2 Kings 8:1 Now Elisha has 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.”
We first see the Shunamite woman in 2 Kings 4. She sees Elisha, a man of God, often traveling through her town and offers him hospitality—food and drink—ultimately building a room for him to use when he is in town. He repays her with a prophesy of a son to be born the next year. The son grows but becomes sick with heatstroke one day and dies. Elisha brings the child back to life, at some point prophesies the impending famine, and implores them to leave for seven years to avoid the famine.
2 Kings 8:2 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 for seven years.
What strikes me about this woman is something we don’t hear much about, her faith. She reaches out to Elisha in hospitality because she has faith that he truly in a prophet of God. When her son dies, she has faith that Elisha, God’s prophet, can restore him. When Elisha tells her about the famine, she has faith that God sent her family this message. When she returns, she goes to see the king about restoring her lands because she has faith that he will, and he does.
2 Kings 8:3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and land.
Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for this clear picture of living and acting in faith. Help me to choose faith over fear, Lord. Draw me closer. Amen.
2 Kings 8:4 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 appeal to the king for her house and land.
Have a blessed day.
My faith, my life, my teaching–it's all a work in progress.