The Preacher Knows Best

“And he said, Ye shall not send.” —2 Kings 2:16

One of television’s better shows was “Father Knows Best.” It ran from 1954-1960.  Each episode usually depicted strong family values and the wisdom of Jim Anderson, the father of three children. Does “father know best?”  I guess it depends on who the father is and what the subject is.

We have a similar situation in 2 Kings 2:16-18. It takes place immediately after the prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.  Elisha takes up his mantle, parts the Jordan River, and passes over to the other side (2 Kings 2:11-14). He is greeted by a group of “ministerial students” called “the sons of the prophets.”  These fifty “preacher boys” were skeptical about where God took Elijah.  They think God may have dropped him off on a mountain or a valley. They ask Elisha if they should  go look for him.  Elisha knew better and told them, “Ye shall not send.” But these student prophets think they knew more than Elisha and insist on forming a search party to look for Elijah.  Finally Elisha relents and lets them go to try to find the whereabouts of Elijah.

After three days of searching in vain, they return to Elisha empty handed.  Elisha then tells them, “Did I not say unto you, Go not?” (The modern cliche would be, “I told you so!”).

Like the “sons of the prophets,” some Christians are slow to believe what the preacher tells them.  They think they know better than the preacher and must go out and see for themselves.  Eventually, they come to find out “The preacher knows best.”

I don’t know how many times I’ve counseled people and warned them against something they were planning to do. I tried to tell them not to do it, but they went and did it anyway and found out too late that I was right after all.  Why not save yourself the trouble and just believe the preacher may know what he is talking about (Heb. 13:7, 17)?

“Just sayin’!”