Slices
Prepare
Think about the signs of the changing seasons around you. Which season do you find yourself in spiritually?
Bible passage
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 onto 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.
Explore
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 now, this miracle child is taken away from her. As her fears of more pain are confirmed, her reaction to Elisha’s prophecy is justified. The woman, however, refuses to accept that God would deceive her. Where many would have abandoned their faith, she runs to the Lord’s servant, and trusts that ‘Everything is all right’ (v 26). Elisha is not ‘just’ resurrecting a child here; he is 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).
Respond
If you are facing pain and discouragement, bring it to the Lord. If not, pray for those you know who face challenging times.
Deeper Bible study
Father God, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, may I always turn to you. Please keep my eyes fixed on the Author and Finisher of my faith.
The wife seems to be the spiritual leader in the marriage, though her husband is amenable to her requests and suggestions. It is she who decides to go to Elisha after her son has died. She reminds me a little of the father in Mark whose son had an impure spirit and who said to Jesus, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’1 She lays her dead son on Elisha’s bed, which suggests that she might harbour some hope for him. She goes as fast as she can to the man of God with the intention of returning just as quickly, suggesting that she expects Elisha to be able to do something even at this point. She responds to her husband and Gehazi with the same word – shalom, which is normally translated as ‘It will be well’, or ‘All is well’. Elisha’s query through Gehazi also used shalom. Her response may express faith and/or may indicate that she is resolved to go and speak to Elisha personally. Either way, she is in bitter distress and speaks to Elisha as if her son were dead. She will not leave Elisha, even though Gehazi has been sent ahead – perhaps because she wants to make sure that Elisha himself comes with her – a decision that proved wise.
Can there be any other response than, ‘I believe, help me overcome my unbelief’? We are probably confident that God can do anything, while we also know that God does not tend to raise our beloved who have passed away. Perhaps we are not meant to solve how to balance these two aspects, but instead are to live in hope through faith, dependent on our all-powerful God, but without presumption. ‘Thy will be done’.
If you are troubled by unanswered prayer, pray Jesus’ own words in the Garden of Gethsemane: ‘If it is possible …’.2 Then try to leave it in God’s hands.
1 Mark 9:24 2 Matt 26:39
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 65,66; John 1
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that Mission Enabler Jordana Smith and the Faith Guides and LMPs she works alongside will have wisdom and courage as they seek to reach more young people for Jesus in London. Pray that there will be ongoing benefit from the London Faith Guide week in August.
