The Rewards of a Servant's Heart (2 of 5)

Elisha's servant’s heart brought him the double portion of his master’s anointing. 

I Kings 19 says Elisha left his father and mother to minister to Elijah.  And in II Kings 2, Elisha would not separate himself from his master even at his master’s request to do so.  And because of it, Elijah bestowed upon Elisha the double portion of his anointing in the form of his cloak as he dropped it from his chariot of fire before being swept away into Heaven.

There are not as many miracle-workers discussed in the Bible as people tend to believe.  You can certainly learn lessons from the lives of many in the Bible:  David, Solomon, Esther, Mary, Matthew, John the Baptist, and others.  Yet none of the aforementioned have any miracles attributed to them, of course, using the Bible as your only historical resource.  Not one of them healed the sick or raised the dead or anything of the kind.  Indeed the list of actual miracle-workers in the Bible is a very short list, but Elijah and Elisha are on it.  And Elisha performed many more documented miracles than his master Elijah.  In fact, the only person in the Bible with more documented miracles accredited to him than Elisha is Jesus.  

There’s even an instance in II Kings 13 after Elisha’s death where a man, dead himself, was raised from the dead by being laid on Elisha's bones.  This man's own funeral procession was cut short due to pending battle in the area.  He was laid in Elisha's tomb because it was nearby.  When this man's lifeless body touched Elisha's already decayed body, the man immediately came back to life.

Elisha's life demonstrates what I consider the most important prerequisite to having a successful ministry:  to have served faithfully in someone else's.  He experienced his name being as great in the earth as his master, Elijah.  From Elisha's life, we can glean that if we do not allow our pride to get in the way of serving another, we can also reap the greatness of him/her we served.

The Rewards of a Servant's Heart (1 of 5)

It is unfortunate that in our society we are taught that submission is weak, that pride in self should not allow an individual to submit to another.  People are concerned they will lose their identities.  They are afraid of being controlled.  

But we should recognize that we can sow the seed of servanthood, and God will return the harvest for it. He can make your position of servanthood a place refuge, even a place of promotion.  As the Bible illustrates, the benefits of a servant’s heart are numerous.  For the individuals mentioned in this series of articles, it was in their positions of servanthood that their greatness shined forth.

For the widow of Zarephath, her servant’s heart brought sustenance for herself and her son in a time of famine.  My initial impression of Elijah's visit to the widow of Zarephath in I Kings 17 was that he was just passing through.  This is incorrect, I would come to find out.  When God told Elijah He had commanded a widow woman to sustain him, God wasn’t kiddin’.  Elijah actually stayed with her and her son for an entire year.  

There was a famine in the land, and this widow and her son were on the verge of starvation when the man of God comes to visit.  In his first interaction with the widow, Elijah tells her to make him a cake that he might eat before she fed herself or her son.  She did as instructed despite not having enough meal to feed one person, let alone several.  Yet after feeding Elijah first, she realized she still had meal left over.  She fed herself and her son, and still had more.

The miracle here was that every time she looked in her barrel, she always had the same amount of meal so long as at mealtime, she fed Elijah first.  And she followed this routine everyday, perhaps several times a day for approximately a year.  

Additionally, while Elijah abode with the widow, her son fell ill and died presumably for a reason unrelated to hunger.  The man of God laid himself on top of the boy three times, and the boy’s life was restored.  Again, as a result of how earnestly his mother had served Elijah. 

There is a clear lesson to be learned from this woman whose name we will never know.  She showed submission in a moment of desperation, and it actually saved her life.  And for son, her servant's heart saved his life twice.