THE SHUNAMMITE'S FAITH
"I will praise Thee: for Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation." (Psalms 118:21).
During
the time of Elisha, a prophet of Israel, there was a woman of some means who
lived in the village of Shunem, which was part of the tribe of Issachar. On his journeys around Israel, Elisha would
often pass through this village as the Lord would direct him. On one of these occasions, the woman from Shunem stopped Elisha and constrained
him to come to her home for a meal, and so it happened that, from that time on,
when Elisha would pass through town, he
would stop at the woman's house to eat.
After
some time had passed, the Shunammite woman said to her husband, "Behold
now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us
continually. Let us make a little
chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a
table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us,
that he shall turn in thither." (2 Kings 4:9, 10). Her husband was in agreement, so they built
and furnished a small addition on their house to accommodate the man of God
when he would come by.
Eventually,
Elisha did stop by the woman's house in Shunem, and he used the little room
that they built for him to rest in. He
was so thankful for all that this woman had done to care for him that he
determined to do something nice for her in return. He had his servant Gehazi call the woman to
him, and he offered to put in a good word for her with the king of Israel, or,
at the least, with the captain of the host.
Having some influence with the king, Elisha thought that she and her
husband might be given some privilege, and perhaps move to the capitol to
live. The woman refused the offer,
however, being content to live among her own people, and she desired no reward
for what she did out of love, to honor her Maker and His servant. So, determined to bless this woman for her
faithfulness, and knowing that she was childless, Elisha was moved by God to
prophesy that a son would be born at a set time in the future. She soon conceived according to the word of
the Lord through His prophet, and she gave birth to a son at the time that
Elisha had told her.
There
are so many lessons in this story that speak to my heart. We know that Elijah the prophet was a type
and foreshadow of John the Baptist.
Elisha, though, is a type of Jesus Christ. Elisha was given a double portion of the
power and anointing of Elijah just as Jesus' ministry far outshone John's. Jesus was indeed the Anointed One of
Israel. The Shunammite woman's care and
devotion to the man of God is an example of the devotion that we should show in
our service to our Lord and Savior. Hers
was a continuing commitment to serve her Lord by serving the man of God. Every opportunity that she found to serve
him, she took full advantage of, giving of her time, labor, and substance. We owe Christ our life and our substance
also, and, like the Shunammite woman, we should never expect earthly rewards,
or position, or power for what we do for the Lord. The salvation with which He so richly blesses
us is reward enough, and His sacrifice on the cross for us is a gift that we
can never adequately repay. What Christ
does freely bless us with for our service, however, is the same thing that
Elisha blessed the woman with: the gift of new life. The woman and her husband were old and unable
to conceive on their own, but God stepped in and gave them a life that came
directly from Him. We, too, are unable
to produce spiritual life through our own efforts - it is strictly the
gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not that Christ wants to merely bring us salvation, and
give us life; He wants to be our salvation and become
our life! "In him was
life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4).
As
every Christian soon discovers, things do not always go smoothly in our
lives. There are trials and hardships
that we encounter in our walk that we do not expect. They can discourage us, they can bewilder us,
and they can even shake our very faith in God; but be assured that all these
things have their purpose in transforming us into fully mature children of
God.
Many
stories in the Bible illustrate this victory/trial/deliverance pattern. One such story is the story of Israel's
deliverance from their bondage in Egypt.
This story typifies our salvation and baptism in Christ. Just as they were spared the death of their
firstborn by the blood of the lamb smeared on their doorposts, we have been
spared from spiritual death by the precious blood of the Lamb of God. They escaped certain death at the hands of
Pharoah and his legions, passing through the waters of the Red Sea as though
they were passing from death into life.
Similarly, we have escaped the power of Satan and his hoards by passing
through the waters of baptism from death into life. The very next thing that happened to Israel
after such a glorious victory, however, was a desperate trial. They journeyed three days into the wilderness
and found no water; and when they did discover some, it was bitter. As humans can only survive three days without
water, they were facing certain death without God's help.
Our
Shunammite woman soon faced a desperate trial of her own, too. After the child that God had given her was
grown some, he fell sick one day while going out to visit his father in the
fields. He complained that his head was
hurting him, and his father had him carried to his mother. It was there, on his mother's knee, that he
died. In both these stories, God had
miraculously given life to those who trusted in Him, but then it seemed that it
was slipping away.
The
way that the individuals in these stories reacted was quite different. In the case of the Israelites' need for
water, we find that they murmured against Moses, the man of God, as though it
was his fault for bringing them out there to die. The woman of Shunem's reaction, on the other
hand, was very different. She quietly
took the child to Elisha's room, laid him on his bed, shut the door, and asked
her husband to have a servant prepare an ass so that she could go to the man of
God. There is no record of her wailing,
or sobbing, or mourning at all, just a quiet determination to do what she knew
she must. When her husband suggested
that it might not be the right thing to do, she simply said, "It shall
be well."
It
was not as though the woman of Shunem had no feelings about what happened to
her son. She was not simply trying to
mask a torrent of emotions that was seething inside of her lest she appear
anything less than godly. No, her
actions were too deliberate, and her decisions were too rational to imagine
that she was blinded by rage or grief.
Though she was certainly vexed by what was going on, yet her faith
guided her to make the right choices that could restore her son to life.
When
we face the desperate circumstances of life, how do we deal with them? Do we murmur against God or against his
ministers; or do we instead, with quiet faith and confidence in our heavenly
Father say, "It shall be well." Believe me, God is able and willing to meet
us on any plane of emotion. He knows our
weaknesses and our frailties, and He loves us just the same. The man who brought his child to Jesus to be
healed cried out to Him, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine
unbelief." (Mark 9:24). God
will meet us wherever He finds us, but He is also training us as any good
Father would, to be strong in faith so that we don't have to be tossed to and
fro by every storm that enters our life.
He wants us to understand that we can trust Him with every detail of our
lives - the good and the bad.
The
Shunammite woman told her servant to ride hard toward Mt. Carmel where the man
of God was. She said, "Drive,
and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee." (2
Kings 4:24). She was not going to waste
a moment in getting to the man of God, and neither should we. When we have needs in our lives we must not
waste a moment getting to Jesus. He is
the One Who can make the difference in our situation. It is not the pastor, not the doctor, not the
lawyer, and not the banker that we need most.
It is Jesus! The best thing
anyone can do for us at such times is to point us to Jesus. He is the only One Who has the answers for
our life, and every child of God has full access to Him! His eye is always on the righteous, and His
ears are open to their cry!
When
Elisha saw the woman coming some ways off, he sent his servant to inquire
whether she, her husband, and her child were well. All she would say was, "It is
well." This reminds me of
the words of the great Horatio Spafford/Philip P. Bliss hymn, "Whatever
my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my
soul." The woman was not
content just to communicate with the servant of the man of God; she wanted to
see Elisha himself. Likewise, we must
never be content to merely talk to a minister about our needs without going
directly to the Son of God Himself.
Though I know it is often comforting to have a human touch when we are
grieving, perplexed, or in despair, God is more than capable of speaking to us
through His Holy Spirit. Yes, God often
uses His servants to speak His words to us, but we must always acknowledge Him
when He does and not exalt man.
When
our lady finally reaches Elisha, and tells him what has occurred, she further
reveals her uncommon faith. She tells
Elisha, "Did I desire a son of my lord?" (2 Kings 4:28). She put the responsibility for her son's
well-being on Elisha! It was he who
promised the child by the word of the Lord - she had not asked for the child
herself - so it was he who must heal him!
This is a concept and a principle that we too often miss as
Christians. You see, we have not
chosen God, but He has chosen us.
We did not just one day wake up to the fact that we needed a savior - God
first drew us to Himself and made us understand our need. Like Moses who turned aside to see the
burning bush, God arranges circumstances in our lives to captivate us and draw
us aside from our routine so that He can speak to us. This woman believed that God gave the child,
so it was up to God to preserve the child.
We, too, must believe that if God saved us, He is responsible for
keeping us, delivering us, and maturing us into the image of His Son. It is not of our own works lest we have
something to boast about, but by His grace that we are saved. Therefore, we can approach the throne of
grace boldly as the Shunammite did, so that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need.
Elisha
placed his own staff in the hands of his servant Gehazi, and told him to go to
the child and place it on his face, stopping for nothing or no one on the
way. For many of us, this would have
been enough. Most would think that their
prayers had been answered and would follow the servant to see the miracle; but
the woman told Elisha, "As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I
will not leave thee." (2 Kings 4:30).
We must never be distracted by anything less than Christ. The staff in this case may represent a number
of things that we substitute for an intimate relationship with the Lord. It could be the law, or religion, or some
sectarian doctrine. It could be a
method, ritual, or tradition. Whatever
it is, if it is not Christ, we can't afford to follow it. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, and not leave
His side!
Because
of her faith, Elisha chose to follow her back to the house. Her faith compelled him to
follow her. Oh, what
incredible faith that captures the heart of God and moves Him on our
behalf! I think of the woman in Jesus'
day who said in her heart, "If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be
whole," and she was healed without Jesus even being aware of her need
until after she was healed. Her faith
stopped the Savior in His tracks and caused healing virtue to radiate from Him
to her. God has said that if we delight
ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. Beloved, delighting oneself in the Lord is
not simply showing up at church every Sunday, and putting money in the offering
plate. It is about an intimate, day by
day relationship with the Savior that transcends church altogether. You cease thinking of church as someplace you
go, and realize that it is something you are!
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you?" (1Corinthians 3:16).
The
servant, Gehazi, went on ahead of Elisha and the woman, and did as he was told
by his master to do, but there was no result.
The staff had no effect on the child, and so he reported the result to
Elisha. What Elisha did next was
unusual. When they reached the house,
and he saw the dead child, he shut the door of the room, and prayed. "And he went up, and lay upon the
child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his
hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of
the child waxed warm." (2 Kings 4:34).
Keeping in mind that Elisha is a shadow of Jesus Christ in this story,
we must understand the intimate relationship that our Lord desires to have with
us. There is nothing casual about
our arrangement. In order for us
to have the life of Christ manifested in our mortal bodies, our mouth must
speak as His mouth, and our eyes must see as His eyes, and our hands must do as
He does. We must learn to give up
speaking how and what we like, not being aware - or worse, not caring - who we
hurt in the process. We must let His
words be our words. We must give up
seeing only our own selfish needs, and ignoring the needs of others all around
us. We must learn to see as He sees. We must give up doing only the things that
bring us pleasures at the expense of others, and not seeking to use our labors
to build up the Kingdom of God. We must
learn to do as He would do. This is not
just an imitation of the life of Christ that I'm talking about, it is
receiving His very life in us!
It is Jesus living out His life through us! Elisha stretched himself on this child twice
which indicates that he was infusing his own life into the body of this
lifeless child. Dear ones, can it be any
clearer? Without Him we can do
nothing. Without Him we are but dead
corpses! Oh yes, we may still move about
and do many things; but, religious or not, they will be dead works, and not
accomplish the will of the Lord if they are not the result of the Lord working
in us. "For it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13).
When
the child was restored to life, Elisha called his mother to come and take the
child up in her arms. This would be the
first thought of any mother who had gone through such a trial, to embrace her
precious son to herself. This woman,
however, did something else first. She
bowed herself to the ground at the feet of Elisha in deep, heart-felt
gratitude. We must never take God for
granted. When He blesses our lives, we
should give Him the praise and thanksgiving that He deserves. In Jesus day, ten lepers were healed by His
power and sent on their way, but only one of them thought to turn back and give
the Savior thanks for His awesome gift of life.
We must always be like the one, and not like the nine!
Father
in heaven, make us more and more like the Shunammite woman. Help us, Lord, to exercise the faith that you
have planted inside each one of us. Let
us not be content with following the staff of God, but miss You Lord - the very
One Who wields it! And Father, grant us
boldness to approach Your throne, knowing that what You have begun in us, You
will also finish. Amen.
"Being
confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians
1:6).
"It
is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put
confidence in princes." (Psalms 118:8, 9).
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