Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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. She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 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."
One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. 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."
"What can be done for her?" Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."
Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms."
"No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!"
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.
2 Kings 4:8-17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the last message, taken from the fourth chapter of 2 Kings, we saw how Elisha used the miraculous power of the Lord to help a widow gain an abundance from just a small amount of oil. Inside her home, the widow found the oil didn’t cease to flow until she had filled all the jars she collected from her neighbors. And through the sale of that oil, she would not only be able to pay off the debt left on her when her husband passed, saving her sons from enslavement, but she would also end up with money left over. What a blessing the Lord had bestowed upon her!
Well, as chapter 4 continues, we see that the miracles continue, blessing one who was in need.
This time, we find Elisha in Shunem where he encountered a “well-to-do woman” who “urged him to stay for a meal”. We read where she continued to feed Elisha on other occasions “whenever he came by”. In this, she showed fantastic hospitality to Elisha but she still felt impelled to do something more.
And so the Shunammite woman said to her husband:
"I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 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."
And so this is what they did. They made Elisha, the “holy man of God”, a small room on the roof and furnished it for him. And Elisha again accepted the graciousness of the Shunammite woman and her husband, staying in the room regularly.
What a blessing this must have been to the prophet who spent so much time on the road doing the Lord’s work. To have a place to eat a good meal and get a good night’s sleep must have been so wonderful for him.
And it was…so much so that he felt he needed to do something for the woman in return.
For our scriptures tell us that “one day…when Elisha…went up to his room and lay down”, he said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So Gehazi did as he was told and his host came and “stood before him”. It was then that Elisha, through his servant, asked what he could do for her now that she had done so much for Elisha and his servant.
At first, Elisha offers to speak to “the king or the commander of the army” on the woman’s behalf, seemingly to see if they might grant her a higher standard of living. But the woman rejects the offer saying, “I have a home among my own people." In other words, she was content living where she was.
Elisha would not be denied. He asked his servant again, “What can be done for her?"
This time, the servant did touch on one thing the woman lacked. For her husband was old and she had no son. And with no son, there would be no one to carry on the family name once her husband died.
Armed with this information, Elisha called the woman to return to him and as she stood in the doorway, he told her “About this time next year…you will hold a son in your arms." Well, the woman, like Sarah before her, refused to believe the words she had heard, pleading with Elisha to not mislead her while again proclaiming him as a “man of God”.
But words did not have to convince the woman of God’s goodness and providence…of the way He rewards His faithful servants who care for those he chooses to carry out His will.
For we read where the woman did become pregnant and gave birth to a son the “next year about that same time”…”just as Elisha had told her”.
The woman found herself blessed just as she had blessed Elisha with food and lodging…blessed from hospitality.
Question: How hospitable are you to others? Are you quick to offer a meal or a warm place to stay when you find someone in need?
God’s word today leaves little doubt that He favors those who exhibit loving kindness to others…blessing those richly who seek to bless His people. For when we do this, we exhibit the very selflessness that was found in His only Son Jesus the Christ...the One through which we know live and love and care for one another now and forever.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
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