WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES

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.

The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers.

"My head! My head!" he said to his father.

His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother."

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. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

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."

"Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath."

"It's all right," she said.

She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." 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! 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.

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."

"Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?"

Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."

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.

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."

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did.

When she came, he said, "Take your son." She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

2 Kings 4:18-37

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Sometimes tragedy strikes us with some warning like when a hurricane spends days building up power before it reaches landfall and wreaks destruction. Or maybe when a loved one is afflicted with a health condition that worsens over time like cancer until their body can function no more and they pass away.

Still other times, tragedy comes suddenly…unannounced…when we’re least prepared for it. Tornados are like that. We’re accustomed to severe thunderstorms but at times they spawn deadly twisters that quickly destroy everything in their path…often with no warning of their coming. And people every day die suddenly from heart attack or as a result of an accident…never thinking for a moment when they awoke that their last day of life was upon them.

So what do we do when tragedy strikes?

Hopefully, today’s passage gives us some insight.

For as today’s scripture begins, we find the Shunammite woman’s son has grown up.

You’ll recall earlier in Chapter 4 that the woman was granted the blessing of her son as a result of the loving hospitality she had shown to Elisha and his servant Gehazi.

Well, as we pick up on the story of the child all seems well at first. The boy goes out to meet his father who we’re told was in the fields with the reapers.

While there, the child begins to feel ill saying to his father, “My head! My head!" The father, not sensing any danger at that moment, asks his servant to “Carry him to his mother” and the servant carries out the order.

And so the Shumannite woman sat with her son on her lap. We’re not given any indication anything is seriously wrong at first…but then things quickly turn catastrophic when we read that the boy died at noon. I’ve never lost a child but as I read this, I couldn’t help but have tears well up in my eyes as I imagined what it might have been like if I did lose one of my daughters.

It would be devastating.

As we read in our passage, the mother took the boy up into the special room on the roof that had been built for Elisha (who scripture refers to as the “man of God”) before shutting the door and calling out to her husband to have a servant bring a donkey so she could “go to the man of God quickly and return."

Well, the husband is a bit surprised at her request because it wasn’t one of the days when she would typically go to Elisha such as the “New Moon or the Sabbath”. His wife puts him at ease by telling him not to worry…that everything was fall right.

Of course, we know the truth. Things couldn’t have been more wrong at that point.

So the Shunammite woman “saddled the donkey” and urged her servant to “Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." And with that they set out to meet Elisha who was at Mount Carmel.

As the woman and her servant approached, Elisha saw them “in the distance” and he sent his servant Gehazi to run and meet her asking if she and her family were all right.

So Gehazi did as Elisha instructed and the woman, just as she had told her husband, said that everything was all right.

Why didn’t the woman tell the servant her needs? Most probably, it was because she knew that it wasn’t he who could help her. Only Elisha possessed the power to save her son within him. And as the woman reached him “at the mountain”, we read where “she took hold of his feet”...an action that startled the servant who “came over to push her away” but was rebuffed by Elisha who told him, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why."

Note two distinct areas of concern for Elisha at this point.

First, he was concerned about the Shunammite woman being in such distress.

Second, he was concerned as to why the Lord hadn’t provided him a vision of what was coming and what he should do.

Elisha wasn’t the only one a bit confused. For we read the woman’s words filled with sadness and despair as she asks, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?…Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?" In essence, the woman was wondering why Elisha would bless her with the son only to take him away so suddenly.

Well, Elisha, now trying to assess what he should do gives his servant a direct order to “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face." The woman, expected to go with the servant refused to go without Elisha coming as well saying, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." And with that, Elisha “got up and followed her” as she returned to where her dead son was laying.

Meanwhile, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, had “went on ahead” and as he reached the room where the boy was, he “laid the staff on the boy's face”. But nothing happened…”there was no sound or response”. So Gehazi “went back to meet Elisha” reporting that "The boy has not awakened."

Finally, Elisha “reached the house” and found the “boy lying dead” in the room and went in, shutting the door so that it was only the two of them there. And alone with the dead boy, Elisha “prayed to the Lord”.

After prayer, Elisha “got on the bed” and “lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands”. Scripture tells us that as Elisha “stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm” but the boy still did not come to life.

Undaunted, we read where Elisha “turned away and walked back and forth in the room” before he got back on the bed and stretched out upon the boy once more. And this time, a miracle happened.

For we read where the “boy sneezed seven times” before opening his eyes and coming alive. Elisha summoned his servant and asked him to call for the Shunammite woman and “when she came”, Elisha told her to "Take your son."

The sight must have been overwhelming. To see her son who was once dead, now back alive. There couldn’t be enough hallelujahs raised up at that point…not enough praise that could be spoken…not any way to properly measure the amount of joy felt…not enough words to express thanks.

In fact, the woman says nothing. She only comes into the room, falls at the feet of Elisha…the man of God…and bows down to the ground before him.

No words needed spoken. Her actions completely expressed her feelings…feelings solely centered on reverence and worship unto the only One who could and did resurrect her son.

So what do we learn from this passage regarding how to deal with tragedy?

It’s simple.

For it’s all about faith and trust.

Faith that things can work out, no matter the circumstances if you just trust in the One who can make all things possible.

The woman never doubted that she could find help from the man of God…Elisha.

And Elisha, like Elijah before him, delivered by channeling God’s miraculous power through his body into the boy…delivering him into new life…a renewed life delivered by the Lord.

So where does this message find you today? Are you in the midst of tragedy?

If so, my prayer is that you have been buoyed up with a new sense of hope…hope reincarnated through a restored faith and trust in the Almighty Creator and Maker of all things…past, present and future.

Won’t you have the faith of the Shunammite woman and trust Him today?

It worked for her. It can work for you.

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