God rewards the generous faith of the Shunnamite woman. Let us look into five more marks of her faith. It may well describe our faith as well.
A Tested Faith
“And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died” (2 Ki. 4:20). The miracle baby grew up to be a young boy. One day, during harvest season, the boy complained of a headache. He probably suffered a heatstroke. A servant brought him to his mother. She held him on her lap until noon, until he died.
If you were this mother, how would you feel watching your only child, the treasure of your heart, the gift of God, die on your lap? In the school of faith, there will always be exams. The exams take the form of trials, troubles, and tribulations. Sometimes, we will fail the exams of faith. The important thing is to learn the lessons after we fail the exams.
The Shunnamite woman faced a crisis of faith. In your faith journey, you will also face a crisis of faith. Your faith in God will be tested by fire. The divine purpose of the tests of faith is to show the glory of the grace of God in times of troubles. It is also to sharpen your faith, to stretch it, and to shape it.
That is what happened to Abraham, the dean of faith. God told Abram to go to the land that God shall give him. Then when he got to the promised land of Canaan, there was a famine in the land (Gen. 12:1-10). Imagine going to the land of blessing, only to find a famine in the land. That is why the prosperity gospel is a false gospel. It tells you that if you obey the Lord, the Lord is obligated to bless you with health and wealth. Abram obeyed the Lord perfectly. But when he got to the land of promise, there was a famine in the land.
The famine was a test of faith for Abram. Is that not a picture of the faith journey of the nation of Israel? In Deuteronomic stipulation, Yahweh shall bless Israel for covenant obedience. Yet along with the blessings are the trials of her faith in God. I think that the writer of Kings included this story of the miraculous birth and resurrection of the Shunnamite woman’s son to show a greater miracle—the miracle of God’s grace to Israel.
Are you trusting God today, walking in a faith journey with Him? Expect the tests of faith. The tests shall show the glory of God’s grace. It shall also sharpen your faith.
But you must learn to trust God in the trials of faith. The time of troubles is the best time to trust God. It is the best place to exercise your faith in God.
A Working Faith
She put the boy on the bed of Elisha (2 Ki. 4:21). Maybe she did not want anyone, including her husband, to bother the body before Elisha comes back. Then she asks her husband to send her a servant and a donkey to go with her to Elisha. Her husband, not knowing about the boy, asks why she wants to go to Elisha. It is not yet the new moon or Sabbath. The prophets conducted worship or preaching services during the new moon and Sabbath.1 The husband seemed to say in modern terms, “Why go to him when it’s not the time for church?”
She answered, “All is well” (v. 23). The Hebrew word is shalom. Then she told the servant to go full speed ahead to Mt. Carmel (v. 24). She has finalized her plan. She was determined to achieve her plan. She will not allow anyone to jeopardize that plan.
True faith is a working faith. Do you believe that you are saved by grace through faith? Then work out your own salvation, for it is God who works in you (Phil. 2:13).
Faith without works is dead. A living faith is a working faith. James wrote, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:15-17).
Prove your faith by your works!
Do you believe that God will provide your needs? Then work hard for it! God does not bless lazy people. Paul said,
"For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living” (1 Thess. 3:10-12).
Do you expect God to give you a bright future, for His glory? Then study hard today. God does not always bless the best people. Yet God always blesses people who give their best!
An Anguished Faith
Elisha must have suspected that something was wrong. That is why he sent Gehazi to ask her about her son (2 Ki. 4:26). When the woman came to Elisha, she caught hold of his feet (v. 27). In the ancient near east, people would hug the feet or the knees, to add “force” to the request.”2 Gehazi tried to push her away. However, Elisha stopped him, saying that she was in “bitter distress.” “Bitter distress” translates one word in the Hebrew (marar) which means, “to be despairing.”3
The writer uses the sense of taste—“bitter”—to express painful, tragic experiences.4 We also do the same in Cebuano with our word, “pa-ita uy!” (“so bitter!”) The Hebrew literally reads, “because her soul is bitter to her.” The woman experienced extreme bitterness of soul.
Then the Shunnamite woman said in v. 28, “‘Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’ ” She did not ask God for a son. Yet God gave the desire of her heart anyway. Her son was a divine gift. Now, her son is gone. The son’s death is a contradiction to the son’s life. It seemed that God was taking back His gift. She was saying, “How can the God who gave me a son I did not ask, now take him away?” I see here an anguished faith, a tormented faith. When it really hurts, it can be hard to trust God.
Is her faith like your faith today? Some trial is causing you anguish. Yet you want to keep on believing God.
When her husband asked her, she said, “All is well.” When Gehazi asked her about her son, she said, “All is well.” But the truth is—all is not well.
Why did she say, “All is well,” when all is not well? Perhaps she did not want any delay on her way to Elisha.5 Conversely, her answer temporarily delayed the inevitable process of mourning and burial.6 She needed to resolve the issue of her son’s death first with Elisha. Most likely, she refused to reveal her pain to anyone except Elisha. The issue is the promise of God through Elisha. That promise has come to nothing. She will now face only the man who gave her the promise of God.
In confronting Elisha, she was confronting the God of Elisha. She brought her anguish before God through the man of God who spoke to her the word of God about a son.
God never promised a faith journey that is free of pain. Yet He promises His steadfast love, His faithfulness, and His grace for you in the midst of pain.
Sometimes, we need to go to people we trust—people who will listen and understand, like your pastor, close friend, or parents. Yet sometimes, these people cannot really comfort us.
Hence, the best thing to do is to throw yourself on the feet of Jesus. Pour your heart to Him. I can assure you that He will listen to you, because He understands. As the old hymn tells us:
What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer.
O, what peace we often forfeit.
O, what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.
Then there is the old song that speaks to our hearts today.
I’ve had many tears and sorrows.
I’ve had questions for tomorrow,
There’ve been times
I didn't know right from wrong:
But in every situation
God gave blessed consolation
That my trials come to only make me strong.
Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God;
Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.
An Expectant Faith
In v. 29, Elisha tells Gehazi to tie up his garment, so that he can run as fast as he could. He is to take Elisha’s staff, go to the child, and lay it on him. Along the way, he is to greet no one. The point is to waste no time and to get there faster.7
We are not told why Elisha wanted Gehazi to put his staff on the child’s face. The staff is supposed to be an extension of the person. Maybe he wanted to assure the mother of his attention. He wanted no one in the household to do anything to the child before he arrives.
Then the Shunnamite woman said in v. 30, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” She wants Elisha to go and see her dead child. She will not leave Elisha, until he does so. Only Elisha gave her the promise of a miracle child. Now only Elisha shall give her hope for her son.
She expects that Elisha can still do something to her child. She believes that God will still do the impossible. She refuses to give up, until the prophet himself gives it up.8 Hers is an expectant faith.
Are you in an impossible situation today? Do you expect God to do the impossible? Do you expect God to change the unchangeable? You need to ask God to add to your faith more faith, to bring you to the next level of faith—the faith to believe God for the impossible!
An Answered Faith
Notice that the staff did not bring the child back to life. “Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life” (v. 31). You cannot rely on a tool to bring a miracle. A bleeding woman was healed by touching Jesus’ clothes. People were healed by touching Paul’s handkerchiefs. Some charismatic TV preachers would try to copy this and ask their viewers to touch the TV in prayer or give them their hankies. But the Lord Jesus and Paul are no longer with us. The TV preachers are not Jesus and Paul.
Here, the miracle did not come through Elisha’s staff. The miracle came with Elisha himself.
When the woman came to Elisha about her dead son, Elisha admitted that he did not see it coming. He said in v. 27, “the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” True prophets of God proceed only by the revelation of God. Yet at this point, God did not tell him.
Oftentimes, pastors do not know everything. Yet pastors should know one thing—to go down on their knees and pray for the power and will of God. That is what Elisha did. “So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the LORD” (V. 33). Elisha asked God for His will to revive the dead child. Pastor, you may not know everything in ministry. But if you know how to pray earnestly, you have already accomplished 90% of your ministry.
Then Elisha did something weird. He put his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands. He stretched (Heb. gahar, “bend, crouch”9) his whole body upon the body of the child. Elisha actually bent over or crouched on the boy’s body. The same verb is used to describe Elijah’s “ritual prostration” on Mt. Carmel in expectation of rain (1 Ki. 18:42).10 Elisha follows the style of Elijah in the resurrection of the widow’s son (1 Ki. 17:21-22). His acts also warmed the boy’s body (2 Ki. 4:34).
Why did the author of Kings include this detail? He wanted to show that the prophetic power of Elijah is now also with Elisha. Elisha therefore is the divine replacement of Elijah.11
We read that Elisha got up and went around the house. He got back and stretched himself on the boy’s body again. Then a miracle happened. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes (vv. 34-35). The boy woke up. When the woman came in, she saw her breathing child. Filled with gratitude, she fell again at the prophet’s feet.
God performed a miracle of compassion through Elisha. God can also answer your prayers with a miracle of mercy. Out of the mercy of God, God can do the impossible for you.
Conclusion
Death is final hopelessness. Yet the power of God through Elisha breaks this cycle of hopelessness. When Jesus raised the dead son of the widow from Nain, the people recalled the resurrections of Elijah and Elisha (Lk. 7:11-17). The author of Hebrews wrote of women receiving back their dead by resurrection (Heb. 11:35). That tells us a lot about the nature of God. He is a compassionate God. He may operate outside our physical laws.
The faith of the Shunnamite woman makes us re-assess our faith in God. Our faith should be a giving faith. It should be a contented faith. It will be a rewarded faith.
Your faith should be a working faith. Living faith is faith in action.
Yet sometimes, your faith will go through a crisis. It may become an anguished faith, tested by trails and troubles in the plan of God. It is still faith, but only an anguished faith in trial. Be careful however that you keep trusting God when anguished. Instead of doubting God, expect the grace of God in trials.
Your faith should be an expectant faith. Troubles are the best times of expecting the mercy of God. Expect God to do the impossible.
An expectant faith will be an answered faith. Out of the mercy of God, He shall do something wonderful for you.
ENDNOTES
1 Spence and Exell, The Second, 67.
2 Spence and Exell, The Second, 67.
3 Holladay, s. v. ???, Holladay 5125.
4 Harris, Archer, and Waltke, ?????????, TWOT 1428l.
5 Dilday, 1, 2 Kings, 279.
6 Nelson, Kings, 173.
7 Spence and Exell, The Second, 67.
8 House, 1, 2 Kings, 267.
9 Brown, Driver, and Briggs, ??????, BDB 1692.
10 Montgomery, A Critical, 369.
11 Bob Deffinbaugh, “The Life and Times of Elisha the Prophet—Two Women and Two Meals (2 Kings 4:1-44).” Cited March 26, 2011. Online: http://bible.org/seriespage/life-and-times-elisha-prophetE28094-two-women-and-two-meals-2-kings-418211 44.
