Unfinished Business

The old prophet gets sick and dies. It's an ordinary death.

Scripture describes it simply: 

When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him… Then Elisha died and was buried.               (II Kings 13:14a and 20a NLT)

His predecessor and mentor Elijah soared victoriously into heaven in a chariot of fire, but not Elisha. After more than fifty years as God’s prophet, Elisha dies as most of us probably will—he grows old, becomes terminally ill and then expires.

Elisha's body is wrapped in a burial cloth and placed in a tomb. End of story. End of his spiritual influence. All his unfinished work remains incomplete.

Not quite!

Scripture continues with this surprising postscript:

 Groups of Moabite raiders used to invade the land each spring. Once when some Israelites were burying a man, they spied a band of these raiders. So they hastily threw the corpse into the tomb of Elisha and fled. But as soon as the body touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man revived and jumped to his feet! (II Kings 13:20-21 NLT)

I’ve often wondered why this odd story is included in Scripture.

Commentators seem to think the story is intended to show King Jehoash that Elisha’s final prediction (given in verse 19) will come true even though Elisha is dead.

The king would reason that if Elisha’s bones can still impart life, then there is life yet in Elisha’s final unfulfilled prophecy. And indeed, his prophecy is fulfilled years later (see verse 25).

God’s purposes hold sure even though Elisha is off the scene.

But how about us? How might the story help us in our older years? 

Maybe this story can give us encouragement. We think our spiritual influence ends with our death.

We all die with “unfinished business”:  prayers for grandchildren remain unanswered; our witness to beloved unbelievers appears ineffective; our giving and intercession for missions efforts show minimal result. We die, and that’s that. End of our spiritual influence.

Not quite! 

The good news is that our sovereign God remains active, with or without us. He is not confined by the time limits of our earthly lifespan. As with Elisha’s bones, the Lord can use our words to help someone “spring to life” after we’re gone.

Our prayers and words of witness, rightly connected to God’s purposes, are effective long after we die.

The Lord takes up the unfinished threads of our kingdom efforts and weaves them into something beautiful. God’s purposes hold sure even though we are off the scene.

So keep praying! Keep giving witness! Keep giving and serving!

All our “unfinished business” in this life will come to completion in the fullness of God’s time--even if our bones are in the ground.

©MarionSpeicherBrown