Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 4. The scripture reading will be chapter 4 verses 8-25. 2 Kings 4 verses 8-25. Listen carefully to God's holy word. Now, there came a day when Elisha passed over to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually. Please, let us make a little walled-up chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table, and a chair, and a lampstand. And it shall be when he comes to us that he can turn in there." One day he came there and turned in to the upper room and rested. Then he said to Gehazi, his servant, call to the Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. And he said, to him, say now to her, behold, you have been careful for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army? And she answered, I live among my own people. So he said, what then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, truly, she has no son and her husband is old. And he said, call her. When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. Then he said, at this season next year, you shall embrace a son. And she said, no, my lord, oh, man of God, do not lie to your maidservant. And the woman conceived and bore a son at that season the next year, as Elisha had said to her. When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, my head, my head. And he said to his servant, carry him to his mother. When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. Then she called to her husband and said, please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys that I may run to the man of God and return. And he said, why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath. And she said, it will be well. And she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, drive and go forward, do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you. So she went and came to the man of God, to Mount Carmel. And it came about when the man of God saw her at a distance that he said to Gehazi, his servant, behold, yonder is the Shunammite." May the Lord bless the reading of His holy Word and the preaching of it. Let's seek His blessings now. Let's pray and ask for the Spirit of Grace to teach us. Father and God, we know that apart from our Lord Jesus Christ, we can do nothing. Apart from His Spirit residing with us and in us, apart from His illuminating ministry, we cannot know and understand the Scriptures as we ought. We are unable to believe and to love the Word of God and to walk in obedience to it. And so, Father, we ask that the third person of the Trinity would be our Teacher. That He would open His Word. That He would speak to each and every person here. And every person who will hear this message in the days to come. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The book of Nahum chapter 1 and verse 3 reads like this, The way of the Lord is in the whirlwind and in the storm. And you know, life literally and figuratively at times is really God's appointed storms sent our way. If I went around this morning, let's say this was a home Bible study, and asked you to fill out the various storms and the difficulties and irritations and the problems and the challenges that you have faced, that you're facing right now, I won't go to the next step, what are you worried about, because you shouldn't be, but we would fill up pages and pages. Two things we need to remember that should comfort us in the midst of daily lightning and thunder. First of all, we all experience them. Scriptures teach us that. That what you're going through is not unique to you amongst the people of God. And secondly, and this is the one we're not too happy to hear about, we all need them. Yes, We need the storms and the difficulties of life. This is God's appointed method, effective method to conform us to the image of Christ. The massive blows and shattering blasts, not to mention the little constant irritations smooth us and humble us and force us to submit to the script He has written and the role He has chosen for each in every one of us. That Saint William Cooper, if you've ever read anything about his life, what a difficult life he lived. Passed through a period of great crisis, or maybe periods of great crises again and again. In fact, he tried to put an end to it all one bleak morning by taking poison The attempt at suicide failed. He then hired a coach. And that's not a personal trainer. That's somebody who rides along with horses pulling the coach. Nowadays, we wouldn't know what that is. And he asked him to take him to the Thames River because he was going to throw himself from the bridge. But for some strange reason, he He could not move himself. He was restrained. The next morning, he fell upon a sharp knife, but the blade broke. He later tried to hang himself, but was found and taken down unconscious, still alive. Sometime later, he took up a Bible and began to read the book of Romans. He was gloriously saved. The God of the storms had pursued him unto the end, and he had won his heart to Christ. After a rich life of Christian experiences, but not without constant whirlwind and storm, he continued to struggle, though now he looked to Christ. Cooper sat down and recorded his summary of the Lord's dealings in the familiar words. Remember these words? God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in the unfathomable minds of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs and works His sovereign will. James tells us, and this is your proposition statement, if you have your outline open, you can see it there. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. We come to Another marvelous text here in the life of Elisha, the Shunammite woman. She lived in Shunam, a place between Mount Carmel and Mount Tabor. It's in the valley of Jezreel and oftentimes we hear that word and we think about the blood that was spilled there and the many battles that took place. But this was during a time of peace. It had rained, thank you Lord, through the ministry of Elijah, and it was a fertile valley, a beautiful place to live, the Shunem Valley. This is where she lived, and this is where Elisha oftentimes made his way through to Mount Carmel. Notice the text before us. Verse 8 says, there was a prominent woman, Literally, it means a great woman. And we're going to consider her in this whole chapter. Why? Why does the Bible call her great? Well, as we learn about her, we find out that she is considerate, she is gracious, giving, spiritually minded, strong yet submissive, tender hearted, full of faith. She is great because she is godly. This is a slice of private life. What are the people like? What's going on in those days? Well, we can look at kings and we can look at rulers and armies and battles and those kind of things. Or we can quietly look inside one particular household. in Israel in that day and that's what God the Holy Spirit shows us. A slice of private life in Israel. God working, yes, it didn't appear that way to Elijah, but God is working in the midst of his people. Point number one, a ministry of refreshment. There came a day when Elisha passed over to Shunem where there was a prominent woman, a great woman, And she persuaded him to eat food, and so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food. There's a need. See, that's where ministry begins. There's a need, and you see it, and I see it, and it's placed upon their heart. Someone takes it as their ministry opportunity. He's traveling from Carmel through the Shunem Valley. He needs rest. The prophet needs food, fellowship. He needs private time alone. And you know, the busier the life in ministry, in giving, in serving others, the greater the need for times of rest and retirement. The temptation is when it gets more difficult, you just run faster. You just say, somehow I can jam this into my schedule and it will all work out. I think we need to be careful. And there's this godly woman who recognizes the prophet's need. So she constrained him, it says here, to eat bread. She persuaded him. She had to persuade him. He didn't want to at first. You see, often times in this man's life and ministry, as it is in many ministries, people like to take advantage. Oh, this is the person I want to talk to. There's Elisha. I need his time and everybody seems to want his time. And he's trying to be careful because he has certain plans and goals and things that God has called him to do. And so he doesn't just say yes to everybody that taps him on the shoulder. So she had to persuade him. He was not to be sidetracked. He was focused. But notice after his first meal, he sense that this was a godly home. And so he returned often. You see, a godly home is a place of refreshment, and of encouragement, and rest, and peace. He returned often. So here's the application. Is your home a godly place of refuge? And you might say, well, I don't know about this morning. It's about killed us getting here. And some of us, you know, get the kids ready and all kinds of stuff going on. And by the time you get here and we get to this place, you're ready to lie down there and just have a nice rest. You're worn out. And I don't mean it isn't a place of activity and busyness and noise and all that. I just described my household. But is it a place of refuge for people who come? Are you developing the ability to make people feel at home? You know, you can do it. You start small. Maybe just one individual you have over. And, you know, it doesn't take the special, expensive recipe and weeks of preparation until you're just a nervous wreck and you're glad when it's over, oh, I hated that. You know, it's not my calling. It takes hard work and it takes practice. It takes looking around and asking the question, who needs to be invited to dinner? Who can we get to know? I can't think of a better way of getting to know one another here. You're not going to do it right now in this setting, but to invite them to lunch afterwards, and today's a great day because we have family fellowship meal. That's where I invite people to lunch. I say, I'll get this meal, then you can take us out some other time. Try that. Secondly, notice that the Shunammite woman recognizes something, doesn't she? This, verse 9, is a holy man of God. Now, who cares? Oh yeah, he's just another preacher. No, this is a holy man of God. You see, godliness is attracted to godliness. As iron sharpens iron, so one saint sharpens another, and true Christians want that and need that fellowship. You see, Christians, because of who they are in Christ, seek out the fellowship of other Christians. It's something that the Spirit of God puts within us. It's a need. So we need to ask the question again, we are receiving in our congregation, what can we give? People who are godly are a walking blessing. They value highly the Word of God. And this Shunammite woman said, this is God's messenger. We get to open up the Word of God. So notice her suggestion in verse 10 to her husband, please let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there and a table and a chair. Now she's thinking about this. What would be good for him? What does he need? What would be of help? And in a lamp stand and it shall be when he comes to us that he can Turn in there. How can we bless him? Remember, they had rooms up on the rooftop. Their rooftops were flat in those days. We could do this. We could get a separate stairway and we could build this little room and and he wouldn't even be bothered by us. And he could go up there and rest if he needed to. And how thoughtful she was. It's not let's let him have the couch and we'll corner him. and ask him those hard questions we've been wanting to ask him. Here goes. Let's get him over here. You know what? There were no strings attached here. You know why I know that? Because Elisha came back. He was welcome. He was relaxed. He could let his hair down, so to speak. He could rest. He could pray. fellowship with the godly family. It was a good place for him. It was a good thing for them. So when you give, when you open your home and you give, you'll be amazed at how much you receive in return. She honored her Lord. She served her Lord by blessing His servant. May God give us the grace to do the same. We need to do that. We move into a new building. We see many more new faces. It can't be just a couple of us. It's got to be everybody here has got to be thinking there's a new family. Let's get to know. Let's invite them over. Number two, a great blessing from the Lord. Notice verse 12, Then he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. I mean, he's been blessed and he He wants to be a blessing to her. She stood before him. Now Gehazi, we're going to read about him later on. His servant is a worldly wise, self-seeking, covetous man. You say, well, that's kind of mean. What do you know about him? Well, as you go on in the text, you read about his life. That's what he turns out to be. But he also can scope out a situation and he goes right to the bottom line. We'll see that here in this text. Call her to me. What can I do for you? He asked her. Do you need a word with the king? See, not anybody can do that. But Elisha could. Or the captain of the army. Do you need some kind of help in some way? He thought that would be a blessing. You think about it. What a great opportunity for her. But what did she do? Very simple response. I live among my own people. We are a godly people, content, self-governing, self-supporting, able to take care of our needs, trusting in the Lord, enjoying His abundant goodness in our lives. Do we need political favors? Do we really need government to take care of our every need and our every step? And the answer is, no. No thank you. We're okay. We're content. Right here. Wow. Oh, that the American people might respond in a like fashion. We are living in a day and age that you can hardly sneeze without breaking some kind of rule and law, without having to seek permission, without having to get a license, without... because government is well, everywhere. And why is that? Because government just started out that way? No. Because the American people, more and more, have looked to government to take care of them. They have rejected the Living God. They want authority and power, and no, they want bread. And sadly enough, instead of being self-disciplined, hard-working, men and women of good character, who do not need or want a handout, more and more people, call them special interest groups, whatever you want to call them, are looking to get a slice of the government pie. And so the government takes from the American people and gives to these groups here, to the squeaky wheels over And this is just the very opposite of that. No, we're fine. We're fine. That's the picture of the Christian there. Oh, that God might grant us that grace. That we might not have the spirit of Esau in our day. I don't care about my birthright. I'm hungry. I want the food now. I don't care about something that's down the road. I can't wait. I want it now for me. And we need to teach and to train our children that that's not reality. That isn't the way we need to live. Verse 14, so He said, is to be done for her, and as I answered, truly," notice this, he goes right to the bottom line, he's shrewd, he's correct, "...truly she has no son, and her husband is old." Right to the bottom line, no son, her husband's old. They are godly, they are content, their needs are taken care of, except one deep lasting We see this woman who has this great heart, a mother's heart, a caring heart, a giving heart, in an Israelite home with the lamp going out. Remember Hannah? Remember Samuel's wife, Hannah, in 1 Samuel chapter 1? read about her. Oh, she wanted children, and her husband had another wife, and she had all kinds of children, and Hannah was, as the Scripture puts it, greatly distressed, and she wept bitterly before the Lord. Year after year, they would go up and they would worship, and she would pour out her heart, she would pour out her soul to the Lord. Oh, that mother's heart. Children are a blessing from the Lord. They truly are that. Notice verses 15 and 16. He says, call her, and when she'd come into the doorway there, stood in the doorway, he said, all this, or at this season, next year, you shall embrace a son. And she says, no, my Lord, don't even go there, please. If there's a possibility of that not happening, please don't even say, anything about it. You have no idea what my heart is like talking about that subject. Do not lie to your maidservant. Now, she's not calling him a liar. But she says, unless it's absolutely true, I don't even want to talk to you about it. But what happens? The woman conceived and bore a son at that season the next year. As Elisha had said to her. Can you picture that? There's nothing like a blessing from the Lord when they are acknowledged in a godly context. What great rejoicing and thanksgiving and praise. That's what was taking place in that household. Children are a blessing from the Lord. But I want to say this to you, they are not the ultimate blessing. God blesses us in a myriad of ways. They certainly are a blessing. We thank the Lord for them, but they are not the ultimate blessing. We will see that as we go on in this text. Look at point number three. Grief, loss, and testing. Verse 18, When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father, to the reapers. Now, what a wonderful picture, at least initially, it's a wonderful picture. Here's his elderly father. And it's during the time of harvest, so it's a time of abundance, of blessing. They've done all this work and they've prayed and they've waited for the early and the latter rains. And now the harvest is there. They know what they're going to have. They're rejoicing in the Lord. It's a great time. And then this elderly man sees his young boy come running out to him. Do you not think his heart just swelled as he saw his son come to him? What a wonderful moment of blessing and joy for this man. He was able to take his young boy out to the fields with him. Someday this will be yours. But then verse 19, and he said to him, My head, my head. And he said to his servant, carry him to his mother. That strong, godly woman with that huge servant heart, so grateful for this blessing. But then we read, when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him, and went out." Here she is. Her young boy is brought to her. He's seated there. He's clinging to her. He's in pain. And today, you see, we have a myriad of options, don't we? take him to emergency right now and then there's all the tests and everything and it's amazing how we trust so fully in medical doctors, the medical profession today and you know, what would you have done back then? You can't do anything about it? Your son sits on your lap until he dies? I mean, they probably would have diagnosed this and tried a number of things and maybe saved him. That's the mindset today. It's a blessing, but it's also a curse. Because today we think everything is in our hands, you see. Life and death is in my hands or in the hands of the doctor. And our eyes immediately go there. I'm not saying they shouldn't go there. But they should go to the Lord first of all. So here he is, her only son, the son of her husband's old age, the joy of her mother's heart, the future of this family name, and he's sitting there maybe with a fever and agony, crying out, help me mother, holding tightly to her breast, struggling for life. She holds her young blessing with a mother's strength and she prays, oh Lord, please, Do something. Please. Take care of my child. His spirit leaves his body and he is gone. Wow. Alfred Edersheim wisely writes the following. But why such a trial and blasting of long-cherished, short-lived hope? Was it that prosperity was difficult to bear and had the giver been forgotten in the gift? Was this it? Or was the boy nurtured too much for the parents and too little for God? Did they need this or did the child need it? Perhaps in the tumult of thoughts and feelings, the Shunammite had not yet asked herself any of these questions. But oh, you know the questions that come upon you and me when difficult times flood over us. For it is only afterwards, he puts it in quotation marks, afterwards that affliction bringeth forth The peaceable fruits of righteousness. A final point this morning. The strength and victory of faith. There's room for only one thought. One overwhelming thought. What will it be? Now, in a situation like that, oftentimes there's a myriad of thoughts, but one must focus, and it's very difficult when you've lost someone. It's very difficult when you've lost the job, or you've lost your health, or whatever it is, you see, to focus clearly. But there must be one thought, and here is the thought in the context, where is your God? God, where are you? You have life and death in your hands, we do not. So I ask you, where is your lighthouse in the midst of the stormy sea that you might find safe harbor? Where would you go? What would your response be? What would your first response be? Where would you go? The object of faith of your life? Is it in fact the Lord Jesus Christ? And would you cry out to Him? Look at verse 21. And she went up and laid Him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind Him and went out. That's her focus. It's the man of God. This child is the Lord's child. If anyone can help, it's that one who brings the word of the living God, who brought the word initially saying, a year from now, you're going to have a child. My hope is in the Lord. He made heaven and earth, and He gave us this child. He took this child. And that's where I'm going. And so, she puts him on the bed of the prophets. I must lay my burden somewhere, and people in the world lay their burdens all over the place, in the local bar or whatever, just to numb the pain. I don't know how people do it, frankly. Turn to Matthew 11. This is where we are to go, not just once. But again and again, yes, in those hours early in the morning, 1.30, 2.30, 3.30, it's dark and you're wide awake and the pain is there. Where do you take the burden? Matthew 11 verse 28 and following, Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my load is light." You see, it's either the yoke of the Lord Jesus Christ and an intimate relationship with Him, or it's the yoke of sin. In various forms in this world, and that's a heavy, heavy burden that no one can bear. And yet, outside of Jesus Christ, everyone carries that huge load of guilt and of sin until they come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And so I ask you, have you left your sin with Him? Has He taken it? Has He taken it? Well, this is where the woman went in the Old Testament, you see. This picture of Christ is Elisha himself. She went to Christ. She put her son on Elisha's bed. And notice in verses 22 and 3, she calls to her husband and she asks, please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys and I may run to the man of God and return. He says, why will you go to him today? It's neither new moon nor Sabbath. What's the special occasion? And she said, it will be well. It's going to be OK. Don't worry. So she composes herself. She reins in her emotions. She moves by faith. I must see the prophet. I must seek the face of the Lord, is what we would say. She tells her husband, it's going to be well. Now, was she lying to her husband? No. It was a statement of faith. She was a woman of faith. This is in God's hands. And I'm taking it to the Lord right now. It's going to be okay. 24, she says, when the donkey was saddled, she said to her servant, listen, you drive like you have never driven before. Don't turn to the right, don't slow down, whatever. You go as fast as you can go, unless I can't take it, and then I will tell you. So she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. We must reach the man of God. Go to Elisha. Even in that hour of bitterest agony, she had no longer any doubt. She believed and was not disappointed in the hour of our keenest grief when all seems empty and hopeless. And the one only child of our hopes lies dead in the upper room, yet looking to Jesus to be enabled to say, it shall be well. Now that's faith. In the Christian context, you see, it's not wishful thinking. That's reality. That's the reality of the gospel and the hope of the resurrection from the dead. How do non-believers comfort one another Be strong. You'll be okay. I'm sorry. But they don't have those words of substance and of hope because they don't have the good news of the gospel. They don't know anything of an empty tomb. They don't know of the return of Christ. They don't know the glories of heaven that are theirs, that are ours. It shall be well. This is faith indeed, as Edersheim writes. and victory over the world. To put Jesus over against everything. To take Him as our all in all. That's what you must do. He says, and why not? He is all in all. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. I can't understand his ways and his timing, why he does what he does. He hasn't called us to second guess him, and he hasn't called us to explain every single detail. He doesn't answer all of your questions or mine. He is God. We are the creature. We need to never lose sight of that. He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Don't you see it? Who can understand these words and these things? Who can understand the ways of God? They are beyond us. They are higher than we are. We are to do like the Shunammite woman. We are to trust in the Lord and leave it with Him. That is so hard to do, because you see, it keeps coming back, doesn't it? and it keeps gnawing at us, and it keeps talking to us, and we have to keep taking it over. Mentally, we need to take it right to Him and leave it with Him. Some people carry burdens throughout their life. Don't give up. Don't lose heart. He is on the throne, even though you may not understand His ways with you. Deep in the unfathomable minds of never failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs and works His sovereign will. And we rest in that. Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. And what He pleases is to bless you and me and His Son for all of eternity. We're safe in Jesus. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, how can it be put into words how great You are? How matchless are Your ways. They are past finding outs. They are inscrutable, Lord. Who can scrutinize them and look at them and analyze them and put You in a test tube? It is only the fool who stands in judgment over God and His sovereign ways. It is the saint who humbles themselves under Your mighty hand that You might give grace and that You might raise us up in Your timing, Lord, in Your timing. Please, Father, use Your Word today to comfort and encourage the saints in this room. Use your word to bring your elect to yourself. They believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, seeing Him as He really is, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. God come in the flesh to die on the cross for sinners in their place. That through faith in Him they might have eternal life. Eternal, blessed life. We thank you. the hope you give us because of our Savior. In His name we pray, Amen.