DON’T BURY IT JUST YET
2 Kings 4: 8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
10 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.
11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.
12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.
15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.
16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
18 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
21 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
22 And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.
23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.
24 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.
25 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:
26 Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well:
27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
28 Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?
29 Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
30 And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.
31 And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.
32 And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.
33 He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.
34 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 stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.
35 Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
36 And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.
37 Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.
There are times in our lives that we have to prepare for funerals. I know this coming week our family is preparing for one, as one of our uncles has died. I hate them, I despise going by the graveyard where my dad is buried, I cry nearly every time. It’s upsetting. I don’t like going to my sisters because I have to drive by the graveyard. As a pastor and preacher, I hate doing funerals, because your expected to say the right things, or preach the right thing before the family buries their loved one. I’ll do it, and I will cry with the family, I will laugh with the family when someone shares a funny memory of the deceased, but inside of me, I am a wreck, and hurting because someone has just went from this life to a memory.
In Biblical times there were no Holiday Inns, Super 8, Motel 6 light hadn’t even come on yet. Those who traveled were dependent upon the gracious hospitality of the people in the land, especially the prophets in their ministries as they traveled about from place to place. So whenever a preacher traveled to share the Word of God, they depended upon the hospitality of others to take care of them. They usually didn’t have a full time secular job, they shared the Word of God and people took care of them.
The Bible says there was a great woman, in other words, she was well known in her community, she was looked up too, she wasn’t the town gossiper, she wasn’t the town preacher hater, she wasn’t the town liar, she wasn’t the town drunk, she wasn’t the town beggar, she wasn’t the town trouble maker, she was someone that people looked up too, and admired and all the young ladies said, I want to be like her one day.
So she saw the man of God and his servant always coming through the town and she knew he was different, and she told the man of God, come in here and eat and she took care of him and the servant every time they came through they were taken care of. She told her husband, that she wanted to build a room for the man of God, and to take care of him and give him a place to sleep and a place he could read and study, and put a light in there and he will have food, shelter, light and water. It impressed the man of God so much he asked her what do you need? Want me to speak to the King on your behalf? Want me to speak to the captain? What do you need? He could use his influence to introduce them to the king & to mingle w/ the nobility of the land. Here was her opportunity to have her ministry to the prophet recognized in the leading circles of the country.
Don’t you love her response – v.13b, “I live among my own people.”
Thanks, but no thanks. She had no desire for worldly advancement; she was not wanting to climb the social ladder of success. She was content w/ what God had provided her & w/ her place of service & ministry in the community. She was content w/ her home, her position, her friends, & her ministry. What a rare attitude! She said nothing, I am good.
Elisha’s servant said she has no children, in that day and time it was an honor for wives to give their husbands children. It was a joyous occasion, it wasn’t a mistake, or it was a slip up, it was what wives was supposed to do, but whatever reason, this great woman, a woman everyone looked up to had a personal battle that I am sure she was ashamed of, she was barren. Whenever a lady was barren in Biblical days, it was saw as a curse, it was saw as sin must be in the family, it was saw a wickedness if you please and yet this great rich woman in the public, in privately bankrupt. She had learned to be content even though there was a secret ache in her soul, that ache being she had no children, she had no son to carry on the family name.
So many times as Christians we look publicly rich, and that everything is ok, and we have no issues, and back home or in our private lives in our minds we are having to fight lions, and bears, just to keep or sanity. Marriages are a mess, kids acting crazy, you can’t pay bills, and struggling to buy new school clothes for the kids.
So the man of God tells her in due season you’re going to have a child, she begged him not to lie to her, he affirmed she was going to get pregnant, even the servant said her husband is old, and yet the man of God said she is going to have a baby. So she has a baby, the boy grows up. And it was harvest season, so I imagine it’s hot and he goes to the field with his daddy, and he begins to scream, my head, my head, some Bible scholars, said he could have had a heat stroke, and some say it could have been an aneurysm, but whatever happened that day, they took the boy to his mother and at noon he died. She is now holding a dead miracle, something that was promised to her, something that she longed for and desired and even tried to have during her younger years of marriage, she had been made fun of because she couldn’t have kids, her miracle is gone, her miracle isn’t breathing, her miracle has no heartbeat, her miracle has no brain activity, her miracle is DEAD!
She looks at her household after she has taken her dead son into the preacher’s room and laid him on the bed, it was the Jews custom to bury their dead within 24 hours. Don’t call the funeral home, don’t let people start sending their condolences just yet, we don’t want flowers or food: DON’T YOU BURY HIM JUST YET! She said I’m not planning a funeral; I’m planning a resurrection!
She told her husband, send me one of the young guys I have got to get things ready, I have got to get to the man of God, I have got to get to the church, I need a Word from God, I need prayer right now, her husband said it’s not church time, it’s not the time for sacrifice, why are you bothering the preacher now? That is one of my biggest pet peeves in pastoring, I am sick but I didn’t want to call you, or I didn’t want to bother you, I can’t stand that, it grates my nerves just like running your finger nails across a chalk board. This woman didn’t care what was happening in the Preachers life, her Miracle was Dead! But all is well. So they get to Mount Carmel, and the man of God sees her, and tells his servant to run and meet her, and ask her, are you ok, is your husband ok, is the child ok, and she responds with all is well! All is Well! All is Well! Your miracle is dead, your son is dead, you are about to lose your mind, your heart broken, you are distraught, you are down and out, And ALL is WELL? Some folks won’t show up for church if they are having a bad week, some folks won’t show up for church if things are working out in their life, some folks won’t show up to the house of God because they didn’t get special treatment from the church this week, some folks won’t show up if they are fighting with their boyfriend or girlfriend, or their spouse, some folks won’t live for God if they get their feelings hurt, here this woman is with a dead son!! HER RESPONSE? ALL IS WELL!!!!!
He is dead! But I’m ok! My husband stayed in the field while he died on my lap, But I’m Ok!
2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
One of the worst things we have been taught as Christians, when we are born again, everything in our life becomes perfect. We will never struggle, we will never have pain, we will never have hardship, or suffer. We need to know that in your Pain, God is still perfect, in my struggle he is still GOD, in your weakness He is Still strong!
She tells him the boy is dead, watch this, she didn’t blame the man of God for her dead miracle, she didn’t throw up in his face and say, I didn’t ask you for a son, you told me God was going to give me one, she didn’t get mad at him, she didn’t falsely accuse him, she didn’t try to hit him, and start spreading lies on him, she didn’t call him on the phone and cuss him out, she didn’t lie on him, she didn’t get on Facebook, or Instagram, or Topics, saying hurtful things, she didn’t run to the local coffee shop or the bait store and make up stuff, and start a bunch of drama she simply said all is well. She wasn’t running by her emotions, or her feelings, or her thoughts, she simply said all is well.
Her miracle is dead, all is well. You are hurting, ALL is well, your sad, ALL IS WELL, oh the pain, ALL IS WELL, your bankrupt, ALL IS WELL, your discouraged, ALL IS WELL,
She didn’t blame the man of God. She didn’t blame the church, she didn’t blame the youth pastor, the choir, the Sunday School department. She said “It’s All Good in the Hood Baby Baby!
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 -
• He sent Gehazi with his staff -- too no avail
• He and Gehazi prayed to God for the child – still nothing happened
• He stretched himself out on the child as if he would communicate some of his own life to the child -- still nothing
• The text records the child's body became warm from his heat -- still no life in him
• Can I tell you – DON’T BURY IT YET
• 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 of this dead young man
Elisha walked out of the room. Oh, but DON’T BURY IT YET. The Prophet Elisha went down from the room and walked around the lower level of the house, possibly to the child's room, then went back up and stretched himself out upon the child again -- probably in the same manner -- face-to-face, body to body.
• One has to wonder what Elisha was thinking
• He left the room like he had given up
• But, DON’T BURY IT YET
You know the rest of the Story. The Prophet went back into the room and the young man SNEEZED SEVEN (7) TIMES and then he was alright. Can I tell you the goal of our enemy is to cause us to stumble by making us to have doubt?
• Adversary wants you to think there is something wrong with you or your faith
• Therefore, God won’t hear or answer your prayer
• Can I tell you again?
• No matter what you are going through – DON’T BURY IT YET!
