GOD GIVES LIFE
Opening Prayer
Lord, I believe You can do anything.
Read 2 KINGS 4:8–37
The Shunammite’s Son Restored to Life
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”
She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”
17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
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.
Meditate
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die’” (John 11:25).
Think Further
Yesterday’s reading affirmed that God cares for his people, especially those threatened by abject poverty. Today’s incident addresses another need and one that, in a western context where childlessness is often a preferred choice, is much more hidden. In ancient Israel, like in traditional societies today, a woman’s role was to marry and have children. Sons were especially important to carry on the family line, inherit property, do the hard work, and provide the male input so essential in a patriarchal society. Beyond the emotional pain and inner sense of failure, there was also the social stigma attached to barrenness: God has withheld his blessing.
What is surprising is that this woman shows herself faithful to the Lord, despite God’s seeming abandonment of her. She recognizes the prophet’s need for a place to rest and goes out of her way to build a separate room and furnish it for his use, specifically because he is a man of God (9,10). Moreover, she does it without expecting anything in return. Indeed she is wealthy and, at first glance, needs nothing (8,13). Yet, there is a deeply buried yearning that bubbles to the surface when Elisha promises her a son (16). God sees our hidden needs and distress.
Years later due to a tragic medical event, the young son dies, yet she knows that her God can even raise the dead. Despite her distress (27), the Shunammite woman shows her faith by seeking out the prophet (22) and not letting go of him (30) until she gets her miracle. For Israel, as for us today, there is no guarantee of a happy ending. However, we are called to serve Jesus faithfully and never lose sight of the fact that in his resurrection we have ultimate hope of life (1 Cor. 15:16–26).
Apply
Lord, we thank You that when we feel abandoned and in distress we can look to You for hope and life.
Closing prayer
Lord, thank You for caring about each and every one of us and for giving us the desire of our heart.
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