Have you ever done something generous, truly expecting nothing in return, and then received a blessing far greater than you could ever imagine?
That’s
what happened to this Shunammite woman.
II Kings 4:8-17 One day Elisha went to
Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a
meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She
said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy
man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof
and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can
stay there whenever he comes to us.”
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down
there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the
Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha
said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can
be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of
the army?’”
She
replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi
said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in
the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,”
Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
“No,
my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”
17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same
time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
Our
Faithful God saw this woman’s humble, generous and content heart. Elisha experienced
it, too! I love how the woman showed true contentment by not even mentioning
anything she needed or wanted when Elisha asked her.
Where
can you and I humbly and generously serve others from an attitude of contentment?
Our Faithful God has and will provide what He knows we need!
