2 Kings 2:1-3
…it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind,
Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.”
But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, as soul lives, I will not leave you!”
So they went down to Bethel.
Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, said to him,
“Do you know the Lord will take away master from over you today?”
And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”
….There are spiritual underlining that influence and are at work in all APPRENTICESHIP relationships…ask hairdressers, tailors, mechanics, fitters, seamstresses, make-up artists…and for that matter…all professions, careers, artisans, artists and artistes of all kinds…some could be crude and weird….in man’s understanding and appreciation…but still there is…
…The relationship between a master and his apprentice is a spiritual thing…between a teacher and his student…yet these are things we take for granted lots of times…
….Do you know any apprentice, who thinks he now knows the job, having been given the trust to learn the trade or skills or knowledge or expertise as well as try his or her hands on a new job alone without usual supervision…will suddenly now begin to think he knows it all, deserving to be labeled the new champion? They even are inclined to think that they know better than the masters themselves…so they decide to leave “prematurely”….
… Do you know that those who leave prematurely without the blessings of their masters become failures in no time, especially those who try to woo the masters’ clients or customers…nothing that they try bodes well for them after such ‘betrayal’… and the businesses that they set up… worse are those, who take along some of the existing clients of their masters…and invariably, try to come back to ask and or plead for forgiveness…
….Do you know that…for one who waits on his master to the very end like what Elisha is teaching by the passage…that apprentice might end up inheriting the master’s entire business as he ends being trusted as a ‘son’ for doing his master-father’s business? …or when the master sees that he is ready to be on his own…he will bless him to go and prosper…the same happens…in business he sets up as it prospers as he still maintains great relationship with the master…to the extent that he gets referrals…or the apprentice-now-turned-master will send matters that are beyond his comprehension to his former master for solution…
….Do you know that sometimes an apprentice will express an interest to leave…and the master will ask him to wait as in the master’s opinion he isn’t ready yet….and this apprentice will wait on end…sometimes for a year or more…and will not listen to what other apprentices will say about him…like Elisha, the apprentice will tell his fellow apprentices that: “YES, I KNOW; KEEP SILENT!”…not encouraging the gossips….
…..Do you know that no apprentice is successful in learning a trade or skill or profession or career…when he’s so SELF-OPINIONATED…so, so full of himself or herself…thinking he knows it all from the books he has been reading or perceived encouragements of his peers?…He forgets the value of the high-road of experiences acquired through working under the master like the story of FORD, the man who built Ford vehicles and that moment in his old age, repaired one of his cars…owned by a customer and when he offered to help…the owner of the car thought to himself…”What Do You Know”…old man…?
….An apprentice’s first road to success is ‘HUMILITY’…to give up one’s self…’Humility’ is the characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behaviour….It’s also a state of ‘egolessness’…that’s the lack of ego; the state or condition of being ‘egoless’…..it’s also the quality of being meek – ‘meekness’…also bit of ‘modesty’…the quality of being modest; having a limited and not overly high opinion of oneself and one’s abilities; moderate behaviour; reserved…and also…self-effacement, the act of keeping oneself in the background, as in humility…simply put:…as an ‘apprentice’ you can’t have a voice of your own…not at all, because you can’t have an opinion of your own than to parrot what your master is and says….
…..One of the dangers of ‘apprenticeship’, which should be avoided at all cost…is the ‘spirit of Absalom’…but that’s a whole lecture by itself…
…The ‘Spirit of Absalom’ syndrome is what a lot of Ghanaians, especially politicians and career professionals, are most guilty of…it is tantamount to being a ‘Lucifer’….exhibiting the symptoms or characteristics or behaviour patterns that you can be a better “God Almighty” in the dispense of justice than all people put together… If you are that type of an apprentice then be assured your end is so predictable that it isn’t funny…
….There are lots of things we are guilty of as a people and as a nation that is serious and hinder our development…simply because we aren’t ready to learn and serve our bit of apprenticeship…We always undermine our superiors in the attempt to ambush and take over from them….forgetting that by that act…we just dug our own graves of undermining by the next subordinate…We easily forget that we threw the first stone of undermining or sabotage…and yet wanting retribution or justice…as if we have been wronged and forgetting all our past ‘nefarious’ acts…extremely wicked or villainous or iniquitous and that’s how we have turned our political terrain with so much evil, wickedness acts within the same party or opposing parties and worse still, even within the same families…and why ‘CORRUPTION IS NOW THE ‘KING’ or ‘GENERAL OVERSEER’ of all our lives…we need to work on this canker before we all fall on our swords and knives…
….For our exercise, let’s work out the period from the time the Lord God of Hosts directed Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor to the time he came into his own as a real prophet of ‘double portion’ of Elijah’s spirit and you will understand what Apprenticeship is….and understand why he was insisting: “AS THE LORD LIVES, AS SOUL LIVES, I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU”…what a defensive play! he was marking his master foot-for-foot, boot-for-boot so as not to miss his reward for faithfulness, loyalty, commitment, dedication, selflessness, sacrifices, service, obedience, grace and favour…to be mightier than his master…He didn’t want to lose what he had diligently worked for as a servant, as an attendant…and as an apprentice…as he stayed to the very end to see his master leave the earth…
….Elisha was so aware and mindful of the rewards of his labour and ready to wait and not be in a hurry to undermine his master to succeed him…he wasn’t ready to even listen to his peers…he had his sense of service right and understood the spiritual ramifications of his position…he never undermined his master to ‘SHORTCHANGE’ himself…
…Is that your vision too as an ‘APPRENTICE’?…are you ready to serve conscientiously to the end to receive your reward…and even when the reward doesn’t come, count it all joy for the ‘lessons of life’ you have learnt without paying for such knowledge, experience, skills and expertise…
….Do you know ‘humility’ has a measurement or mathematical equation? …if you have one idea in your head and at every function you are so vocal…telling it over and over and over again…at the end of the conference or workshop, you still have ONLY ONE IDEA…as against when you are very quiet and play ‘dumb’ and listen to all the new ideas being floating around, you go back with more than the one idea with which you went to the meeting with…and now have more than your original one idea…making you wiser…
….It is now the time for you and your family to be emboldened to tell your peers to keep silent and allow you to carry out your ‘apprenticeship’ with honour, knowing in full the rewards ahead of you…and there is no age limit on apprenticeship…we all are apprentices in various fields that we don’t even know…in politics, education, career, professions, in the church and amongst your own families…
…What we should all seek going forward in this life is the fortitude to serve as ‘apprentices’ to the very end with distinction and earn the rewards of one’s services, even in the church as ushers, choristers, pew keepers, pastors, and ministers: assignments set for each one of us before the foundations of the universe were set or laid so that we do not miss out on what has been ordained for us, if we had only had a little bit more of tolerance or patience….
By Magnus Naabe Rex Danquah, the ‘Ghanaian’