The story of the assumption...
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The story of the assumption of Elijah is told in a style of the loftiest poetry, with an imagination at once exalted and restrained. As literature alone it ranks high among the great chapters of the Bible. And it teaches spiritual lessons of great depth and meaning. The time had come when the Lord was to remove Elijah from the scene of his tremendous labors. So he left Gilgal, where young prophets were in training, and set out for Bethel. But Elisha, whose name had not been mentioned in the record since his call to be the successor of Elijah, refused to leave him. Here we find another illustration of devoted friendship of which the Old Testament has already given us conspicuous and beautiful illustrations: of David to Saul, of Ruth to Naomi. This type of devotion lies embedded deep in human character, beneath all outward distinctions of condition or of race, as elemental as religion itself. Is this kind of deathless loyalty rare today? Friendships are all too easily broken; loyalties, when tested, break down; self-interest and prudence win over selfless devotion. Dickens wrote of Dombey that he had not a real friend in the world. One measure of the real worth of a man is the number and the quality of friendships. When Elisha asked that the spirit of Elijah might rest on him, he was offering the kind of prayer that will always be remembered. People who complain that their prayers are not answered are praying sometimes for the will of themselves and not God's will. -- Smith
