and humble. Their only testimony was one long refusal to the solicitations of the foul rites of idolatry. They groaned and wept in secret; and spake often one to another, while the Lord hearkened and heard. But they were all known to God, and enrolled amongst His jewels, and counted as a shepherd tells his sheep. He cared for them with an infinite solicitude; and it was for their sake that He raised up the good and gentle Elisha to carry on the nurture and discipline of their souls. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Return to duty
I. As Elijah journeyed back through the desert, one of his feelings doubtless would be this--deep sorrow on account of his past faithlessness, and a salutary sense of his weakness for the time to come. Every step of that backward journey must have recalled, with sorrow and shame, the remembrance of his unworthy flight and unworthy unbelief.
II. Another feeling Elijah had, in leaving his cave, must have been a lively sense and apprehension of God’s great mercy. What, in the retrospect of the recent wondrous manifestation, would more especially linger in the prophet’s recollection? Not the wind, not the earthquake, not the fire; but the “still small voice.”
III. We may suppose another feeling entertained by Elijah in departing from his cave and returning through the wilderness, would be, a fixed purpose and resolution of new and more devoted obedience. Mourning an unworthy past--penetrated by a lively sense of Jehovah’s love,--he would go onward and forward, resolved more than ever on a life of grateful love and of active and unwavering service, until God saw meet to take him up in His chariot of fire. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
