I was asked to read the whole story from 2 Kings chapter 2 at a service for the 60th Anniversary of the United Theological College.  As the time drew near, I started getting nervous.  I kept praying that I wouldn’t mess up.  That I would be able to see the steps and not trip, and that the lighting would be good enough and that I would read with meaning.  I prayed that I would read and others would understand.  

In my nervousness on the day, I was overly dramatic in reading.  So dramatic it was, I visibly trembled when I was finished. As I read something overcame me. I felt different. My throat felt as if something had taken it over. I felt like I had lost control. I believe the spirit gave me a double portion of adrenaline.

And as I read Elisha asking for a double portion, I consider how he must have felt like me. Different circumstances, but the same uncertainty, the same concern if you would deliver well. Elijah was going to God. His work was finished. Elisha had been prepared as his successor, but he didn’t feel that he was quite ready. All the things that could befall him, flashed before him and he thought he needed a double portion of the spirit to continue the work.  he needed to be assured of his connection with God would be strong.

Jesus in Matthew says we must pray in private, locking ourselves away.  Again it’s a concentrated effort to be sure that the connection with God is strong.  And so we ask ourselves for what we need a double portion of spirit.  Is it that we want financial or emotional security? Is it that we want to be good examples of faith?  Whatever it is, we believe we need an extra portion of spirit to do, it doesn’t come by just asking.  It comes by paying attention?  Elisha had to watch and ensure that he saw Elijah leave.

To pray as Jesus suggested meant you cannot only pray as others do. You need to go by yourself and concentrate on the prayer.  The instructions to go by yourself not only speaks to concentration, it speaks to not being distracted by whatever else is happening.  It speaks to paying attention to the job at hand. This is not just about prayer.  It is a pattern for how we do what we do.  We do not go through the motions.  We work with purpose. We prepare before hand.  We walk through the plan before we execute it.  That is what Elisha did. He was prepared in every way. He was to execute now.  But before he executed, he had to do this one last thing. He had to see. Elijah had said to him, “If you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted.”

Not if you wish.  Not if you ask again. Not if you feel ready. But if you see.  Elisha had to stay focused until the very end. Through the walking… through the waiting… through the uncertainty, He could not afford to be distracted. Because if for one moment, he blinked, he would miss the very thing he asked God for.

Therefore, when the moment came and the chariots of fire separated them, and Elisha saw Elijah being lifted up, he never wavered he kept looking towards Elijah. In seeing something changed as he saw the mantle fall. He was able to pick it up. Had he looked away he would not have seen it.   But he saw it. It says to us that the same power, the same spirit, the same calling, that Elijah experienced now rested on Elisha. The same power, same spirit same calling rests on us. 

Many of us struggle with keeping up the momentum, of staying focused. We pray for a double portion, but we lose focus before the moment comes. We pray for God to solve the problem, but we choose to solve the problem ourselves We ask God for strength,  but our fears overtake us.  We want to do so well that we paralyze ourselves with worry.  We ask God for direction, but we walk in our own way when the road seems to have too many potholes.

Elisha teaches us that what you are asking God to do requires your attention.  What God is about to do in our lives, in our community, requires our attention. It calls for discipline. We must stay present even when things feel uncertain, because we don’t want to miss the moment.  And so it is with us. we miss golden opportunities because we do not pay attention, or we lose focus. Remembering that the spirit is with us too, but having the spirit is not enough. We still have to act.  He had to take up what would become the tool of his trade – He picked up the mantle, he went to the Jordan, and struck the water and his initiation happened. His anointing came and he walked through it. 

It is the same thing Matthew says When you pray, go into your room. Close the door. Focus. Be intentional. So you don’t miss what God is saying to you by being distracted. 

There is another thing.  We have no record of anybody witnessing Elisha’s anointing, when you pray in private, nobody knows your prayer,  but your prayer and Elisha’s anointing is lived out in public.  People don’t see you praying but they can see the effects of your prayer.  Receiving the double portion is not for show or applause it is for purpose.  It is so you can tell others or share in such a way that they too can experience this double portion anointing. 

Each of us requires a double portion of something different.  Some courage, patience, more energy, trust in uncertainty or simply to be loved.  To get it, to feel it, we must stay on course so the moment God moves, we don’t miss the opportunity to move with God.

May we pay attention picking up the mantle. walking in the spirit of Elijah’s God.  May the God who empowered Elisha grant you a double portion of God’s Spirit: the courage to stand, the faith to trust, and the discipline to remain steadfast in his presence. Amen.