A Promised Son

God's Creative Word
God Calls For Justice:  Justice Enacted
A King Acts on a Widow's Behalf

2 Kings 4:8-17

The Message

⁸ One day Elisha passed through Shunem. A leading lady of the town talked him into stopping for a meal. And then it became his custom: Whenever he passed through, he stopped by for a meal.
 ^9-10 "I'm certain," said the woman to her husband, "that this man who stops by with us all the time is a holy man of God. Why don't we add on a small room upstairs and furnish it with a bed and desk, chair and lamp, so that when he comes by he can stay with us?"
 ¹¹ And so it happened that the next time Elisha came by he went to the room and lay down for a nap.
 ¹² Then he said to his servant Gehazi, "Tell the Shunammite woman I want to see her." He called her and she came to him.
 ¹³ Through Gehazi Elisha said, "You've gone far beyond the call of duty in taking care of us; what can we do for you? Do you have a request we can bring to the king or to the commander of the army?"
    She replied, "Nothing. I'm secure and satisfied in my family."
 ¹⁴ Elisha conferred with Gehazi: "There's got to be something we can do for her. But what?"
    Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man."
 ¹⁵ "Call her in," said Elisha. He called her and she stood at the open door.
 ¹⁶ Elisha said to her, "This time next year you're going to be nursing an infant son."
    "O my master, O Holy Man," she said, "don't play games with me, teasing me with such fantasies!"
 ¹⁷ The woman conceived. A year later, just as Elisha had said, she had a son.

For Reflection

In God anything is possible.  The Shunammite woman's hospitality went beyond the conventional.  Her hospitality was rewarded not because she expected a reward for her efforts, but precisely because she expected no reward at all.  How often to you give with out expectation of a return?

 

Pray

that you will offer hospitality with no expectation for return.