The Shunammite Women

Day 1

Her Character: Generous and hospitable, she was a wealthy and capable woman who showed great kindness to one of God's prophets.

Her Sorrow: To lose the son that had been promised her.

Her Joy: To experience just how deep God's faithfulness goes.

2 Kings 4:8-37

The Shunammite's Son Restored to Life

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, "I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us."
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite." So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, "Tell her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?' " She replied, "I have a home among my own people."
14 "What can be done for her?" Elisha asked. Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old."
15 Then Elisha said, "Call her." So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 "About this time next year," Elisha said, "you will hold a son in your arms." "No, my lord," she objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!"
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, who was with the reapers. 19 "My head! My head!" he said to his father. His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." 20 After 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, then shut the door and went out.
22 She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."
23 "Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath." "It's all right," she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' " "Everything is all right," she said.
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why."
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. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."
30 But the child's mother said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, "The boy has not awakened."
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he 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.

2 Kings 8:1-6

The Shunammite's Land Restored

1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." 2 The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. 4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done." 5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life." 6 The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."


Day 2

Hospitality

Six times the New Testament exhorts believers to be hospitable. There's no talk of fatted calves or extravagant dinners in these passages; just a simple exhortation to make sure those around you are taken care of. As Romans 12:13 puts it, "Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." You never know, you just might entertain angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)

Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for all of the amazing people who have shown me hospitality. Bless all of the wonderful people who invite me into there homes (or email boxes). Thank you for all of the people that encourage me, love me and pray for me in my times of need. Thank you for the opportunity to share in your word each day with these faithful people.

Day 3

2 Kings 4:18-28
18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 "My head! My head!" he said to his father. His father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." 20 After 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, then shut the door and went out.
22 She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return."
23 "Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath." "It's all right," she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' " "Everything is all right," she said.
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why."
28 "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?"

Have you ever been able to say, "It's all right" even when something bad has happened to you or to someone you love? Why would you say such a thing during a difficult time?

Heavenly Father, Your promises never fail me. Give me the faith of the Shunammite women to know that when you have made a promise to me you will fulfill it. Lord, remind me that you are big enough to overcome everything that comes in my path, even death.

Day 4

"It's all right." Can you express that sentiment even when it seems like your world is crashing in on you? Perhaps not. Remember, however, that even when tragedy strikes, he's there. Trust his word and gain assurance from the Shunammite women who, in the midst of appalling circumstances, could say, "It's all right."

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? ~Numbers 23:19

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles. ~2 Corinthians 1:3-4

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. ~2 Corinthians 1:20

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
~Hebrews 10:23

Day 5

Reflect on: 2 Kings 4:8-37

Praise God that he never overlooks even a small kindness performed out of love for him.

Offer thanks for the kindness you have experienced at the hands of others.

Confess your tendency to overlook others' needs because you are so focused on your own.

Ask God to make you jealous for opportunities to care for others in basic and practical ways.

Lift your Heart. Like the lilies of the field, the Shunammite woman didn't worry about God's provision and so experienced it abundantly. Ask for an opportunity this week to perform an act of practical kindness or hospitality for someone else. Consider lending your prayers, your gifts, and your energy on a regular basis to a group or ministry working to bring justice to those most in need of it.

Lord, show me someones need today. Then help me break out of my own small world and find a way to show your love to that person.