Finishing Well, part 3

So Omri did more evil than all those before him and the fruit of his labor is his son Ahab. Ahab and Jezebel were perhaps the worst leaders ever. 

Each of these accounts reminds me of what Proverbs 5 said. When each of them were facing death, I wonder if any of them said, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors.” When King Zimri set his place on fire, and as things were getting hotter and hotter, I wonder if he said to himself, “Why didn’t I listen to my teachers, or my parents, or my pastor or priest?” 

Isn’t it interesting how each of these kings paid a terrible price because of their sins - yet it’s almost as though they were blind as to why God was upset with them. Don’t you see that same spirit in our political world today? We just can’t seem to figure out what we are doing wrong, so we just continue to do the exact same things over and over again, hoping to get different results (which is a definition of mental illness).
 

Two Who Finished Well

There are a couple of bright spots in this account of failed kings and they are the prophets Elijah and Elisha. These two prophets finished well! 2 Kings 2:11 “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.”  How would you like to finish your life that way? Elijah was so enraptured with the Lord, that he was physically raptured by his Lord. I would imagine that this would be a dream for most of us. I know that ending my life so obedient and pleasing and to the Lord that He decides to take me up to heaven in a chariot of fire would certainly be a dream of mine. 

Let’s talk about what it would take to finish well similarly to the way the prophet did. I’m not talking about us being taken up to heaven in a chariot – but rather simply finishing our lives having glorified God to the best of our ability (or at least getting to the point of being so confident about our ability to obey God that we are not like the disciples saying to Jesus, “I hope it’s not me who betrays You”). 

It would seem that finishing well relates to obeying God under any set of circumstances. It would be wrong for us to assume that Elijah lived such a blessed life that obeying God was simple for him. In fact, Elijah faced many ups and downs in his ministry.

Last week, I heard a message about how Elijah called fire down from heaven and then had the prophets of Baal put to death. Shortly after that account, the Prophet is running for his life from an angry Queen Jezebel. 1 Kings 19:3-5 “When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: “Enough of this, God! Take my life.”

Continued tomorrow