It Will Be Alright

Tragedy often comes when we least expect it.  It leaps up and yells “Surprise!”  We didn’t ask for it.  We didn’t want it.  But it came anyway.  My pastor used II Kings 4:18-37 to give us a model of the proper way to respond when life’s calamities occur.  Let’s dig into the sermon recap.

The story begins with a typical day.  A father is out gathering the harvest from the fields.  Like many fathers, he brought his son along with him.  This was an opportunity for the son to be involved in the harvest.  He’s learning alongside his dad.  While there, the son begins to complain of a headache.  The work must continue, so his father asks one of the servants to take the son home to his mother.  His mom holds him on her lap.  She comforts him like only a mother can.  And then tragedy strikes.  While the mother is holding him, the son dies.

This is no ordinary day.  The mother is known in the Bible as the Shunammite woman.  We first hear of her earlier in the chapter.  She is a woman of wealth married to an older man.  They have no children when we first see her.  She has a generous heart and decides to build a room onto her house for Elisha, the prophet.  She did not build the room for acclaim or recognition.  Her hospitable heart just wanted to provide shelter for the man of God.  Elisha is moved by her generosity and lets her know that she will embrace a son.  And now this child, this promise, lies dead in her arms.

I know I’m not the only one that has situations that are dead.  There are things that I believe God for, things that I’ve trusted God for,… and they seem dead.  Man, let me clear that up.  They are dead.  I poke and prod them and there is no life.  So what do we do when tragedy strikes?  How do we handle the dead situations that seemingly come from nowhere?  Take a look at how the Shunammite woman handles this unordinary day.

She remains stable.  The Bible doesn’t record her crying hysterically or falling out beside her son.  She carries her son into the room that she built for Elisha.  She lays him on the bed and shuts the door.  She puts her son in a place where surely God has been and leaves him there.  Now listen, I’m not so saved and strong that I think I could do what she did.  Without knowing the end of the story, my mind would place that in the category of foolish.  But everything looks crazy and seems insane until you see how God moves.  I have many issues that cause me to act irrationally.  How much farther along would I be on my faith journey if I was stable enough to take my issues to the altar and leave them there?

The Shunammite woman remained spiritual.  Faced with an unspeakable tragedy, she decided to go straight to the man of God.  She doesn’t tell her husband what has happened.  He finds it odd that she wants to go see Elisha on just another typical day.  When he asks why the need for the journey, she says “It is well.”  She speaks life over a dead situation.  She says what is contrary to the naked eye.  It is well.  When life hit her, she kept her focus on God’s promise and plan for her.  Even when the situation seemed hopeless.

Once she reaches Elisha, she remains steadfast.  Elisha sees that her soul is distressed.  He sends Gehazi ahead of them with instructions to bring the child back to life.  Gehazi fails.  But the woman is not deterred.  She has come to the man of God.  Elisha has sent someone else to help her, and the help ends up not helping.  And yet the woman still believes.  I know about being disappointed by the church.  Church people in my life have missed the mark, and the reality is that I’ve missed the mark for other people in the church.  But that doesn’t give us the right to stop believing in God.  We should be steadfast like this Shunammite woman.

Elisha goes into the room alone with the boy and shuts the door.  He lays himself on the child and the child’s body warms up.  No movement still.  No other signs of life.  Elisha walks back and forth and then stretches himself on the child again.  And this time….this time, the child sneezes seven times and opens his eyes.  Her son is alive!!!  Her prayers have been answered.

Her problem didn’t have a quick fix.  She didn’t name it and claim it once and receive miraculous intervention.  She remained faithful.  And my Lord, she had some major discouragements along the way.  Ya’ll when life hits us hard, we have to shift our focus and mindset.  We have to be thankful for each small sign we receive that the Lord is working things out in our favor.  When we step back and look at the small signs of life in our dead situations we can rejoice.  That’s when we know that it will be alright.  #wepreach

Think about these questions:

• What is your initial response to tragedy? When the shock wears off how do you proceed?
• How often do you read the Bible for personal understanding?
• Is it okay to cry or be distressed when life is hard? Why or why not?
• When situations are not going as you would like, do you look for small signs of progress?
• Do you meditate on the negative aspects of life? Is it hard for you to believe in a positive outcome?