MaryEllen

My day started with a scare as I drove to work and slid out of control after hitting a patch of black ice. Just before I would have slid over the hill the wheels quit spinning and the car was back under control – not my control – but the merciful control of God. There were two more patches along the way but none as bad as the first. My speed, of course was slowed and my awareness to the road in front of me was heightened; my heart raced both with the adrenalin that comes with the aftermath of fear and with gratefulness at the realization of Gods protective – and what I would later realize as sovereign control. A mix of snow and rain fell most of the day but visually amounted to little more than a cold, wet and dreary day – conditions I normally would have given little thought to – except for the fact that I still vividly recalled the events of the morning? The snow picked up and the temps dropped as the time drew closer for me to leave work and head to Huntington for a hair appointment. Anyone that knows me knows that I seldom, if ever, miss a hair appointment, but despite the fact that the roads looked perfectly clear, I couldn’t shake the earlier incident . I followed my ‘instincts’ (that still small voice) and cancelled the appointment and headed home. Once there, it seemed so silly to have passed on the hair appointment since the roadway was as safe as it had appeared, it wasn’t until later when I heard about a 15 car accident – on the road I would have taken and at the approximate time I would have been heading home – that I realized how God in His sovereignty had not only protected me from the near catastrophe of the morning but from what surely would have been a worse fate had I not heeded the internal voice of my faithful Shepherd.

The icing on the cake – my one word this year is faithful and today I vividly saw His faithfulness – what’s more is that my children saw it too. Throughout the evening there was much discussion of His sovereign and intimate care over us, and together we have given Him praise. To top it all off, as we opened our ninth day of Christmas adornament tonight – it was the staff, representing the Good Shepherd, and the scripture described Him faithfully and lovingly caring for His sheep . Coincidence? Not at all! It was simply the answer, with an exclamation point, to a prayer I prayed earlier this morning. I was going back to work after a nice quiet Christmas vacation,at home with my girls, so I asked Him to quiet my heart before Him and to help me be still and know that He is God. He faithfully and visibly answered – I am your God and I am with you wherever you go.❤️
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I don’t often, if ever, share an entire devotional from someone else’s writing. However, the one

that I read this morning is worth the read. I pray for those of you that take the time to read it – that

you won’t just read the devotional but the scripture it is meant to highlight – and that it will be a

blessing to you. I pray that He will show you an Elijah in your life – that you can praise Him for;

or that He will reveal to you the Elijah you are to someone else, that you might surrender that

relationship to Him. I pray that He is making your faith your own, that you are learning to walk so

that you might one day be used in leading others to walk the walk of faith – after all – it is to this

we have all been called.

“As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire

appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”

(2 Kings 2:11)

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 2: 1-18

If you have been a serving believer long, you’ve probably enjoyed the tutelage of an

“Elijah”. I certainly have. “Elijahs” are precious gifts from God to nurture us in our spiritual lives.

We see them as God’s favored ones. Those we believe have a special “in” with God. They are

our heroes. The ones we look up to and call in times of crisis. Their most important role,

however, is discipleship – not dependency, and that’s why our “Elijahs” are usually only

temporary.

Some of us feel hurt or bitter because we’re not as close to this person as we need to be.

We don’t understand what changed. We don’t want to let go of what we had.

Elisha struggled terribly with the changing nature of his relationship awith Elijah. His tutor

was his strength. He could not imagine serving without Elijah by his side. Elisha was so

frightened he was going to lose Elijah that he followed him everywhere. Over and over the young

servant echoed, “I will not leave you” (2 Kings 2:2, 4, 6).

I wonder if Elisha really meant, “Promise you won’t leave me!” Sometimes we lack the

power to make those promises. Many tried to warn Elisha to prepare for the separation, but he

refused to listen. Finally, when forced to hear the truth, Elisha had only one request: “Let me

inherit a double portion of your spirit” (2 Kings 2:9). He asked the blessing of a firstborn son, and

God tenderly granted his request.

No matter how badly Elisha wanted to hang on to Elijah, separation was inevitable. The

results reveal why God usually retains our Elijahs only temporarily. Look at Elisha’s respone in

verse 14: “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?”

You see, Elisha had attached the presence of the Lord in his life to the presence of

Elijah.” How would Elisha ever discover that God was his own if Elijah retained his powerfully

influential role in the young man’s life?

God isn’t likely to sweep your Elijah up in a whirlwind, but a change in the relationship is

virtually inevitable. We don’t give babies crutches. We teach them to walk. When God sees we

are ready to walk, often He places some distance between us and the person we’re dependent

on. He wants to show us He is our God, too.

Sometimes we must give up our Elijahs, but like Elisha, we get to keep one treasure

forever: the cloak they left behind. Everything we learned from them. Each memory. The

heritage of their faithfulness. That’s our cloak.

Don’t despise the cloak because it’s all you have left. The cloak was God’s intention all

along.” From “Whispers of Hope” day 61.

Author: MaryEllen

Faithful Shepherd, January 2, 2014

The Cloak