WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR FAITH HAS BEEN SHORTCHANGED
2 Kgs. 4:8-37
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A district attorney in a rural court appeared before the judge with accusations against the prisoner. "Your Honor, I intend to show that this man is guilty of bigotry."
2. "Why do you say that?" the judge asked. "You see," answered this district attorney, "this man has three wives." 3. "Three wives!" scoffed the judge. "What kind of lawyer are you? Don't you realize that the terminology for having three wives is not ‘bigotry’? [Pause…] The correct term for three wives is trigonometry!"
B. TEXT
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. 9 She said to her husband, 10 “Let’s make a small room on the roof….then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” 13 Elisha said, “You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you?....14 Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” 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…19 He said… “My head! My head!” 20 …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. 27 When she reached the man of God…she took hold of his feet. 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….Lay my staff on the boy’s face.” 31 …there was no sound or response. 33 [Elisha] went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he [Elisha] got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. 35 The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 36 Elisha…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.
C. THESIS
1. There are times when there seems to be a disconnect between our walk with God and the outcome of our prayers.
2. Sometimes circumstances can seem to contradict the fact that God is watching over our lives and guiding its events for our good. So what do we do when such contradictions confront us?
3. We’re going to look at a story from the O.T. in which a woman’s faith seems to be shortchanged and then examine how to respond to the forces of doubt.
4. The title of tonight’s message is, “When you feel like your faith has been shortchanged.”
I. A WOMAN’S DREAMS FULFILLED
A. A WOMAN’S KINDNESS
1. We have here the story of a woman who had long been unable to bear children, whom God gave healed and gave a son.
2. This miracle occurred as a result of her kindness to a preacher. (You can’t go wrong with that.) This woman lived on a road Elisha often traveled. She simply wanted to be a blessing to God’s servant.
3. She began inviting him to dinner, and then persuaded her husband to build a room for him on top of the house, with furniture.
B. ELISHA’S DESIRE TO THANK HER
1. Elisha wanted to reward her for her kindness. He offered his intercession in the king's court. She declined. Finally the promise of a child was made. She had received a prophet and gotten a prophet’s reward!
2. HUMOR
a. 3 men were standing in line at the HEB discussing coincidences. The 1st man said, "My wife was reading a "tale of two cities" and she gave birth to twins"
b. "That’s funny", the 2nd man remarked, "My wife was reading 'the three musketeers' and she gave birth to triplets"
c. The third man shouted, "Heaven help me! I’ve got to go!” “Why?” "When I left home, my wife was reading Ali baba & the 40 Thieves!”
3. We can be sure that this son, born in their old age, was very precious to his parents, so that when he died, it would've been a much more severe blow and loss to their lives.
4. This was a child of promise, a child of prayer, given in love, and yet taken away. Sometimes we receive a promise, but the promise is taken away. What do YOU do, then?
C. HER FAITH IN A POSSIBLE RESURRECTION
It's amazing to see how this mother maintained her faith and confession in spite of the child's death.
1. She guarded her lips. When her husband or the prophet asked, "Is everything all right?" She by faith answered "yes." She undoubtedly believed that since the child's birth had been a miracle, that another miracle could restore him to her.
2. She’d heard of the raising of the widow's son of Zarephath (1 Kgs. 17:22; she’d gotten 2 miracles) and that the Spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha. She was ready to believe that he could restore what was taken away.
3. In this faith she made no preparation for the burial of her son, but for his resurrection -- for she laid him on the prophet’s bed.
4. Now in biblical symbology, Elisha stood in the place of Christ and his room in the place of Christ's tomb. She didn't put ‘little Billy’ in Billy’s bed, but in the prophet’s bed.
5. Just as all who are in Christ will have a part in His resurrection, so the woman reasoned that prophet Elisha, whose master had gone to Heaven without dying, also had the promise of resurrection working in him. She applied her son to that prophetic faith.
6. Elisha was just then at the school of the prophets on Mount Carmel. The woman immediately traveled to him and threw herself at the prophet's feet and held onto them in distress. Finally she interceded, "Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn't I tell you, ‘Don't raise my hopes?’"
7. The Hebrew of that phrase hints at a tricking of a person. Was she to get a gift only to have it cruelly withdrawn? Elisha sent Gehazi to raise the child, but she didn't move. She was like those who won’t trust to any but God himself. We must look to Christ alone!
D. ELISHA’S RESURRECTION OF THE CHILD
When the prophet arrived at his room, he found the child dead upon his own bed. He went through various steps in the process of raising the child:
1. He sent Gehazi with his staff (29).
2. He & Gehazi prayed to God for the child (33).
3. He stretched himself out on the child (34), as if he would communicate some of his own life to the child. It says that the child's body became warm from his heat. He put mouth-to-mouth (as if to breathe into him the breath of life); eye to eye (as if to restore sight and light); and his hands to the child's hands (as if to put strength into them). There still was no resurrection.
4. Elisha went down from the room and walked around the lower house, possibly to the child's room, then went back up and stretched himself out upon the child (35) -- probably in the same manner (face-to-face, body to body). One has to
wonder if Elisha didn't offer God to forfeit his right to go to heaven without dying (as Elijah) so that the child might live.
5. At last the child sneezed seven times. An ancient tradition said that when God breathed into Adam the breath of life, the first evidence of life was sneezing!
We see how the power of prayer is also the key to resurrection from death!
II. UNDERSTANDING THE REASONS FOR SHORTCHANGED FAITH
A. WHAT ARE WE PUTTING OUR FAITH IN?
1. The goal of our enemy is to cause us to stumble by making us to have doubt. Idea: there’s something deficient with you or your faith, therefore, God won’t hear or answer your prayer.
2. First of all, we are acceptable to God ONLY by the blood of Jesus. That is the only price and it’s all sufficient. If we’re covered by the blood, we’re acceptable whether we feel like it or not (1 Jn. 3:20; “If our hearts condemn us…God is greater than our hearts.”)
3. Another area is whether we have the needed caliber of faith for a miracle to transpire. The miracle to the Shunemites’ son shows how the miracle was a process of seeking God & trying different things.
4. “We all have a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). A mustard seed (very small amount) is all that’s necessary for the largest of miracles.
5. Don't let the enemy rob you; tenacity is probably more important than some abstract “faith.” You CAN do all things through Christ!
B. DO WE TRUST IN GOD’S CHARACTER?
1. In the second case, the enemy wants to get us to doubt the goodness of God. “If God loved you, He wouldn’t have let this happen to you.” Or “God can’t be a righteous God and yet allow this injustice to occur to you.”
2. Now this woman suffered 2 great attacks on
her perception of God. Prior to this story, she had suffered the stigma of childlessness her whole married life. She lived in an age where childlessness was considered a punishment by God. Despite her ‘disgrace,’ she kept her faith in God’s goodness.
3. Then, when she finally had her child, she faced a second trial when the child died! The enemy said to her, "God is an Indian-giver. He just tricked you, deceived you. He doesn’t want you to have joy or blessings. He's a mean God!"
4. But in her heart of hearts, she knew that wasn't true; she knew that God’s a good God and wouldn’t needlessly cause her suffering.
5. She kept a good confession; she put him in the prophet’s bed; she made the journey to Mt. Carmel & persuaded the prophet to return with her.
6. All these actions point to her unwavering faith that God was good & that she believed He might grant her request.
C. WILL WE ACCEPT HIS PLAN/ METHOD?
1. Real faith lays claim to God's promises, but it also submits to HIS PLAN for victory.
2. The Shunemite woman had accepted God's plan for her life of not having children and was a happy, joyful person.
3. God delivered Peter, but let James die(Acts 12). God let the 3 Hebrews go into the fire but kept them in the midst of it. Jesus raised Lazarus, but He also let him die a second time.
4. God uses medicine to heal some people. Are those second class healings? No. Quit trying to run God's business! Rather, submit yourself to God's plan!
D. THERE’S MORE THAN ONE ANSWER
1. God's delays are not God's denials. God has three answers to prayer: yes, no, and wait. There is timing involved. We must give God the freedom to work out the timing.
2. TRYING TO WEAR GOD’S SHOES. My grandson, Gage, often puts on my shoes. It’s cute to see him walk around thinking how grown-up he looks, when actually he looks ridiculous. God prob. looks at us about the same.
E. NOT SURFACE, BUT ETERNAL WORK OCCURING
1. When a surgeon operates, he messes up the exterior to get to the interior. God does the same thing.
2. He messes up our temporary circumstances in order to remake our spiritual natures to conform to our future heavenly environment.
III. HOW TO RESPOND TO SHORTCHANGED FAITH
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Heb. 10:35-36.
A. DON’T LOOK AT THE NATURAL
1. Real faith doesn't look at the natural. Hebrews 11:1; "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen." 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith, not by sight." Romans 4:17, "... and calls those things which be not as though they were."
B. DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE IN GOD
1. How can you cast your confidence away? By...
a. Changing it for self-confidence.
b. By giving way to sin, worldly company.
c. By changing your aim in life.
d. By sinking into unbelief.
2. If you feel like throwing something, throw an ashtray or a beer bottle, but don't throw away your confidence, your faith in the God who loves you.
C. KEEP DOING THE WILL OF GOD
1. Part of the prescription for prosperity and success, even in the natural, is to keep working despite unfavorable circumstances. In the spiritual realm, this means to keep doing the will of God whether you see the results or not.
2. James explains it like the farmer, who keeps planting seed, because he knows the natural laws will cause at least some of the seed to produce a harvest. So it is in the spiritual; keep sowing and you will reap.
D. OUTCOME: RICHLY REWARDED
The writer of Hebrews emphasizes a large reward for persevering obedience. This reflects the fact that God knows how difficult the struggle is and how worthy is the one who overcomes their earthly senses to achieve for the kingdom.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. I heard a story about a train traveling through the night in a very violent rainstorm. The lightning flashes were almost blinding, the rain hitting the windows was deafening and the strong gust winds rocked the train from side to side.
2. When the lightening flashed and lighted up the darkness, the passengers could see the rising water along the tracks. This created terror in the minds of the passengers.
3. Several passengers noted that through all the noise, lightening and wind, one of the passengers, a little girl, seemed to be at perfect peace.
4. Finally, one passenger asked her, “How is that you can be so calm when all the rest of us are so worried about what might or could happen?” 5. The little passenger smiled and said, “My father is the engineer.”
B. ALTAR CALL: GOD CAN HANDLE IT
1. “Good afternoon, I am God. Today I will be
handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help.
2. If the devil happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, DO NOT attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFJTD (something for Jesus to do) box. It will be addressed in MY time, not yours.
3. Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold on to it or attempt to remove it. Holding on or removal will delay the resolution of your problem.
4. If it’s a situation that you think you’re capable of handling, please consult me in prayer to be sure that’s the proper assumption.
5. Because I do not sleep or slumber, there is no need for you to lose any sleep. Rest, my child. If you need to contact me, I am only a prayer away. [origin unknown]
