Saturday, May 31, 2014

2 Kings 4:8-10 -- On Being Great

"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.
And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
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."
2 Kings 4:8-10


This is an interesting story, about a "great woman" and Elisha.  He passes by her house a lot, and each time, she feeds him.  After this has been going on for a while, she convinces her husband to add a guest room, just for him.  I am not sure if that is what made her great, or if she was a leader in the area or what, but pretty cool thing to do for someone.  And the story continues to be pretty cool, on both sides.  Since this someone was a prophet, he asked his servant what he could do for her.  His servant mentions that she doesn't have any children, and her husband is old... presumably meaning that children are unlikely/impossible.  And so the prophet calls her and tells her that she will have a son.  Her response is "Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid," which makes me think that the unlikely/impossible chance was more toward the impossible.
According to the prophet's words, she has a son... and when he is grown, and out with his father, he falls ill, is taken to his mother, and dies in her arms.  She lays him on the bed in the prophet's guest room, and immediately sets out to find the prophet.  When she gets to him, she says "Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?"  ... And she stays with the prophet until he comes and brings her son back from the dead (or out of the coma, or whatever it was medically that had happened to him).  Now that is a great woman. :)  God watched out for her, and helped her in her time of need.  But let's not forget that she worked for that miracle, and even before she knew a son was *possible,* she watched out for God's prophet.  Today, let's be great, as this woman was.  Let's also do God's will and help the people that he entrusts to our care... strangers or not.  And then, when things go wrong for us, we can have confidence and faith, as this great woman did, that God will return the favor. :)

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