This month, this year, this second, everything may not feel all right, but I pray that the Lord will bless you with the hope and confidence to say "everything will be all right" in the end.
When life is good, the daisies are singing outside my window, and not a cloud is in view. The sunshine glimmers through the glass, keeping me from the outside, but the warmth is felt everywhere I go.
However, in a split second, I see the hint of a dark cloud. With a pointed finger and waving hand, my heart begins to tremble. As I make my way to the porch, a raindrop hits my nose, and I slam the door hard like its existence never happened. When a crack of thunder startles me, I realize that life is similar to the weather. In a second, our lives can turn from good days to bad.
When Things Are Not "Alright"
In the story with the Shunammite's son, Scripture tells us that the child who once blessed the woman dies from some head injury or pain. Sitting upon his mother's lap, he goes limp, and she's left childless once again.
“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. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out. 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.’" (2 Kings 4:20-21, NIV)
A few years before this incident, the Shunammite woman met Elisha, the man of God referenced in this account. Urging him to stay at their home, the woman and her husband hosted his stay anytime he came to Shunem. In response to her hospitality, Elisha wished to bless the woman, but she declined. After discussing with Gehazi, his servant, he said to her, "About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms" (2 Kings 4:16, NIV). And despite her initial doubt (verse 17), the woman "became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her" (2 Kings 4:17, NIV).
Immediately after the child is pronounced dead, I find it shocking that the Shunammite doesn't tell her husband. Although he knew the child was ill and sent him to his mother (verse 18-19), verse 23 indicates that he didn't see the entire picture.
"Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath" (2 Kings 4:23a, NIV).
What I find even more surprising, however, is that as this woman's day turns from bad to worse, her response is written in faith, truth, and grace.
When Faith Declares That “It Is Well”
"It's all right," she said. She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you." 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! 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.” (2 Kings 4:23b-26, NIV)
In the King James Version of this Scripture, the woman says, "It shall be well" in verse 23 and "It is well," in verse 26. The Hebrew word here for well is šālôm, meaning completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, health, prosperity, and safeness. Amid the external circumstances, this woman can say, "It's all right," and I wonder, are we able to look fear, chaos, even death in the eye and say, "Everything is all right?”
While the Shunammite's faith is admirable, Scripture reveals to us that the only way she possesses this character is because of her faith in the one who holds tomorrow.
"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." "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes’?” (2 Kings 4:27-28, NLT)
To us, it's evident the woman is disturbed and disheartened, expressing grave concern. She questions why God would bless her with a son through the blessing of Elisha when she didn't ask for one in the first place and feared the prophecy would never actually come true. Now, here she is, broken and weary at the feet of Elisha, yet, when he asks if everything is okay with her husband and child a few verses prior, she replies, "Everything is all right.”
Before the healing occurs or even knowing that it would, the Shunammite woman looks doubt, anxiety, and questioning in the face and says, "It is well." She had no guarantee, but her faith blessed her. Today, can we look at those things that haunt us and say, "Everything is all right”?
The dream you've been chasing but can't seem to reach; everything is all right.
The desire to be fulfilled doesn't seem to happen when you want it to; everything is all right.
The loved one that's taken too soon, or the diagnosis eating your disabled soul; everything is all right.
The struggles you fight day after day but can't seem to win; everything will be all right.
This month, this year, this second, everything may not feel all right, but I pray that the Lord will bless you with the hope and confidence to say "everything will be all right" in the end.
"When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he did. When she came, he said, "Take your son." She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.” (2 Kings 4: 32-37, NIV)
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/Marcos Calvo
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