Restoration of the Shunammite Woman's Land

Introduction: The Context and Contrast of the Narrative

0:03 I would encourage you to follow in your own Bibles as I read from 2 Kings, the book of 2 Kings, chapter 8, and the first six verses.

0:17 You will remember, those of you who have been following the expositions on the life and ministry of Elisha, that chapter 7 contains that very exciting and dramatic deliverance which God brought from the Syrians, contains that strange account of how he used these outcasts, these four lepers, to be the bearers, as well as the discoverers of the news of God's wonderful deliverance on behalf of his people. And now we go on in the narrative. Now Elisha had spoken unto the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou in thy household, and sojourn. And wheresoever thou canst, sojourn. For the Lord hath called for a famine, and it shall come upon the land seven years. And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God. And she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

1:25 And it came to pass, at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him that was dead, that, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life cried to the king for her house, and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. As one moves out of chapter 7 in 2 Kings, into the record of this incident that has been read in your hearing,

2:46 he senses immediately that the contrast is both bold and almost startling. From the broad issues of a national famine, a citywide military siege, and a great corporate deliverance involving two, two whole nations, the nation of Israel and the nation of Syria, we are taken back abruptly to the concerns of a single individual and the members of her household with issues that have to do with personal property rights. And as I first read and meditated upon this passage, and re-read it, and read, and re-read, and meditated, and prayed, I realized that I was not alone. I was not alone. I was not alone. I was not alone.

3:37 I was not alone. Again and again, the questions came to me. Why did God put this incident here in the record? Why did he put it precisely at this point in the record?

Elisha's Function: Sustaining the Godly Remnant

3:51 Believing that sacred history is inspired of God, and not only in some way is an account of a segment of the history of redemption, and in some way points to Christ, but as we saw this morning from 1 Corinthians 9, 9 and 10, is also profitable for reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. What is God saying to his people in this particular portion of the word of God? Well, as I wrestled with that question, and almost despaired of being able to preach on this passage tonight, for I have no magical key, and unless God is pleased to give me light and understanding by whatever means he uses, I will not be able to preach on this passage tonight, I almost despaired of preaching on the passage until I remembered my first sermon on the life and ministry of Elisha, in which I addressed myself to the question, what was Elisha's particular function at this period in the history of redemption? And I went back to my notes and remembered that I said in your presence, based particularly upon the statement in conjunction with his commission in 1 Kings 19, that one of the major functions of Elisha at this point in the history of redemption

5:15 was that of being an encouragement and a means of sustaining the godly remnant in Israel. For when God commissioned Elijah to anoint Elisha prophet in his stead, in the midst of that commissioning he said, yet have I left unto me seven thousand that have not bowed the knee, and then as we read through the history of Elisha, we have these many personal incidents in which the man of God is found in the midst of that little group called the sons of the prophets, or he is found ministering to this great woman of Shunem, ministering to a widow, ministering to individuals who formed part of that remnant according to the election of grace. And the more I meditated, the more I meditated upon that principle, the more I became convinced that this is why this particular passage in the word of God is given to us as it is given to us and where it is given to us. So from the excitement and the stirring drama of the great deliverance from the Syrians, we move to this very ordinary account of an ordinary woman in the midst of relatively ordinary circumstances,

The Timing of the Incident and Gehazi's Role

6:38 in which God brings a gracious deliverance by very ordinary means. And since most of our lives are lived for most of the time in the matrix of the mundane and of the ordinary, I trust we will find much to our profit as the people of God. Now as we attempt to open up the passage and think our way through its message, we must first of all address ourselves, ourselves to the question of the time of this incident. When did this particular incident take place?

7:18 I have had occasion in this series of studies to point out that we do not necessarily have these events in their original chronological order. Some of them are obviously gathered together in a thematic order as opposed to a chronological order. And there is a great debate amongst the commentators as to precisely when this event took place. And of course the debate arises out of the fact that the king is found conversing with Gehazi, the former servant of Elisha, whom you remember had been struck with leprosy because of his deceit in conjunction with the healing of Naaman. Now in this passage he is called Gehazi, not the former servant of the man of God, but the servant of the man of God. And because he is called the servant of the man of God, indicating that at the time the incident occurred, he was the servant of Elisha. And also because lepers became social outcasts, those who take the position that this incident must have taken place prior to his affliction, with leprosy, press that issue.

8:41 There are some who are quite dogmatic that this passage probably took place somewhere in the set of events recorded in 2 Kings chapter 4 and verse 38. Elisha came again to Gilgal and there was a dearth in the land. So here is an incident which takes place in the midst of a famine and they are rather dogmatic. They are rather dogmatic in asserting that this incident chronologically belongs there.

9:12 Well, there are other equally competent commentators who take up those objections and say no. A king who makes no conscience of the greater issues of the law of God would certainly not be overly fastidious about keeping some detail of the ceremonial law and therefore it wouldn't trouble King Jehoram at all to be found conversing with a leper and the description of Gehazi, Gehazi describes him in terms of what we know him to be in the previous record and therefore this event did take place after the events recorded in 2 Corinthians 7. 2 Kings, I'm sorry. Have I said Corinthians before tonight?

9:54 If I have, it's because my mind is tired. I'm sorry. Corinthians sounded familiar and I don't know whether it was from Mr. Garlington's study this morning or whether I made that mistake previous in the message.

10:06 Suffice it to say that, in an instance such as this, where we cannot ascertain with any degree of certainty the precise time of the event, then obviously the precise timing of the event must not be vital to the message of the passage. And so having laid out the problems, I'm not going to attempt to resolve them simply to apprise you that there are such problems. But when there are, we should immediately take a clue from the very fact, the fact that God has not made it plain, therefore the message must not depend upon the chronology, but upon that which is indeed clear. All we can say with any degree of certainty is that some period of time has no doubt elapsed from the time that the woman's son was raised from the dead as recorded in chapter 4, at which time her husband, plays a part in the narrative. She consults with her husband about building that house or that little room on the wall for Elisha. She consults with her husband about visiting the prophet. But in this particular incident, there is no record of her husband, no record of his activity.

11:28 It's as though she is now the head of the household and she has her son and perhaps a few household servants. She has in all likelihood, by this time, become a widow. So much then about the time of the incident. Now, a word about the main character in this incident.

The Main Character: The Great Woman of Shunem

11:48 She is described for us in verse 1 as that woman whose son, Elisha, had restored to life. And it was that woman, of course, who is described in chapter 4 and in verse 8 as a great woman, a great woman who dwelt at Shunem. And let me remind you of the basic facts concerning this woman and in a sense, the area in which her true greatness lay. As Elisha passed through the town of Shunem, probably on his way to visit one of the schools of the sons of the prophets, this woman, seeing in him the characteristics of a prophet of God, was constrained, and to invite him in and to share the goods of her table with him. Afterwards, she then makes the suggestion that some kind of a room be made for the man of God where he would be able to retire for meditation and prayer and reflection. And the passage tells us that whenever he came through that way, he took advantage of the kind provision of this woman and her husband. Never thinking that the result of this would be the fulfillment of her unmet longing to have a son, the prophet responds to her kindness

13:16 by asking what she wants from him. And she says, in essence, I'm a contented woman. But Gehazi puts, as it were, a bug in his ear and says she is without child and her husband is old. And as a miracle of God, she conceives, is given this son.

13:35 Later on, the son dies and is given, is given back to life again or brought back to life again in answer to the prayer of the man of God. Now, the opening words identify the main character of the incident read in your hearing as that very woman. And if there is any doubt at all, that doubt is completely taken away by the incident recorded further on in the passage in which Gehazi is speaking with the king and he speaks of the very incidental, incident recorded in second Kings four, in which the son was raised to life again. Well, so much for the time of the incident, the main character in the incident.

Major Elements of the Incident: Command, Obedience, Return, and Divine Intervention

14:18 Now, think with me concerning the major elements of this incident. And the first element is the command and prophecy of Elisha. Now, Elisha had spoken unto the woman whose son he had restored to life saying, Arise, go thou and thy household and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn, for the Lord hath called for a famine and it shall also come upon the land seven years. Now, whether the prophet actually went to Shunem, whether he had occasion to see the woman in another situation, on these matters the scripture is silent. All we know is this, that the man of God speaks under the impulse of Christian love and under the impulse of prophetic insight and commands this woman to leave Shunem and to go to a more congenial place for the very specific reason that Jehovah has decreed a famine which will last for seven years. Now, the reason for this famine again is obvious. In that passage to which I alluded two Lord's days ago,

15:44 Leviticus chapter 26 and then again in Deuteronomy 28, God had specifically told his people that if they were disobedient to his laws, if they would not obey him and if upon the discovery of their sin they would not repent, he would bring an ever increasing degree of judgment and chastisement, and if they would not obey him, and if upon the discovery of their sin they would not repent, he would bring an ever increasing degree of judgment and chastisement, and if upon the discovery of their sin they would not repent, he would bring an ever increasing degree of judgment and chastisement upon them. And we read in Leviticus 26 verses 18 to 20, And if ye will not for these things hearken unto me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass, and your strength shall be spent in vain, for the land shall not yield its increase, for the land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. God said he would shut up the heavens so there would be no rain until the ground would become dry and parched and hard as brass, and there would be no fruitfulness. And so because the nation is still held in the grip of its apostasy, still sold out to Baal worship, still sold out to Baal worship, still sold out to Baal worship, this wicked son of Ahab,

17:08 still following the prophets of Baal, God sends another token of his displeasure and his judgment in the form of a famine that will last for seven years. In a relatively short distance away, just a bit to the west and to the south in Philistia, there would be no famine. And so the man of God gives a command to this woman, this great woman of Shunem, to leave Israel and to go to a more congenial place, not specifying what it should be, allowing that matter to be decided by her own discretion, and to continue there for seven years. Now the second major element of this incident, following the command and the prophecy of Elisha, is the record of the obedience of the woman and her household. Verse 2, Verse 2, Verse 2, Verse 2, Verse 2, And Elishad arose ...

18:09 and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. Verse 3, Having come to recognize in Elisha Jehovah's representative in Israel, she shows the true state of her heart by rendering immediate and unquestioned obedience to the word of God through the man of God. Now this was no easy thing for this woman. For you'll remember in chapter 4 and verse 13 when she was asked, what do you want me to do for you?

18:48 She said, I dwell amongst my own people. I'm a contented woman. I'm content with what I have. My friends and associations and circumstances leave nothing to be desired.

19:01 And for a woman who has spent many years in one home and all of those little associations in that home and all the little knick-knacks in their proper place and all of the memories stored up from the time she first felt life in that womb that had been barren for so long and fought back to the place where she sat and rocked her son and remembered the day she brought him in from the field and he lay lifeless, limp and cold in her arms and fought back to that little chamber where he was buried. And here on the wall from whence the prophet brought her son alive that household with all of its fond memories all of its loving associations all the things that bind a woman's heart to such a place this woman was no unfeeling stoic and she no doubt felt all of those things that any normal woman would feel. But with beautiful simplicity the word of God says the woman arose and she was born again. And did according to the word of the man of God. God had spoken and as a true Israelite whose heart was bound in covenant love and obedience to Jehovah once Jehovah had spoken it was hers to obey.

20:24 And so she travels south and west to the land of the Philistines. Then the third major element in the incident is that which pertains to the return and to the complaint of the woman. Verse 3 And it came to pass at the seven years end that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines and she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land.

20:54 Now did the woman see the end of the famine? Or did she receive news that the famine was over and once again the land was fruitful and therefore return? I think not. As a woman of faith she had a word from God.

21:11 And that word was that the famine will last for seven years. At the end of seven years it will be over as she kept track of her calendar as the seventh year was coming to its completion in confidence that God cannot lie. She begins to make her journey back to Shunem. When she comes back to Shunem she finds something that greatly distresses her.

21:35 No doubt. Without beginning to relive in her mind as she had done during those seven years what it would be like to be back in all those familiar surroundings to be again in that domestic situation that held such a treasure house of fond memories and loving associations. She has the shock of her life when she returns to her piece of real estate someone else is there claiming squatter's rights. When she comes to take possession of her home someone else is there.

22:06 Someone else is living in that home. And so distressed is this woman that with again total silence as to how she gained access to the king the next thing we know she is in the very presence of the king and the language in the original is very, very vivid and strong language. It says in verse 3 that when she returned she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. And the king said to her and that word cry is precisely the same word used in Exodus 3-7 about the cry of the children of Israel out of their bondage and exactly the same word used of the great cry that went up from Egypt on the night when God touched all the firstborn. The word literally means to shriek. And so one can just picture this woman of tremendous character and strength. Coming into the presence of the king and pouring out her complaint that having returned according to the word of God she found her house and her land possessed by another.

23:19 Well, the next major segment in this incident is the record of the intervention of God on behalf of the woman verses 4 through 6. Now the king that is at the precise time that the woman came in and cried out concerning this great injustice now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God saying tell me I pray thee of all the great things that Elisha hath done. And so Gehazi out of his own first hand experience is conveying to the king the many miracles that he saw wrought by the hand and agency of Elisha under the power of the spirit of God. And just at the point where he is telling the story that is recorded in chapter 4 when this woman's son was brought in from the field with sunstroke and died and how the man of God took this little lad up to his chamber on the wall stretched himself upon him and pleaded with God to bring life to him again at the precise point that Gehazi is conveying the facts of that story suddenly. The twosome becomes a threesome. And there the woman stands and makes her cry and her plea with regard to her land and to her house.

24:47 And at that point Gehazi stunned at this strange providence turns to the king and says as we read in the text behold my lord oh king this is the woman and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life. And it seemed to be such a strange providence that the king wants to check out the story and so apparently said to the woman tell me give me your account of it. And so the text says and when the king asked the woman she told him and her story dovetailed perfectly with the narrative of Gehazi and so convinced that indeed she was the rightful owner of that piece of land in that house he appoints one of his own leaders in the court saying restore all that was hers and in addition all the fruits of the land since the day that she left the land even until now. Apparently he threw in as a bonus what would have been the equivalent of the produce of her land over that entire period and so there was restored to her not only her land not only her home but an abundance with which she could again take up life and establish her household in the place of her dwelling. Well that's the story.

Abiding Message 1: God's Faithfulness to Provide for His Own

26:15 Those are the facts and as you've read the passage I trust as I've read it as I intimated in introducing our study tonight my cry to God was Lord what are you saying? What is the message of this portion of your word? What were you saying to your people then? What are you saying to us now?

26:37 And having laid out the facts of the narrative in these four basic divisions of the facts will you consider with me now the abiding message of this incident? As we saw from 1 Corinthians 9 and 10 this morning Old Testament history is here for our warning for our encouragement for our instruction in the path of righteousness. The more I've meditated upon this passage the more I've become convinced it's one of the most encouraging passages in all of the narrative concerning the life and ministry of the prophet Elisha. And let me suggest first of all that this passage declares to us in a marked way the faithfulness of God to provide for his own. It declares the faithfulness of God to provide for his own. Listen to some of the promises which God has made to his own people. Psalm 33 verses 18 through 21.

27:46 Psalm 33 verses 18 through 21. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his loving kindness to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Here is a promise that those who have taken hold of God's covenant who fear him with that fear which is the very essence of true religion who hope, who trust in his mercy as revealed in his covenant grace and kindness. God is committed not only to deliver their soul from death but to keep them alive in famine. Psalm 37. Psalm 37 verses 18 and 19. A similar word of promise.

28:46 The Lord knoweth the days of the perfect and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. Ah, but someone says, Pastor, those are promises made to God's angels. Ancient people.

29:11 When in the old covenant there were peculiar external scriptures as well as peculiar promises of external blessing. But surely there is something radically different with the people of God in the new covenant in this regard. Granted, there are many things that are different as Mr. Lush pointed out some of them tonight.

29:34 But it is not Old Testament that I now quote. Matthew 6 and verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And what are the things?

29:54 What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? The things are the things of the elementary physical necessities of life.

30:06 And our Lord Jesus in that great Magna Carta of His glory His own kingdom announces to His own that He is both concerned for and committed to the provision of their necessities. That wonderful promise of Philippians 4.19 to a church that responded so freely to the needs of the apostle and He says and my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And the same apostle can say godliness has promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come. Now you may ask the question well what about the other true Israelites who were there in that section of Israel during the famine? There is no record that God provided for them. No there isn't.

31:08 But there is no record that He didn't either. And could it be that God has taken this one incident could it be I would not dogmatize could it be that God has taken this one incident as a specimen of what He graciously did for all those who feared Him and who kept His covenant who were kept alive in famine as monuments of His sovereign mercy and of His covenant faithfulness.

31:40 Surely this power and this message is placed here that that godly remnant as they would hear the account of what God did would be encouraged to believe that even when they must as a sense suffer for the sins of their fellow countrymen when the judgments of God are coming upon the nation for its sins there were peculiar promises that those who had laid hold of the covenant inwardly and worthy Israel within the Israel could plead for the living God and surely throughout the life and ministry of Elisha that note is emphasized when in the midst of the previous dearth He provided for the poor sons of the prophets He provided for that widow with that barrel of oil that did not fail and then if God is not pleased to provide for His own in famine and He allows famine as it were to be the instrument to usher them in to His presence then He has simply exchanged their meal of crumbs for the banquet of His own glorious presence and the Apostle Paul understood this when he declared in those words that I don't think have ever been read or quoted in a manner worthy of their content and I feel impoverished every time I attempt even to read them

33:09 but they must be read Romans 8 in verse 31 what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who is against us He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect and he goes on to develop that great theme of our acceptance before God. Then he asks the question, verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, notice, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Are not those very real issues to us in this day? When we see what is happening to our economy, when we are conscious of what is happening at the international level in terms of the movements of armies and of armaments, the issues of peril, of sword, of famine, of persecution, the apostle cries out, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall these things, even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed,

34:38 all the day we are counted as sheep for the slaughter, nay. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Our Lord.

35:11 Is he or she a stingy provider who withholds crumbs in order to provide a banquet? You see, the child of God ultimately has nothing to fear. God has committed himself to the preservation of his own as long as he yet has work for them to do, as long as he purposes to make the monuments of his faithfulness in providing their material needs, he is committed to the provision of those needs. And if their work is done, and he chooses to use famine, or peril, or nakedness, or sword, or persecution to release them from all the heaviness and the burdens and the disappointments of this life, that they may wake up looking upon the face of Jesus, then that person has nothing. Nothing to lose. And surely the great message of this incident, at least in part, is that of declaring the faithfulness of God to provide for his own. Remember, this is the God who allowed this woman to taste the bitterness of death with reference to the Son who was given as a miracle, given back in a miracle,

Abiding Message 2: God's Mysterious Providence at Work

36:35 and now sustained by the strange providence, of the sojourn into the land of the Philistines. And if there was any truth that this woman knew experimentally, it was the truth that her God would provide for his own. But then in the second place, the abiding message of this incident is not only a declaration of the faithfulness of God to provide for his own, but it demonstrates the mysterious providence of God which is constantly at work for his own. The mysterious providence of God which is constantly at work for his own. And here's where the contrast between this chapter and the previous chapter is so marked and so startling. When God would deliver the nation from the siege of the Syrians and from that tragic famine, He did an amazing thing. He caused an army to hear the sound of a coalition of armies.

37:47 And so convinced they were that that was indeed the sound of a coalition of armies that they ran even to the Jordan. But now in meeting the needs of this woman, what does God do? Well, He does not intervene in a way that is miraculous. He doesn't intervene in a way that is stunning and takes our breath away.

38:11 He just puts a little curiosity into the heart of a king who for the most part from his previous and subsequent record would be the last one in the world we'd ever expect to find talking about the things of God. Here is one of those wicked sons of Ahab who in the previous chapter you remember at the end of chapter 6 vows this rash vow to sever the head of the prophet of God. And now we find him for some strange reason interested in talking about the mighty deeds of the man of God. At the same time God moves a woman to start a journey out of Philistia back up to Shunan at such a time that will find her discovering her home possessed by another, discovering her land possessed by another and just the right amount of time it takes for her to get up from Philistia to her home, from her home to Samaria and into the king's palace and at that precise moment what should Gehazi be talking about but that very woman and an incident in her life many years before. And here you see the wheels within the wheels of the providence of Almighty God and we can only stand back and say

39:37 here is a commentary on Romans 8.28 and we know that all things are working together for good. Here is a demonstration of the mysterious providence of God which is constantly at work for his own. There is no indication that from the time Elisha said leave this land there shall be a famine there is no indication that she had any further direct revelation.

40:10 She was simply acting out the principles of sound judgment based upon the general revelation of the will of God and the word of God. She knew that at the end of seven years the famine would be over. But she did not have some impulse telling her when to get up and when to go no unusual impulse. There is nothing that indicates that anything supernatural on the surface enters the picture.

40:38 And yet there she is settled back in her own home in her own surroundings and with food and stable provisions adequate for many months to come. And how she must have reflected upon the mysterious providence of God that was constantly at work for her good. And dear child of God when will you and I learn that that same God is constantly at work in the same way for our good. We have no grounds to expect that we shall feel that he is thus at work.

Abiding Message 3: Blessings for Self-Giving Love

41:21 That we get some kind of an electric shock three times a day reminding us that every detail of our lives is under the sovereign control of our God. But it's a passage like this that reminds us that we can look back and see this little incident this little bit of a timing here this conversation there and how all of it was woven together under the sovereign hand of God for our good. And then in the third place the message of this passage is one that illustrates the peculiar blessings which God gives to his own who exercise self-giving love to others. The peculiar blessings which God gives to his own who exercise self-giving love to others. You see this incident has its tap roots back in chapter 4 when this woman perceiving that Elisha was a prophet simply went out of her way in self-giving love expecting nothing in return and encouraged him to stop for a meal. She stopped for one meal and then another.

42:42 In self-giving love she became aware of his need for a place to retire to be alone to pray to meditate and to reflect. And so she and her husband build his little room upon the wall. And there's not a shred of evidence that she did that hoping to get anything in return because when the prophet said in an expression of gratitude what can I do for you for all the kindness you've shown to me she said in essence you don't need to do a thing for me I'm a content woman I've got no unfulfilled longings. She was motivated by self-giving love and what did she get in return?

43:19 She got in return a child that she had never hoped to cradle in her arms. She got in return a child back from the dead. She got in return this marvelous deliverance in the midst of a famine this wonderful intervention of God on her behalf. And it's the teaching of the word of God that to those who exercise self-giving love God is committed to bring peculiar blessings upon their head.

43:53 Luke chapter 6 and verse 38 states it in this way the words of our Lord Jesus Luke chapter 6 and verse 38 Give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down shaken together running over shall they give into your bosom for with what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again. Freely she had given now freely she receives. We find our Lord in Matthew 19 responding to the question of the disciples lo we have left all and what shall we receive? And the Lord's answer goes beyond his dealings in a peculiar way with apostles. He says in chapter 19 and verse 29 everyone that hath left houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold

45:19 and shall inherit eternal life. When we are actuated by self-giving love and deny ourselves our own interest in the interest of others God is pledged that we shall ultimately be the benefactors. Now we do not do it in order to receive but it's simply a law that God has incorporated into his dealings with men and this dear woman of Shunan is a wonderful illustration of that peculiar blessing which God gives to his own who exercise self-giving love. The most vibrant the most Christ-like people I have been privileged to know among all the people of God that I'm privileged to meet in many parts of the world are those who for the last are those who for the most part have learned to find their joy in denying themselves in self-giving love to others and the most sour shriveled unattractive Christians are those who live for themselves. But then finally the message of this incident surely is one that demonstrates the special privileges

Abiding Message 4: Privileges of Unquestioning Obedience

46:46 given by God to those who unquestioningly obey his word. The passage begins with the statement of the man of God that the woman should go wherever she could go for the Lord had called for a famine and the text says in beautiful simplicity the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. And all the blessing that comes in the subsequent narrative is blessing that came to a woman who was determined that wherever the word of God marked out her path there she would walk no questions asked. And has not our Lord promised such blessing to those who reflect the spirit of this woman he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. And the great blessings that this woman experienced were the blessings of God upon an obedience that he himself worked in her by her grace. Yes, it was a gracious reward but it was nonetheless

48:15 the promised reward of obedience that is found throughout the Old and the New Testaments and oh dear brothers and sisters in Christ how many privileges we forfeit because our obedience is so hesitant and so partial. If that which God has revealed in his word were simply received as the word and if it could be said of us and he did according of the man of God who knows the stream of blessing that would come to us in our own individual hearts in our life together as a church in our families oh may God grant that we shall learn the lesson that this dear woman learned and of course in a true sense all of the kindness and the goodness of God that pervades this passage points to that greatest act of kindness when God would send not a prophet to a woman to warn her of a coming famine that she might have bread for her physical necessities but it points to that great act of kindness when he would send his only begotten son to be the bread of life

Conclusion: Christ as the Bread of Life and Facing Future Difficulties

49:42 for needy sinners and without in any way wanting to allegorize but simply saying that there is certainly an analogy here what the land of Samaria became in a time of famine this world in a state of sin is just that when a land is held in the grip of a famine there is nothing to fill the hungry bellies of men and women and boys and girls and the Bible describes this world as in a state of famine and oh men and women teenagers, young boys and girls there is nothing in this Samaria of this world with which to fill the deepest spiritual appetites of the soul and it is the word of God that points us to Jesus Christ the bread of life who is available to us not down in Philistia who is available to us in the gospel and he calls us to flee to him and though perhaps you sit here tonight very conscious of the emptiness and the hollowness the nothingness of all that this world offers and it spreads it out as though it were a lavish banquet but when you are all done there is the gnawing emptiness

51:12 my friend if you feel something of that emptiness come to one who said he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood hath eternal life he who is thirsty and drinks of me shall never thirst again oh that you might taste and see that the Lord is good and that they who trust in him are blessed indeed and in the light of what the coming days may hold for us in spite of all the adjustments in the economy made again by poor I hope well-meaning men who tell us with a little bit of this and a little bit of that everything's going to be all right my friends I assert what I did several Lord's days ago our economic disaster is a judgment of almighty God upon us in our international disasters in our military disasters and everything else are the judgments of God upon us and we as the Lord's people may have to suffer through very difficult days what a wonderful thing to face them with a passage like this God does not forget his individual saints

52:38 who are written upon the palms of his hand and he has made gracious covenant promises sealed in the blood of his own dear son may God grant that we shall not be panicky may God grant that we shall not think that our answer is in this political candidate or that political candidate for we have nothing but the humanism of the left and the humanism of the right but it's humanism still and regardless of what our particular political philosophy may be as the people of God we should be able to say some trust in horses some trust in chariots but our help is in the name of the God who made heaven and earth and may we in the confidence that this God the God of 2 Kings 8 1 to 6 is our God face whatever we must face in the confidence that he will be our guide even unto death let us pray our Father we are so grateful that you are Jehovah who changes not we thank you for your own word through the prophet Malachi I am Jehovah

54:07 I change not therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed we thank you for your faithfulness to preserve your own for that mysterious providence that is constantly at work on our earth on our behalf we thank you for those special promises given to your people oh that we may learn how to plead them before you give us we pray the simple faith and the implicit obedience of this great woman from Shunem oh Lord we pray for those who are held in the grip of the famine of this world who sought to fill themselves with those things that cannot satisfy we pray that they may flee to the one whom you have set before us as the bread and the water of life seal your word to our hearts and bring it to our remembrance again and again we thank you for this day oh how we bless you for another Lord's day spent in your presence and in the presence of your people and our Father we ask that as a result of our having been together in your presence and with one another

55:33 we may be more light and salt as we go forth into that crooked and perverse generation that awaits us beyond these walls hear our cry receive our thanks for the mercies of this day we plead in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen