Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response.
So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands.
As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.”
She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out. 2 Kings 4:29-37
When Gehazi reached the boy’s still form, he lay the rod of his mentor on the child’s face. When nothing happened, he simply gave up and left the room. Elisha, however, was not to be deterred.
Even when Gehazi reported his failure, the prophet of the Lord was filled with confidence and faith. By the time he entered the woman’s home, he was also experiencing the Lord’s anger.
How dare the evil one touch the child whom God had promised to this woman! In a moment, Elisha had climbed the stairs and was standing over the child’s small body.
After shutting the door, he began to cry out in prayer. When that didn’t work, he crawled up on the bed and stretched out on the child’s still form. Elisha could feel the boy’s body growing warmer as he prayed and cried out to the God who had never failed him.
He would not settle, however, for warming the dead. Elisha was there to raise the dead. After spending another season in prayer, the prophet climbed back into the bed and stretched out on the child for the second time. The boy sneezed seven times, and opened his eyes.
When the Shunammite entered the room and saw her son was alive, she was so overwhelmed with thanksgiving that she fell at the prophet’s feet as she thanked him and the God whom he served.
What lessons can we learn from the miraculous resurrection of the Shunammite’s son?
First, unlike Gehazi, who quit too quickly, Elisha persevered until the child had been raised from the dead. It is no different for you and me today; there are certain things in the Kingdom of God which take both faith and patience.
Without these qualities, we may never see the fullness of the very promises God has made to us.
Second, when Elisha entered the room where the child was lying, he shut the door. Shutting the door was not just a natural act. When he shut the door, he was also shutting out all the despair and unbelief radiating from both the Shunammite’s husband and their extended family.
This is a critical principle for your life. There are times when your need for faith will be so vital that you will have no choice but to shut yourself away with God until you have received the faith you need.
May God give you the faith to experience the fullness of His resurrection power as you contemplate Elisha’s example today.
© Copyright 2005 by Jim Laffoon
I learned so much from your devotional. Thank you. God bless you.