Let's come together the second Kings Chapter 4.
This is our third installment in this chapter and it will not be
our last. As you know, it's a it's a
lengthy chapter and we are no rush to try to advance without
meditating on everything that it has to offer.
So turn with me to 1st Kings Chapter 418.
But at the same time, allow me to set the stage for this study
from another part of your Bible and my Bible.
In Hebrews Chapter 11, you and I are provided a concise
definition of faith and along with it an extensive catalogue.
Of what faith looks like and how the Holy Spirit does it in
Hebrews 11 is that he lists for us notable figures and
characters and real people from the Scriptures who demonstrate
in their respective ways what trust in God looks like.
So Hebrews 11 is commonly known as the Hall of Faith right now,
if you read that chapter very carefully, what you'll notice is
that there are a total of 16 names explicitly provided, 16
names. And we see there that out of all
those names, there are 14 men mentioned and two women.
Does anybody know the name of the two women that are mentioned
in Hebrews Chapter 11? You can say it if you know it,
Rahab. And who's the other one?
Very good. Now here's what's more
interesting. Seven of those men and one of
those women, right? So we have 16.
So exactly half seven and one are located in the book of
Genesis alone. Now we don't have time to get
into the possible reasons for that, but I just think it's an
interesting observation as you advance in Hebrews chapter Other
than what you'll notice is that the author, inspired by the
Spirit, no longer lists names, but instead describes different
exploits of faith in a more general manner.
And I know I told you to turn to 2nd Kings 44 already, but I want
you to see if you would like Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 35 as
he is coming to the end of his teaching on faith, practical
faith, lived out faith, fleshed out faith.
Notice what he says in Hebrews 1135.
Woman received back their dead by resurrection.
Now pause there. The two most notable instances
of women receiving back their loved ones from the dead are
found in our study of First and 2nd Kings.
The first one is the widow from Zarephath.
Remember when Elijah raised her son from the dead?
And the second will be the woman from Shunam.
We are ready to study. Elijah will help raise from the
dead. Now the woman from Zarephath,
was she a Jew or a Gentile? She was a Gentile.
And the woman from Shunam, she was what she was a Jew.
Showing us that faith is meant and is available to be exercised
by anybody. And with that, no matter who you
are, God will honor you for your faith.
But while we're here, I want us to make mention of something
else, because the point of our study in Second Kings 4 will be
to see the power of faith and also the wisdom of God in our
trials. But while we're here, notice how
this verse continues. Hebrews 1135 women received back
their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured.
Refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a
better life. And then when you read verse 36
and verse 37, you discover that he discusses suffering, mocking,
flogging, imprisonment, stoning, being destitute, afflicted, and
mistreated in connection to the faithful.
What is he getting at here? Why is he mentioning these
things in light of faith? To teach us and to clarify.
That the rewards of faith and faithfulness do not always
promise relief or restoration in the way that we hope.
There are times when faith will not bring about deliverance from
your problems, but instead will grant you the joy, the courage,
the endurance in the midst of them, as well as a reward in the
life to come. So the Holy Spirit is being very
realistic and is trying to teach us a balanced view of faith.
You know, a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a teaching while
getting ready for one of our services.
Sometimes if I have enough time and not rushing too much, I
listen to music or listen to sometimes whatever is being
preached on my phone. And I stumbled upon a teaching
of a young prosperity preacher, young guy.
I guess he's up and coming. I'm not too sure, but he he got
my attention because he was teaching at a Hebrews Chapter 11
and he started from verse one and he was reading down this
chapter and I decided to stick around because I was
anticipating. And looking forward to how he
was going to explain verse 35, verse 36, and verse 37 to talk
about the very things that I mentioned to you.
What is he going to say? Because as you know, prosperity
preachers love to teach on faith as the means, as our ability to
unlock God's blessings at will or however you wish and in a way
that can deliver you from absolutely any kind of
affliction or problem. And so as he was reading, I was
thinking, OK, what is he going to say here?
Now he comes to verse 303132, pauses here and there to
explain, and then he comes to verse 35.
What do you think? He did very quickly says let's
skip this part and he leftover all these truths that the Holy
Spirit wants to instruct the people of God concerning what
faith, real faith looks like. Let this be a reminder that.
When you choose to skip parts of the Bible, that's how you get
wonky theology. I'm surprised the people in that
place didn't stand up and protest at the same time.
I'm not surprised because some people don't mind skipping parts
of the Bible. But we are not among those who
do that, do we? We honor all that God has to
say, and that's why we're studying the Bible the way we
study it, week after week. So now we're we're coming to
this text in Second Kings chapter 4 to observe a woman
with incredible faith and to see what that faith did.
For her in this life, faith, yes, can also do things today,
tomorrow within our world. So then you have this opposite
understanding of faith where it's just don't expect anything.
Don't pray for anything. Don't don't challenge your
unbelief. Just just kind of dismiss it and
go with the flow. And that's also wrong.
So we're going to see a woman who had faith and that faith did
something for her. And I want you to see that God
expects us to also trust in Him and to seek.
Him when we need him, let's read beginning at verse 18 of Second
Kings chapter 4. We're going to be ending in
verse 37. So we're not going to read this
all in one shot. We're going to take our time by
reading this verse by verse. When the child had grown, he
went out one day to his father among the reapers.
And he said to his father, Oh my head, my head.
The father said to his servant, carry him to his mother.
And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the
child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died.
We remember how this Shunammite was rewarded with a child for
her support for this man of God known as Elijah.
Now between verse 17, when we're told that the woman can see
them, Boris son, and verse 18, a few years had passed.
We're not told how many years passed.
We're not told how old this boy was at this point, but evidently
he was old enough to do what? To walk to the fields
independently? To talk.
But young enough. Still to be taken, carried and
placed in the lap of his mother. So he he's a few years old here.
And tragically, while there was so much ahead for this child and
this family, we learned that he suddenly dies.
And there are so many things that we can say about these
verses, but I want us to focus primarily on the timing of this
trial. This is a catastrophe.
This is this is horrible. This is horrific.
But notice when it happened. Read again here in verse 18, the
last three words, the child had grown, right?
He went out one day to his father among the reapers.
What does that tell you about the timing of this event?
Harvest time. This is during harvest season,
and harvest season was a busy season.
It was a hectic time. Sowing and planting was a
demanding thing, but harvesting was equally demanding.
You want to make sure that there was no waste.
You want to make sure that you gathered in all that you worked
hard for. And so there was a special
emphasis here in terms of gathering in the servants,
hiring new people. Just like holidays in our
context where the stores are busier, the malls are more
filled, there are there people hiring just for the season and
for the rush and the business. This is what we are seeing here.
This is a busy, hectic time. Which makes this trial a little
bit more inconvenient. But harvest season also defines
in the Scripture a time of joy, right?
This is the in gathering, this is the product, this is the
fruitfulness. And so Scripture often connects
harvest season with jubilance. This is a time where the people
of God would gather, they would feast, they would fellowship in
communal reflection on the faithfulness of God and his
provision throughout that year. Moreover, there are feast that
demand that there would be first fruits and different
celebrations connected to your produce and you're in gathering
that would be a means of worship to the Lord.
And so you have this combination of the hustle of harvest season,
also the anticipation of joy being at its peak, and it's
there. And then this child dies.
Right here. We're learning something about
affliction, something about tribulation, something about
trials. They tend not to honor your
schedule, your plans, your hopes, your desires, your.
Dreams. They have a tendency of barging
in unannounced without warning. And we see here that this
child's illness and eventual death took place at a time that
was unpleasant. Now, we can all admit in general
that there is no test of our faith that is a pleasurable
thing. It's not a exciting thing that
we look forward to. But we can also say that there
are times when trials come that are especially disruptive.
And God's Word seeks to teach us that there can be devastating
interruptions in our lives. Not to scare you, but to prepare
you. And the best way to be prepared
for such things as not to be pessimistic or cynical, you have
people who live like that. You have people who live day by
day and just bracing themselves for impact.
They don't know how it's going to happen.
They don't know where it's going to happen, and it sucks the life
out of them. That's not how God wants you to
live. Underlying anxiety that that's
not how He designed you to operate.
The best way to be prepared even for startling trials is to abide
in Jesus Christ day by day so that you can draw from Him the
source of strength and wisdom that you need every single day,
day by day, even for uninvited surprises.
See, trials, even trials of this kind don't have to sabotage your
faith, don't have to vandalize your witness.
It doesn't have to happen. And the tsunami is a prime
example of that. So let's see what happens,
right? The boy says, Oh my head, my
head. I mean, it's harvest season, so
it's extra hot this time of the year.
And she carries him, holds him, And we don't know how long she
was doing that for before he gave his last breath.
Verse 21 And she went up and laid on him the bed, on the bed
of the man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out.
And she called to her husband and said, Send me one of the
servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to the man
of God and come back again. And he said, why will you go to
him today? It is neither new moon nor
Sabbath. She said all is well.
You know what stands out to me about this woman?
Her composure. Her composure is convicting.
Think about it. Imagine mothers in this house.
God forbid, but just imagine holding a child a few years old
and that child dying in your arms.
What do you do? How do you react?
Here's what this woman does. She quietly carries the same
child, goes upstairs, puts him in the guest room, closes the
door, goes to her husband, says I need the keys to the car.
I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, what's the
explanation? And I believe the best 1 is that
this woman who was not just wealthy materially, but rich in
faith, understood that this child was miraculously provided
by God. She never lost sight of the
origins of this story. She understood that God was the
one who sovereignly granted this gift, and she believes still
that God did not lose control of His sovereignty.
And so she's able to remain sane and stable.
You see, knowing that God was the one behind the birth of this
child meant that he was in control of the destiny of this
child. And acknowledging God's control
from the start, listen, will help you not lose control at any
time at any point. Now that is not to say that she
did not experience grief. I mean, verse 27 would say
otherwise. Look at verse 27.
We didn't read it yet, but this is when she finally arrives to
the man of God. And notice what he says in verse
27. The latter portion it says leave
her alone for she is in bitter distress.
So faith doesn't delete your emotions.
Possessing faith doesn't make you emotionless.
What it does though, is enable you to remain grounded.
So I just praise God for the songs that we sang today, so
much about being anchored in Christ, Christ being our anchor,
hope, peace, joy as a result of our trust.
Listen, knowing God's character and trusting in His character,
what He reveals about Himself is your anchor, is your anchor.
And such faith, listen it promise us to be never carried
away in the midst of the storm. You'll be in the.
Faith doesn't promise you no storms, it just promise you to
remain steadfast in the storm. And that's exactly what this
woman demonstrates. And unfortunately, many cannot
interpret the world that this woman how this woman does
because of their limited understanding of who God is.
Now, I mentioned last time that we studied last week.
In connection to this woman's faith, her husband in contrast
that that maybe she had and she possessed greater spiritual
insight than her spouse. And I believe what we see here
with this interaction confirms that conclusion.
Why do I say that? Because notice she takes the
child, goes into Elijah's room, closes the door and asks for a
servant and a vehicle to get to Elijah.
What does she leave out? She didn't tell her husband that
the child died. She doesn't.
Why do you think she didn't? I mean, you can only speculate.
Here's what I believe. That the husband probably
wouldn't see it the way she saw it.
And a priority to this husband during harvest season wouldn't
be go and find Elijah. But let's plan for the funeral
so she knows her husband very well.
And she understands that there is a man not too far from here
who has received a mantle from another man named Elijah, who
was used by God to raise the son of another woman.
And so she wants to take advantage of this.
And she's not going to accept this immediately.
She's going to do all that she can to seek for an intervention
before anything else. And I think here that this woman
shows us once again some of that you and I know very well that
the godly are not exempt from such things.
She understood that she was a he was a unique prophet.
And though we can celebrate her faith, we should also admire for
a character because she doesn't rail against her husband.
She doesn't disrespect. And this is what we saw last
week as well, when she asked for his permission and asked to
partner with him to build this extended room for Elisha.
And we see the same consistent care and honor for her spouse
despite his slender spirituality.
But before we move on, don't you appreciate something that the
husband acknowledges about her? Look at verse 23.
And he said, why will you go to him today?
It is neither new moon nor Sabbath.
So that indicates to me that this woman frequently visited
Elijah and that during certain holy days, Elijah must have had
meetings where he preached and he taught the word of God and
she attended those meetings because it wasn't strange for
her to want to go see Elijah. It was strange for the husband
that she was trying to go to church when it wasn't Wednesday,
Friday or Sunday, say, hey, there's no service today.
Why are you going? I just that warmed my heart.
Why did it warm my heart? Because I like to see that she
was a part of a remnant that went to these meetings in a day
of great apostasy in Israel when society was collapsing and
falling apart. She was among those that enjoyed
going to a man of God, among the people of God and receiving from
God. Not a precious little insight,
that just blessed. Me.
Why are you going? And here's her answer.
All is well. All is well.
Really. How is all?
Well, you know what? The Hebrew word, it's one word.
Shalom, Peace. All is well.
How can you say all that's a contradiction to your
circumstances. Yeah, but when you understand
God's character, then you can say something like this.
And it's not the only time she's going to say it.
All is well. Verse 24.
Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, urge
the animal on. Do not slacken the pace for me
unless I tell you. So she set out and came to the
man of God at Mount Carmel. She's from Shunam.
She wants to go to Mount Carmel. Elisha frequently visited Mount
Carmel. That's what the Scripture seemed
to hint, the journey between Shunam and Mount Carmel, perhaps
five hours, five hours during harvest season.
It's hot, but she's desperate, so she makes her way and notice
what happens. Verse 25, when the man of God
saw her coming, he said to Gehazi, his servant.
Look, there is the Shunammite. Ron at once to meet her and say
to her is all well with you, is all well with your husband, is
all well with the child, and she answered, all is well.
So even the sight of the sunnamite was strange to Elijah
because, you know, she usually comes to Friday night Bible
study and she usually comes to Sunday service.
But why is she coming today? Why is she making her way to the
office now? Something must be wrong.
And so she he dispatches Gehazi. Gehazi gets her Is everything
OK? Is everything OK with your
husband? Is everything OK with your son?
And she answers no differently than she did with her husband.
All is well, Shalom. Now, why did she do this with
the Gehazi? It couldn't be that she didn't
want to be detained. She didn't have to stop there
and explain to Gehazi. Time was of the essence she
needed to get to the man of God who was used by God to bring her
this child to begin with. Or, or could it be that this
perceptive, discerning woman, she felt something about Gehazi
and she rather deal with Elijah directly.
Remember, we sort of commended Gehazi for his observation of
the woman's need, helping Elijah to provide her a reward for her
hospitality. But Ghazi from this point on
will not, will not demonstrate the greatest characters traits.
And I just wonder, I wonder if this Sunnah might picked up on
some things about Ghazi. I mean we see it in the very
next verse. Look at verse 27.
And when she came to the mountain, to the man of God, she
caught hold of his feet and Gehazi came to push her away.
That's not how you treat a woman in distress.
While you might try to justify it or you know, explain it on in
defense of Gehazi, but notice what happens.
He's rebuked for it. Look at the rest of verse 27.
But the man of God said, leave her alone.
Leave her alone for she is in bitter distress.
And the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.
So let me say a few things here. The first thing I want to
mention in the verses that we just read is that Elijah here
once again receives this rare title Man of God and it and it
appears with great. Intention No other person named
person in all the Bible is the title man of God attributed to
then Elijah. And notice where it is mentioned
again, it is brought in the context of His compassion.
So look at the the the middle of verse 25 when the man of God saw
her coming, he said to Gazi's servant, look, there's a should
of mine run at once, not walk, run, run at once and ask her
these questions. Now, do you recall how he
responded when the widow earlier in the same chapter approached
them, one of the one of the woman who was married to son of
the prophet with her issue with her sons.
Do you remember how he responded?
Look back at verse 2 of the same chapter.
And Elijah said to her, what shall I do for you?
Tell me, what have you in the house?
And she said, your servant has nothing in the house except a
jar of oil. So here's what I learned.
Whether it was a widow or a wealthy woman, Elijah
demonstrated the same earnestness and serving and
alleviating their suffering. Listen, Elijah's compassion and
his ministry did not discriminate.
No matter who the Lord put before him, He determined to
show the love of his God and our God, Jesus Christ.
So he wasn't picky and choosy whether it was a widow, whether
it was a a wealthy woman, whether it was two sons or one
son. How may I demonstrate Christ's
compassion toward you? That's a man of God.
And so Gehazi. As he sent out as an extension
of this man's love comes back and he demonstrates a different
attitude. What does he do?
She comes and he pushes her away.
What? How do you?
Even explain this again. I wonder if this woman picked up
on something about Gilhazi. And here's the lesson for you
and I right, because she doesn't deal with Gehazi.
Listen to this. I'm speaking, I hope, to a room
fill the people who want to serve God most effectively.
Then listen to this insight. She doesn't want to deal with
Gehazi. She wants to deal directly with
Elijah. And I would say here that we
have an indication that if you are someone like Gehazi,
insensitive, lacking tenderness and patience for others.
You will severely hinder your ministry.
Can I say it another word? If you're like this, people
won't reach out to you and people won't want to receive
from you. I'm reminded no matter what your
ministry is, by the way. I'm not just talking about
pastors here, I'm talking about anybody serving in any capacity
because if you're really serving God, you're going to be serving
people. I'm reminded of the words of the
Apostle Paul and his introduction to the Philippians
in his letter to those believers.
And he says something in verse seven, he says.
I have the. Right to feel this way about
you, for I have you in my heart. Wow.
The beginning of his letter, he wants to remind these believers
in Philippi, you live here. What a wonderful model for
ministry. If you want to be received, if
you want to be effective, if you want no shortage of serving
people, let them know that you love them.
Let them be convinced that you care about them.
Let them perceive that you actually want to see them
blessed. And if you have that kind of
heart for people, listen. You'll even have license to
speak stern words. A person who truly loves other
people can rebuke, at times reprimand and those people
because they know that you love them or receive from you.
Still, I have you in my heart. Ask God to help you really love
people, and it will revolutionize your ministry.
Gehazi was not such a person based on how he's treating this
woman here. Elisha on the other hand, you
can see it in his words, You can see it in his, in his urgency.
So what happens? He rebukes him.
Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress.
Notice this part. I can't move on without
acknowledging this. And this is also for those who
want to serve the Lord. For the Lord has hidden it from
me and has not told me. I find it relieving that Elijah
admitted this. Don't you?
I mean, this is one of the most reputable prophets in all of
redemptive history. And he confesses, Hey, look, I
don't understand what's going on here.
God tends to speak to me beforehand, but here this is
veiled to me. I I don't understand what's
happening. And he actually mentions that
like, this is humility, doesn't pretend so.
Lesson #1 You don't always have to have answers to people's
problems. And you can sometimes say, I
don't know. Especially when you try to help
somebody figure out God's ways in their lives.
Be very careful making conclusions on behalf of God.
Sometimes it's clear, sometimes it's obvious.
And yes, you can remind people at the right time of God's
characters, His wisdom, his ways.
But you don't have to give decisive answers all the time.
You don't need to do that. Moreover, I'm reminded here that
even with God's greatest men, a broader lesson that with all of
his servants, He from time and oftentimes will lead us while
we're in the dark. The fact that Elijah didn't have
insight here doesn't mean that God abandoned the situation.
It just means that Elijah also is going to be stretched in his
faith. This story is about the
Shunammites faith surely, but it's also about Elijah growing
in his faith as well. And if you and I are going to
grow in our faith, that means we're not going to get answers
all the time. So to want to know every step,
every chapter, every turn around ahead that expels the
possibility of your faith being exercised.
One of my favorite verses concerning this truth is Isaiah
50 verse 10. Hey, I would say memorize this
verse because he says this. Who?
Among you fears the Lord, and obeys the voice of his servant.
So pause there. He is addressing those who fear
the Lord and who obey the. Voice of the Messiah.
So right there, let's just pause and ask, Is that me?
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His servant?
I hope every hand here can say me.
I do. OK, Good.
Once you have figured that out and you've acknowledged that,
get ready for the next part. Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light trust in the name.
Of the Lord and rely on his God. What kind of darkness is he
talking about here? Is he talking about sinful
darkness? Is he talking about not having
the light of truth? No, he just finished qualifying
that this is for those who fear the Lord and obey the voice of a
servant. He says, OK, if you're that kind
of a person, it's possible for you in this life to seem like
you're walking in the dark, where you have no sense of
direction, where you have no clarity on a matter, where you
don't know what to do now, where you don't know where to go then.
If, that is, you realize you're not exempt from that experience,
but you are commanded to trust in the name of the Lord and rely
on your God. Even a prophet of God who in a
unique can I use this word dispensation.
Even a unique man of God in a unique period of time was what
was at one point let in the dark where God turned off the light.
And you and me, we pull our hair and we question our faith.
And we're far from being a prophet when God seems to not
give us answers for the next step.
What are you supposed to do? Just trust.
Just trust, worship while you wait.
Serve in the capacity that He's granted you while you wait and
He will lead you through. So Elijah here acknowledges this
and he goes, OK, I'm not sure because I, I wasn't prepared for
this, but let's see what the Lord has in store.
And so he does what he can to try to solve this issue with the
wisdom that he. Possessed so notice what happens
in verse 28. Then she said did I ask my Lord
for a son Did I not say do not deceive me?
You don't blame her for asking those questions, right?
So here you have a barren woman who didn't ask for this when she
met Elijah. She just served out of the
abundance of her heart and Elijah want to do her a favor.
And finally, when there was something that she truly
desired, when that was unfolded, she said, please don't lie to
me. This is really it is really
true. I can't I can't even believe it.
And he goes, it's going to happen and it happened.
So God miraculously provides this child only for a few years
later. Take that child away.
So. Perhaps at this point in the
study, you're going why, and you might.
Have somewhere skeptics or critics even accused God of
being sadistic, which means to take pleasure in somebody else's
pain? The guy just.
Playing games here, OK, here's a child.
OK, now I'm going to take the child away.
She has questions. Sometimes we have questions,
especially in our trials, especially trials of this
degree. Does God have answers?
You better believe it. Does He sometimes show you the
reason for it before you meet him face to face?
Yeah. And actually, with the Shunami,
we actually have at least one reason why God did this.
But you're going to have to stay awake until the end of the Bible
study to know it. So what happens?
He realizes something bad happened.
And so in verse 29, he said to Gehazi, tie up your garment and
take my staff in your hand and go.
If you meet anyone, do not greet him.
And if anyone greets you, do not reply and lay my staff on the
face of the child. And the mother of the child
said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not
leave you. In other words, she heard him
and strike Gehazi to go and deal with the problem.
She goes, I'm here for you, so I'm not leaving.
You and I believe the reason why Elijah does this is because
perhaps Ghazi was younger he can get there more speedily so he
sends them off as a signal both to to her that this is me making
an urgent appeal and attempt at this problem.
So look what happens verse 31 Ghazi went on ahead and laid the
staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or.
Sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet
him and told them the child has not awakened.
It didn't work. Why didn't it work?
You have some who are inclined to actually blame Elijah for
this and they would say because Elijah is doing this out of
impulse, he doesn't have divine instruction or approval for this
plan. He just says.
OK, Ghazi take my staff, which is a symbol of authority and go
late on his face and and hopefully something will happen.
I'm not inclined to believe that.
And the reason for that is because Ghazi does go.
It's a failed attempt. He returns and then Elijah
arrives on the scene of what happens.
The boy comes to life. If there is anybody to blame in
this part of the story, if there was anybody to blame, it would
be Ghazi. It'd be Ghazi.
I think Ghazi here in this failed attempt is preparing us
for something that we're going to discover in Second Kings
Chapter 5, that what externally he served, internally he was
rotten. He was in fact going to be
disqualified permanently from ministry.
And that didn't just suddenly happened.
There was something in his heart that was very, very much out of
line with God's heart. And I think at this point of the
story, Gehazi represents something.
Gehazi represents ministers who they they might work for godly
ministries. They might even be associated
with godly men. They might even occupy a
spiritual office or position, but they are void of the power
of God. He's a sobering illustration
that it is possible to approach ministry without God's backing.
I'm not interested in ministry if I don't have God's backing.
And I say that because it's no accident that immediately after
Gehazi fails to accomplish something, we're told that
Elijah is receiving and grants success to the matter.
Notice what happens verse 32. When Elijah came into the house,
he saw the child lying dead on his bed.
So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and
prayed to the Lord. So he closes the door and he
gets before the Lord, and he prays.
He prays and I think there's something there.
Yes, this is a unique instance, but there's there's themes,
there are principles here. You cannot disconnect God's
authentic seal on your service from private prayer, from
regularly coming before the Lord and depending on him.
That is what distinguishes a powerful ministry from a
powerless 1. You know, it's interesting how
Jewish rabbis interpret the scriptures should be very
careful to rely on Christ denying Jewish interpretations
of the scriptures. Some some some how strange ideas
of of what takes place here. And sometimes they read too much
into the text and we have to be careful of doing the same.
We see here that when Gehazi arrives on the scene, he was
specifically told. Do not greet anybody.
Don't stop at any place. Go directly to that room.
Lay that snap on his face. And see what happens and.
And some people say well yeah, but but Gehazi must have stopped
and talked to some people and they go beyond that.
They say Gehazi on his way was telling people I'm not about to
raise somebody from the dead. You want to come and see it.
And he gets to the room and notice that it's not told in the
text that he closed the door and he tried to make a public
spectacle of it and that's why God didn't honor.
That's reading too much into the text.
I believe more than anything else, if you contrast Gehazi
and. Elijah Gehazi was missing a true
fear of God, a true relationship with God, whereas Elijah
possessed it. Do you realize that in, in this
text, twice we read all is well, all is well.
It's not the last time you see that phrase in connection to the
story, at least in connection to these men who are involved in
the story. Go to 2nd Kings chapter 5 very
quickly. This is after another miracle
will take place, and we're going to unpack that in greater detail
in the weeks to come. Naman, remember Naman, the
commander of the army of the king of Syria, He's he.
He has leprosy. He goes to Elijah to receive
healing. He is granted that healing.
And he wants to pay him, Naman wants to reward him, and we're
going to study in a few weeks. Why Elijah refused to receive
payment. But what happens?
Gehazi overhears this. And he overhears that he denied
this and he thought it was foolish.
So let me just read this. We read here in verse 20,
Gehazi, the servant of Elijah, the man of God, said, see my
master has spared this name in the Syrian, and not accepting
from his hand what he brought, as the Lord lives, I will run
after him and get something from him.
So Gehazi followed Naman and when Naman saw someone running
after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said is
all well. How does he answer in verse 22?
And he said, all is well. My master has sent me to say,
there have just now come to me from the Hill Country of Ephraim
two young men of the sons of the prophets.
Please give me a talent of silver and two changes of
clothing. And Naman said Be pleased to
accept 2 talents and he urged them and he tied up the two
talents of silver and two bags with two changes of clothing and
laid them on two of his servants and they carried them before.
Ghazi is all well. Ghazi, all is well.
No, all is not well. Actually, you know, there are
many people today who believe all is well when all is not well
because they had the cancer of greed eating them up because
they're bound and lust, because they're riddled with pride,
because they have sued their conscience by convincing
themselves that there is no God and there is no accountability
and there's no eternity. And they think all is well.
Have you ever talked to somebody who's outside of Christ and they
say all is well? I don't need your Jesus.
I don't need your gossip. Your, your, your gospel.
I, this is a reflection of Ghazi is all well, all is well.
And just a few short verses. He was inexperienced.
Judgement, divine judgement. I don't know how long Gahazi
believed all was well, but when we come back to 2nd Kings
chapter 4, he should have picked up on some clues.
A rebuke from his teacher, something not happening when he
was instructed by a prophet. He delayed.
But when Elijah comes on the scene, he prays.
He seeks God. And what what do we read
happens? Verse 34.
Then he went up and laid on lay on the child, putting his mouth
on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his
hands. And as he stretched himself upon
him, the flesh of the child became warm.
Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the
house, and went up and stretched himself upon him.
The child sneezed 7 times and the child opened his eyes.
Elijah shows us the true way of a truly successful ministry.
No prayer, no power. Little prayer, little power,
much prayer. Much power, a seasoned prophet
who never forgot the true success.
The true secret? Pray and when something doesn't
work, pray and when you think it's going to work, pray and
when the answer doesn't come right away.
Just like this child, his body first became warm.
He didn't instantly get up and start sneezing.
Pray, pray, pray. He prays.
The child sneezes 7 times. It's very difficult to find a
reason for why the evidence of his life returning to him came
about in this fashion. Verse 36 Then he summoned Gehazi
and said, call this Shunamite. So he called her and when she
came to him, he said, pick up your son.
She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground.
Then she picked up her son and went out.
And you and I might think this is the last that we'll see and
hear of the Shunamite woman, and we would be wrong.
She asked a question earlier, does she not?
Did I ask for a son? Did I not say do not deceive me?
She was trying to figure this whole thing out herself.
I don't get, I didn't look for this, I didn't demand this.
I didn't really fast for at least there's no evidence of it
in the scripture. It was granted to me.
And just when I was enjoying it, you took him from me, and now
you bring it back to me. She was thankful that I'm sure.
Is there any, any threat, any kind of clue of how we make
sense of this story? And I believe there.
Is just like how sometimes it might take time in your life to
discover how God's wisdom works in our trials.
Go to 2nd Kings chapter 8. I'm scared to explain this too
too much because we're going to come to it eventually if God
wills, but let me just give you some kind of insight that will
make this Bible studies conclusion.
A bit more. Clear a famine hits the land and
up to this point Elisha still stays in touch with the shunami.
Look at verse two of Second Kings 8.
So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man
of God, because Elisha says. You need to leave here.
There's going to be a seven-year famine.
You need to go. You need to go to the land of
the Philistines. So she went with her household
and sojourn in the land of the Philistines 7 years.
And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned
from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal
to the king for her house and her land.
Now the king was talking with. Gehazi, the servant of the man
of God. You ever wonder what's Gehazi
doing before the king? We're going to discover that in
the next few chapters. But Ghazi was there with the
king saying, right, what does the king say?
Tell me all the great things that Elijah had done.
He knew that this man worked for and worked with Elijah.
So he's just out of curiosity, you know, I'd like to hear some
of those glory stories. Can you explain some of the
amazing miraculous things that took place while you work with
Elijah? Verse 5, And while he was
telling the king how Elijah had restored the dead to life.
Behold, underline that pause. Behold being.
Check this out. Look at this.
Behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to
the king for her house and her land, and Gehazi said, My Lord,
O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elijah
restored to life. Is this coincidence?
Don't you dare say it is. This is not coincidence.
It starts with the letter P. This is Providence.
Right at a time when Gehazi was speaking to the king and the
king wants to hear stories about Elijah and what he had done for
the Lord. And this woman is coming back
from 7 years of exile so to speak.
And right when she walks into her appointment with the king to
restore her house and her land, Gehazi is talking about her.
And what happens? Verse 6.
And when the king asked the woman, she told them.
So the king appointed an official for her, saying restore
all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields,
from the day that she left the land until now.
Were kings generally good or wicked during this time in
Israel's history? And So what?
What was it that compelled this king to not just restore her
land, but say, you know what, Everything that you missed out
on these past seven years, I'm going to return to you and
restore to you. What was it that moved him?
The testimony of her son being raised from the dead, when this
king realized that God had such favor upon her and God moved on
her behalf in such a way and moved him to say, I'm willing to
help you, so let's put this together.
Back in Second Kings chapter 4, this woman receives the son.
The son dies. She goes through agonizing pain.
I'm sure as a loving mother. There are no answers right away,
but down the world, realize that the God who knows your
tomorrow's prepares you today. And how did he prepare for the
years that would come where this famine would hit?
And there would be a specific ruler and he would need a
specific story to be behind her and to support her and to
restore and to take care of her and her family.
It would take this season of pain so that it would produce a
compelling story so that she would be taken care of for the
rest of her life. That's why one reason why in the
scriptures, so why was this provides us in the word of God
so that when you are trying to make sense of this chapter,
understand that God has already written every chapter.
You just haven't read it yet and you don't understand how this
masterful supernatural author will piece it all together.
So this this is just one among many stories for you to
understand. I I don't understand this.
I don't understand why this happened now.
I don't understand why God did this only for it to lead to
this. I may not understand it, but I
know a story in my Bible of a Shunammite woman who also didn't
get it until later on. And that insight, that foresight
should grant you and I the energy and the stability and the
confidence to say all is. Well, when at this time it may
be difficult to say it because the one who loves you, cares for
you, has lived out and prepared your tomorrow's, He is worthy of
our praise. Let's thank you for this Bible
study. Father, you are beyond good to
love us enough to provide us this incredible testimony so
that we can be prepared for trials that might knock the wind
out of us. And for us who may still be
trying to make sense of what's happening with our children,
with our spouses, with our ministries, with our health,
with our finances. You've provided us this story.
You've inscribed it and Holy Writ to remind us that we can
say all is well because you have a reason and more than one
reason for why you're allowing what we are enduring.
And so, Lord, even as we sing this song in light of these
Scripture truths, may you receive the honor and the glory.
May you infuse us with a real faith, a stronger faith that
would anchor us as we walk out of these doors tonight and live
out day by day, whatever you have prepared for us.
We give you thanks for what you've done, what you will do,
and we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. All is well.
Let's stand.