The Shunammite Woman
2 Kings 4:8-37
Elisha was the man of God. He was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom and he travelled from town to town doing the Lords work. He would have to rely on the Lord to feed him and the Lord would cause somebody to show him hospitality. This chapter begins with Elisha travelling to a small town called Shunem. I want to talk about the woman from that town who received blessings from God. In that time the people would have to rely on the prophets such as Elisha in order to hear from the Lord. Since Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us to do the work that the prophets use to do. I want to look at how the Lord blessed this woman through her interaction with the prophet of God, and show how the Lord can bless our lives in the same way through the Holy Spirit.
Elisha worked in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in a time when people were far away from God. What was it about this woman that cause her to receive such great blessings from God, while living in such a Godless time? She wasn’t anything special, in fact her name isn’t even recorded, and yet she received a great touch from God. What was it about her life that caused God to intervene in such a great way? If God was able to empower the life of a nameless woman, living in such a time, then surely He can touch our lives too. There are four things that I want to pick out about her, that we need to emulate if we are to encounter Gods power as she did. She wanted to make the man of God welcome, she made room for him, she received Gods promise, and finally she held on to that promise even though it seemed to be dead.
1. Making God welcome.
From the start it is obvious that this woman had a hunger for God as she was able to recognise Gods man when he entered the town and immediately invited him into her house. In fact she didn’t just invite the man in she urged him into her house. She was desperate to be of service to the man of God so he obliged and came for a meal. In fact she looked after him so well that every time he was in town he would stop by.
Do we really want to encounter God? Do we really want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit? Do we really seek God? We may think you have the Holy Spirit, we speak in tongues, we occasionally prophesy, but do we know the full extent of his power. The closer I have got to God in my life, the more I realise how little I know of Him. If not the only way that we are going to discover that is to urge God to come into our house, which is our hearts, through his Spirit.
If God does come however, is He going to find it somewhere worth coming back to. Are we willing to make our hearts somewhere that the Holy Spirit wants to return to again and again. If this woman’s house had been filthy and full of vermin, the chances are, Elisha would never have wanted to return. Many people ask God for his power but expect him to come and rest in our filthy hearts. The woman made her home welcoming and fed the man of God well, and so he wanted to return again and again.
If we are to be a resting place for the Holy Spirit we need to earnestly be seeking that visitation and we must make sure hearts are welcoming to the Spirit. Prior to revival coming to a church in Argentina the pastor found himself praying, Lord send revival or I die. He didn’t want to live any longer unless the Lord came to his church in power. How much are we seeking that visitation from God?
2.Making room for God.
When Elisha had been coming regularly this woman approached her husband and proposed that they make him Elisha a room so that he can not only visit but stay. She expanded her house to ensure that the man of God could not only drop by but dwell. She ensured that it was fitted out with everything that the man of God would need. I assume that her husband was also a godly man as he obviously agrees with her plans. The woman’s desire to have the man of God resident in her house not only bless her but would bless her whole household. If the Spirit of God starts to dwell in His power in our lives and in our churches, it wont just effect us. but everyone around us.
They set about and build a room for the man of God. This would have taken time, money and effort. The woman’s desire to have the power of God dwelling in her house meant that it was worth it. If we want Gods power to be permanently dwelling in our lives then we need to count the cost of that. It doesn’t come easy. It will mean us having to be stretched. The woman’s house was made bigger to encompass the needs of the man of God. If we want Gods power in our lives then we need to be Spiritually stretched. This can be a painful process. There are many people who desire Gods power in their lives, or in their churches, but the fact is, He has nowhere to stay.
God wants to stretch you Spirit. He wants us to expand to take in all that he has for us. God can stretch us in many ways. It may be that he wants you to get up a hour earlier each morning to seek Him in prayer. He may want you to enter that place you have been avoiding, or to start that work that you have been putting off because it appears to hard. He may want you to tell the gospel to that person you think doesn’t want to hear. Unless we allow ourselves to be stretched for God then he has nowhere to enter and dwell in his power.
3. Receiving from God.
God blessed this Shunemmite woman with more than what she ever dreamed or hoped for. Why did God bless her so greatly? It was because she had a desire to serve the man of God without expecting anything back. This woman’s primary motive was to serve. It was while the man of God was resting in his room that he had the desire to bless the woman. Even when asked, the woman didn’t desire to be given anything, she was content with what she had.
How much different her attitude is towards God compared to how ours can sometimes be? We can so often come before God making requests remembering, Jesus’ words, that our God is a good Father who wants to bless us with good gifts. That is great but we can often forget that we are first called to serve the master, before considering our own needs.
Luke 17:7
"Suppose one of you had a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, `Come along now and sit down to eat’?
8:Would he not rather say, `Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?
If our primary motive when we come to God is to serve Him, then he will ensure that we also are blessed. Just as it was, while Elisha was resting in the room the woman had prepared for him, that he sought to find out how he could bless the woman, so also while we are seeking to serve God He will ensure that we are blessed. Elisha offered the woman as much as even speaking to the rulers of the land on her behalf. When she refused, being content in what she had, he found out exactly what would bless her. Likewise God will bless us in the same way if we seek to serve him first. He will bless us with the best gift that we could have, new birth.
The woman sought to make the man of God welcome in her house, and so he brought new birth to the household. When we make the Holy Spirit welcome in our live and in our church, he also brings new birth to the household. He brings the unsaved in and causes them to be born again. If we want to see revival, we have to stop coming to God asking what He can do for us, but asking what we can do for Him. It is in the mist of us seeking to make Him welcome that God will bring in new birth.
4.Holding on to the promise.
The woman had made the man of God welcome. She had expanded her house to make him a place to dwell, and because of that she had received a promise more than she ever could have managed. She had also started to see that promise grow.
Years later we find that the promise God had given the woman had died. Her son whom she cherished, and never thought she could have, had died in her arms. She had been given more than she could have hoped for, and now it had all been taken away in one foul swoop. She was in bitter distress and would have been heart broken. Her dreams would have disappeared.
What did she do? She laid the child on the man of Gods bed, she didn’t tell anybody else, and she ran straight to Elisha. It was only when the man of God returned to the place prepared for him and saw the problem that the promise was resurrected. Some of you might be in the same situation. You have been in the position where you have sought God and received His blessing. The promise grew for a while but then you have seen it die before your eyes. You are helpless and feel in a worse situation than you did before. A ministry that should have lasted may have gone, a friend won to Christ may have backslidden.
If you are in that situation I have good news for you today. God is faithful to his promises, and is able to do the miraculous by raising up what appears to be hopelessly dead. You need to do just as the Shunemmite woman did. Don’t look to anything else. Don’t try in your own strength, you will just end up with a propped up corpse. Don’t speak negativity, telling everybody it has dead. Instead lay the problem down in the Holy Spirits resting place and go straight to God. The woman grabbed Elisha by the feet and then refused to leave him. If your promise has died, grab hold of God and don’t let go until you have seen it restored. People might try to push you off, as Elisha servant did, but God looks at your distress and wants to intercede.
Conclusion.
Just as Elisha visited the town I believe God is ready to visit this place. I have a quickening in my Spirit and I am expecting God to visit in power. You may have an anointing of the Holy Spirit, but I am talking about the kind of power that Elisha, Peter, Paul and even Christ encountered. I believe that God is ready to pour that kind of blessing upon this nation, but He is calling his church to be ready.
God is coming to town. Will our hearts be ready as the Shunemmite’s house was? Will we be urging him to come and visit or just letting him pass by like most of the rest of the town did. We can have Gods power move through an area and yet miss out because we don’t desire it and haven’t got our hearts ready to receive it. We should be seeking God more than desiring to live. Are we willing to be stretched? Are we willing to serve first and receive his blessing second. Gods power is coming, are we ready to receive it.
