KP at FWPCenter [First Seventh-day Adventist Church of White Plains] – Friday Night Service – December-09-2022
Life has its beautiful moments, its joys and excitements, laughs and milestones. But it also has moments plagued with hurt, pain, sadness and sickness. We are reminded time and time again that our bodies are temporary and that so many things can go wrong with them.
BUT even during those times, there is hope and support. When pain itself causes mental anguish; when we cannot pray for ourselves, we need a mediator. To mediate means to occupy the middle position. It is also close in definition to intervening and interceding. There are many Biblical examples of individuals who needed a mediator for their condition, but I will be focusing on one young man, and his mediator who would not give up on him.
2 Kings 4:8-37 tells us Elisha and his servant Gehazi used to travel to Shunem often (vs 8), and there, a woman and her husband would invite them to stay at their place. Their visits became so frequent that she asked her husband to build a room for them to stay whenever they were in town. Because of her hospitality, the prophet told her she would be blessed with a son, and joy came to that household soon after.
But, The Bible tells us when the child was grown, he got sick one day, and soon after, he died. When the ‘apple of your eye’ has fallen sick, what do you do? Where do you turn? You turn to the one who gave the gift! In this instance, the mother sought the prophet again.
Elisha saw the Shunamite woman was approaching him from a distance, so he sent Gehazi ahead to inquire about herself and her family; but the woman did not want to speak to the servant, she wanted to speak to Elisha. When your heart is heavy, and you cannot think straight because of all the thoughts in your head and burdens on crippling you, you don’t want to speak to a servant, you want to speak to the source of your blessing.
Verse 27 says 2 Kings 4:27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
God did not tell the prophet why the woman was seeking him urgently, but when she got to him, her actions (of holding on to his feet) made Elisha know that something serious had happened. Now Elisha gave Gehazi his staff and encouraged him to the woman’s home to help her son, but even if with this action, the mother would not leave Elisha’s side:
In 2 Kings 4:30 And the mother of the child said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her. The Shunammite woman refused to leave Elisha’s side. She wanted to stay near him and beside him. Even when Gehazi went ahead of them, she still continued to stick close to the prophet instead. And notice, nowhere in the scriptures does she tell Elisha that the child had died! She had hope; and she wanted the prophet to come back to her home to mediate between The LORD and her son.
In the end, what seemed like an impossible dilemma, turned out to be an amazing testimony! The mediating mother went out to find the one who gave her this gift, a son. She went out seeking and pleading for help from the prophet, and she would not let him go until something changed. In 2 Kings 4:33, we read Elisha “went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD”
When we pray unto the LORD, things happen.
God has given us wonderful blessings. They come to us in the form of spouses, children, family members, friends and coworkers. But when they get hurt, and our hearts are weighed down by their suffering, we, the mediators, must spring to action.
We MUST always remember; if God is the one who gave you the gift, He will be the one to restore you the gift.
The joy that must have flooded the Shunammite’s soul when Elisha delivered her son to her again – alive! What surprise and elation must have overtaken her! What peace, what happiness.
Looking at that situation, it may have looked dismal; it may have looked like there was no hope, but a mediator does not give us and neither should we. We are reminded to grab hold of the feet of Jesus and never leave his side. We are reminded to continue to intervene on behalf of our loved ones who are hurting physically, spiritually and emotionally. We are reminded that if The LORD has blessed us with it, He will continue to protect it.
So, let’s continue holding on to the LORD and pleading for deliverance, healing, strength and vitality for Myah, for Mark, for Brother Jackson and other loved ones who need our prayers and support. May we always be reminded of the Shunamite woman and her determination to see the one who gave the gift to be the restorer of the gift.