O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O LORD--how long?--Psalm 6:1-3
read
2 Kings 4:20, 24-29
In the expanded passage (beginning in verse 8, Elisha meets this Shunnamite woman who has no son. He promises her that she will have a son, and she does. As a young man, though, he dies. She gets her servant, saddles up a donkey and rides to meet the "holy man," and confronts him, accusing him of giving her false hopes. "Did I ask for a son?," she asks him. Elisha then tells his servant, Gehazi, to run and place his staff across the boy's face. For reasons unknown, this achieved nothing. When Elisha arrived, he laid on the son, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. The son was revived.
think
Have you ever felt the bitter sting of shattered hopes and desires?
I can say that I have, but not as seriously as this woman. Mine are usually concerning things that I don't need anyway. But there was one time that I was hoping for a ministry position and certain people who had decision authority would not even consider me. There was another time, also involving ministry, that it looked as though God had led us to a church at just the right time, but the people were so stuck in their mindset that it just never worked out.
Notice Elisha's response to the woman. He responds with urgency and compassion. His servant tries to push her away, but Elisha reprimands him.
How might Elisha's response reflect God's response to her?
Well, Elisha was God's prophet, so I have to think that he mirrored God's response. She went straight to the only one she knew of as the representative of God.
What might God have been feeling as he watched her struggle with her son's death?
I find this to be a dangerous question. It's always difficult to presume to know what God is thinking. For one thing, you kind of have to go back and ask what he was thinking when he allowed the son to die in the first place. And, since he knows all things, and works his plan, it is also necessary to assume that the death of this woman's son was part of his plan, as was his reviving. So, in answer to the question, I have to think that God was thinking about how his name would be glorified by this event.
pray
Are there any deep desires that I am afraid to trust God with? No. I trust God with all things. At least I say that. But he knows all my desires. I falter, perhaps, at fully trusting him with my entire life, which hampers the fulfillment of my dreams, even dreams that I believe he gave me. Can I tell him why I hold back? Honestly, it is probably just fear and lack of faith.
live
A quote from Henri Nouwen:
At every moment you have to decide to trust the voice that says, "I love you. I knit you together in your mother's womb." (Psalm 139:13).
Grace and peace, y'all!