The day before my grandmother, (Ammachi) passed away, I sat with her at my parents’ kitchen table. She was reading and studying the Word of God.

Less than 24 hours later, her earthly body lay on a hospital bed. I couldn’t help but think of Elijah.

I thought of God’s anointing on Elijah’s life and the hunger his successor, Elisha, had for that anointing.

Elijah didn’t leave this earth like the rest of humanity. He was taken up in a chariot of fire. But just before his exit, Elisha begged of him one favor- a double portion of his anointing.

2 Kings 2:10 gives us Elijah’s reply to this request.
“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
Elisha did as Elijah commanded.

With the passing of my grandmother came my own desire for the God given anointing she possessed.

But Elijah was right. When you ask for the anointing, You ask for a difficult thing.

The anointing requires pressing in and digging deep into the things of God. It requires discipline. It requires more time in God’s presence. And then requires obedience and acting upon God’s voice of instruction (even if it doesn’t seem to make sense). It requires going through “stuff.”

My grandmother didn’t have a chariot take her into heaven. I believe the unseen angels carried her into glory.

But like Elijah, she pressed in and dug deep. She went through “stuff,” but stayed faithful. Like Elijah, she left those behind her with a greater hunger and thirst for the things of God.

As faithful generations continue to pass on before us, may we also be willing, like Elisha, to take on the mantle of Elijah.

2 Corinthians 4:16,17
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

-Binu

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