FAITH IN HIS FAITHFULNESS
Opening Prayer
Almighty God, your Word shows me, over and over again, of your love and great power at work on behalf of your people. As I read it, build in me a life of expectancy for what you are willing and able to do.
Read 2 KINGS 4:18–37
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”
His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“That’s all right,” she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Think about the signs of the changing seasons around you. Which season do you find yourself in spiritually?For the Shunammite woman, her son was an incredible demonstration of God’s love, generosity, power, and faithfulness. We saw yesterday her reaction to Elisha’s prophecy (4:16), which was not a refusal of the gift, but an expression of the fear that she would once again face disappointment. We don’t know for sure, but she may well have prayed often for a child, and may now have given up praying because the years of unanswered prayer had caused so much pain. We do not know enough of her history to know whether she had never conceived, suffered miscarriages, or watched her children die.
And then, this miracle child was taken away from her. As her fears of more pain were confirmed, her reaction to Elisha’s prophecy was justified. The woman, however, refused to accept that God would deceive her. Where many would have abandoned their faith, she ran to the Lord’s servant, and trusted that ‘Everything is all right’ (v. 26). Elisha was not ‘just’ resurrecting a child here; he was fighting for God’s reputation as faithful and true.
Whatever our circumstances, we can trust in the faithfulness of God. He has not promised that life will always go as we want, but he has promised that he loves us and is with us, and one day there will be no more pain or sadness (Revelation 21:4).
Apply
Where in your walk of faith do you need to trust God more for his best for you?
Closing prayer
Forgive me, Father, for those times when I have found it hard to trust in your providence. Help me to rest in your loving care, no matter what are my circumstances.
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