The sons of the prophets who were from Jericho exhibited inconsistent behaviours and perspectives. Shortly before Elijah was taken to heaven, they had teased Elisha that his master would be withdrawn from him. So they had prophetic insight into what was imminent. However, after his miraculous exit, they wondered if the Spirit of the Lord might have crashed him on a mountain or into a valley. Such guesstimation shows that they were not properly instructed in the way of the Spirit. There is nothing unruly about the Spirit of God. Their conceptualization of the Spirit was quite different from what we know of Him. He is not the author of confusion, as these sons of the prophets seemed to suggest.

“…someone with deeper spiritual insight and wider life experiences can save you from a goose chase… It pays to listen to wise and mature counsel.”

Their half-baked theology was the reason they suggested that a search party be sent to look for Elijah. Elisha tried to dissuade them, but they pushed relentlessly until he gave them leave. Fifty strong men went on a three-day search and could not find Elijah. There was no way they could have found him, because he had landed safely in heaven. That search was unnecessary if only they had listened. They could have saved themselves from that fruitless labour. The key point of our meditation today is that someone with deeper spiritual insight and wider life experiences can save you from a goose chase. God has graciously put before us men and women with different skill-sets, spiritual exposures, and life experiences. Many of them will be eager to feed us from their repertoire of knowledge to make our quest less tedious. It pays to listen to wise and mature counsel.