Recently, I was reading the amazing Old Testament story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37. The setting is the town of Shunem in northern Israel near Jazreel; Shunem was a frequent stopping place for the prophet Elisha here called “a holy man of God who passes by us regularly”.
The scriptures call this Shunammite lady a “notable woman.” She was hospitable. She and her husband opened their home to Elisha when he was in the area. She had a generous heart, was creative, and thought “outside the box.” Her life of generous hospitality birthed the desire to add on to their home a prophet’s “bed and breakfast,” where Elisha was welcome to stay whenever he was in the area. The Shunammite woman and her husband built the prophet’s chamber for Elisha and he came often to Shunem and stayed there.
Elisha, in appreciation for this woman’s generous kindness, asked the Shunammite woman what he could do for her. Could he speak to the king on her behalf or talk to the commander of the army for her? The humble woman replied, “I dwell among my own people.” Her attitude was one of satisfaction and gratefulness – not grasping for favors. Elisha persistently looked for a way to bless this woman. Finally his servant Gehazi told him that the woman was barren – she had no son and her husband was old. Upon hearing of her barrenness, Elisha had Gehazi call her. He prophetically spoke to her that about next year at this time she would embrace a son. In astonishment the woman exclaimed, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!” Miraculously, she conceived and, as Elisha had prophesied, she bore a son the following year.
A few years later the child was in the field with his father and the reapers, and he complained of his head hurting. A servant carried him to his mother and he died as she was holding him. (My Bible notes that he may have had an inflammation of his brain produced by sunstroke.) What the Shunammite woman does next examples courageous hope and faith for restoration in the face of death and tragedy. She carries him to the room she and her husband had prepared for Elisha and lays him on the bed that Elisha sleeps on when he stays at her house. Then she calls to her husband to send a young man and a donkey that she “may run to the man of God and come back.” Her husband asks her what’s happening. Her faith-filled response is, “All is well!” She hurries with the servant and the donkey to Elisha at Mount Carmel. Elisha sees her coming and sends his servant Gehazi to ask about her husband and son. Again, her courageous response to Gehazi is, “It is well.”
The Shunammite woman falls at Elisha’s feet, and he realizes her soul is in deep distress. As Elisha becomes aware of the boy’s death he quickly sends his staff with his servant Gehazi to the boy. Gehazi lays the staff on the face of the boy, but there’s no response. Meanwhile, the persistent Shunemmite woman told Elisha, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So Elisha follows the woman back to her home. He goes in to the boy in his prophet’s chamber, shuts the door and prays to the Lord. Then he stretches himself out on the child; the child becomes warm. He returns to the household, walks back and forth, then stretches himself again on the boy in the prophet’s chamber. The boy sneezed seven times, opened his eyes, and Elisha told Gehazi to call the Shunammite woman. She came to the chamber, and Elisha asked her to pick up her son. The woman fell at Elisha’s feet, bowed to the ground, picked up her restored son and went out. That’s the end of the story as the scripture records it.
As I meditated before the Lord about the actions of this remarkable woman of faith, the Lord encouraged my heart relating to His ministry of restoration in our lives. The Shunammite woman moved in persistent faith when tragedy hit. She remained in hope, divine hope, the hallmark of the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives. She remained in hope when reason argued against it – the scriptures said her son was dead. Yet she stated, “All is well.” At the heart of Christianity is the gospel that brings hope of restoration in every dimension of any human’s experience.
At the end of the book of Job we read a biblical definition of restoration in Job 42:10-12, when Job prayed for his friends, the Lord turned the captivity of Job and restored to him an abundance way beyond his original condition. Restoration in the Word and in our Christian lives, means to bring back to a former or original condition. Jesus speaks to his disciples in Mark 10:29, 30, that those who choose to leave this world’s comforts for his sake and the gospel’s, will receive a hundred-fold restoration. So often when we face loss, death, destruction, or relationships that the evil one has stolen and destroyed, we try in our futile efforts to work our own restoration. I’ve found that usually makes matters worse. However, when I come to the Lord, repent for my sinful ways and my lack of surrendering situations to the Lord, the agent of restoration, the blessed Holy Spirit, Joel 2:28, 29, brings a wholeness of recovery that is way beyond anything I could have imagined. (The Shunemmite woman ran to the man of God as fast as she could. She didn’t try to fix her problem herself.)
Jesus speaks of restoration for us personally in John 10:10, when he tells us he came to bring us life – more abundant life. This is his promise that we can stand on in persistent faith in the power of His Spirit.
Our Lord speaks of restoration for his Body, the church, in John 13:34 and 35, where he opens the door to the meaning of restoration in the church – his Body loving one another, serving one another, laying their lives down for one another. This love is not just a feeling or preference; it is love that is expressed in actions and how we relate to others.
Only God can bring about the promise of restoration. He calls us to turn to him for himself – (not for what we can get from him), to turn to him for who he is and to ask in persistent faith for him to cleanse and restore us personally and corporately.
What is in our lives that we are crying out to God to be restored? The gospel message is a message of faith, hope, and restoration. Like the Shunemmite woman and like Elisha, let us move in persistent, courageous faith, turning our focus totally to the Lord. Can you just imagine God’s life flowing in our congregations as we stand in corporate praise and worship to our faithful God as his Body of restored individuals and restored communities of faith testifying, “It is well with my soul!”
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