Now why don't we turn in the scriptures to 2 Kings chapter 4. You know it was interesting, when I talked to Brad earlier, I thought to myself, I really thought to myself, I would like to do the topics that I was looking forward to getting an opportunity to do those topics because when I talked to Brad earlier, he told me that there were some folks who were interested in that sort of thing. I am interested in that sort of thing. Just became the editor of Ref21. If you haven't been on Ref21, get on Ref21 because it has become a site that has moved back toward cultural engagement. So I was looking forward to the opportunity to do that. But when he called and we talked, I immediately thought to myself, if I were in this situation, in this congregation, I would not want to listen to some talks on the government. And yet I didn't know what I would do. I wasn't sure the direction to move. And after I got off the phone with Brad, I started to think about it. And my mind immediately went. without reservation and without a second thought to the texts that I'm going to open to you today. They're texts, I think, that are penetrating. They're texts that I think are relevant to your own situation as a congregation. And so I want us to speak, so I want us to think about some texts from Second Kings. And here is the outline of the three talks. The first is the God of our faith. The second is the God who saves. And the third is the God who cares. So those are the three talks that I want us to think about today. Let's start with the first one, the God of our faith. I'm gonna read the text in just a minute, but let me just say a word before I do, a preparatory word. First of all, I would say something to you that you already know. I don't need to argue it, prove it. I don't need to create a syllogism for you. The point is that the Christian life is not easy to live. The Christian life is often difficult. And the person who says that the Christian life is easy is selling you something that is not Christianity. I want you to know I have often felt in my own life like the psalmist who says to God, you raised me up to cast me down. I don't think that that thought is unique to the psalmist or to my own Christian life. I think that thought is one that many Christians have. We are raised up to be thrown down. Often in those struggles, the Christian feels not just the casting off or the casting down, but oddly enough, in those struggles, where the Christian feels like that, the Christian also has a sense of God's love. I mean, we are a very peculiar people. Now, I don't know if you think about the word strange as a synonym for peculiar, but most people do, and I think that fits, although the word does not mean that. Peculiar is from pecuniary. We're a valuable people. But I think it's true that we are a strange people. How many of us can wake up after a surgery wherein we are in absolute pain and say, God is good? Or you've experienced something tragic in your own lives, and I've heard a number of you say, God is good and God is merciful. That is peculiar in our world. We are indeed a strange people, because oftentimes when we are raised up just to be cast down, we feel in the casting down most intensely the love of God. It is a beautiful thing. And yet sometimes it's hard. Sometimes, and some of you have expressed this, sometimes it's just hard to speak. Some of you have said, You didn't even know what to pray for. You didn't know how to comfort one another. And in those times, the beautiful thing about Scripture is Scripture says that other people are a help to us. I want you to think about the book of Hebrews just for a second by way of introduction. There was a group of people in that church thinking about leaving the church. Thinking about not just leaving the church, thinking about leaving the faith. And right in the center of that letter is a section about apostasy. It's a famous section. But the author of Hebrews says two things that are incredible. First of all, he says, now, I know I've said some hard things to you, but I think better things concerning you. And then he says this. He says, in the midst of tribulation, he says, in the midst of this threat of apostasy, he says this. be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. In other words, imitate those around you who are worthy of imitation. Now that, that I don't know about you, but to me, that ministers to me. It drives me to other people in the congregation. And we see those people, not just in the congregation, we see those people in the Scriptures, and that's how we know them, because we've met them before in the Scriptures. The people in your congregation, the people that you are called to emulate, you've met before. For instance, in Psalm 3, when David is driven out of the city by his own son, Psalm 3, he says, I lay down and slept and woke again, the Lord is keeping me. Or how about in Psalm 112? This unnamed saint of the church is not, now, you know what? Let me read it to you, because this is worth hearing. We see that in verse 9, there's a verse from the New Testament, but listen to this verse. Verse 6 and 7, for the righteous will never be moved. He will be remembered forever. He is, listen to this, not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady. He will not be afraid. until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. We've met people like this. Not just in the Psalms, not just David. How about the prophets? You know, one of the texts that I've been thinking about these days is Ezekiel. And in Ezekiel chapter 24, there's a sobering text. The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes from you at a stroke. Yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. He's about ready to take his wife from him. And the Lord is going to take Ezekiel's wife as an object lesson to the church. And here's a man who says, I don't know why God is doing what he's doing. In other words, I know why he's doing what he's doing, but I don't know why he chose me to enact this object lesson, but I trust him. Now, here's the question that we have to ask ourselves when we look at these people in the Psalms or the life of David or the prophets, and we see people that were called to emulate in the congregation in which we ourselves find ourselves. Here's the thing we have to ask. How can these people not be afraid? How can these people, how can these people trust? How can they be that peculiar, that strange people who in the midst of a hard providence, it appears as if they're cast down, how is it that they can turn around and say, God is good? And I'll tell you the answer to that. The answer to that is their heart is fixed. It is firmly set. Their confidence is in the Lord. Now, that's what I want us to think about over the next three talks. And in this first talk, I want us to meet a woman, and I'm sure that you've met her before, a Shunammite woman. And that woman in the text, that Shunammite woman, is just like the women or the men that I've been talking about already. So let's turn to the Book of Second Kings, Chapter 4. And I'm going to read verses 8 through 37. Verses 8 through 37. And before I do, let me simply remind you that this is the word of the living God. One of the wonderful things about being a Christian is that we have been given a book, which inscripturates things we already know about general revelation, But it gives to us special revelation, tells us how to be saved. It tells us how we are saved. And it is a place to stand. We have a world that loves to spin on both sides of the political aisle, love to spin. And yet this word is a sure word, a word of truth, a place to stand. So give your ear to the reading of God's infallible and inerrant word. 2 Kings 4, verse 8. One day Elisha went on to Shunem where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, Behold, now I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there. One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. And he said to Gehazi, his servant, call this Shunammite woman. When he had called her, she stood before him. And he said to him, say now to her, See, you have taken all this trouble for us. What is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army? She answered, I dwell among my own people. And he said, what then is to be done for her? Tehazi answered, well, she has no son, and her husband is old. He said, call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway, and he said, at this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son. And she said, no, my lord. O man of God, do not lie to your servant. But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time, the offspring, the following spring, rather, as Elisha had said to her. When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. And he said to his father, oh, my head, my head. The father said to his servant, carry him to his mother. And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon. Then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. Then she called to her husband and said, send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys so that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again. And he said, why will you go to him today? It is neither the new moon nor the Sabbath. She said, all is well. Then she saddled the donkey and she said to her servant, urge the animal on. Do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you. So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Ponom. When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi, to his servant, look, there is the Shunammite. Run at once to meet her and say to her, it's all well with you. It's all well with your husband. is all well with the child.' And she answered, All is well. And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet, and Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me. Then she said, Did I ask my Lord for a son? Did I say, Do not deceive me? He said to Gehazi, tie up your garment, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply, and lay my staff on the face of the child.' Then the mother of the child said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.' So he arose and followed her. Yahazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, The child has not awakened. When Elisha came into the He saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once again back and forth in the house and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times. And the child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, pick up your son. She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out. That's an amazing story. And you know, when you stop to think about it, there's a lot that could be said about that story. There's a lot of detail that could be said about that story. For instance, you could think about the historical context. You could think about how Syria or Aram was always at odds with Israel, especially the north. And so there's that context that one might think about. You could also think about other famous people that are from that area. Abishag is from the area of Shunem. But you could also think about some humorous aspects, and I think it's always to think about some of those humorous aspects. You might say, what humorous aspects are in this text? Well, think about it. Here is the man of God and he's in his upper room and he says to his servant Gehazi, call the Shunammite. And the Shunammite comes to the door. And it's funny because Elisha continues to talk to the Shunammite through Gehazi. I think that's funny. Anyway, maybe you don't, it's okay. Maybe it just gives you insight into my sense of humor, which is sad, my wife would say. But anyway. But there are many things about this story that we can think about. And what I want us to think about is the woman's faith. I want us to think about this woman, because this woman is like the people that we looked at in the introduction. She's a wonderful woman. She's a woman of faith. And she's a woman whose faith ought to be emulated, not because She's so great, but because her Savior is great, and she rises to her Savior. So I want us to look at this. I want us to look at it using this outline. I want us to notice, first of all, the expression of her faith. I want us to notice the trial of her faith. And I want us to, lastly, notice the vindication of her faith. So the expression of her faith, the trial of her faith, and the vindication of her faith. So first of all, the expression of her faith. I want you to think about this woman for just a minute. When you think about her, does a New Testament text come to mind? For me, one does. It's in Matthew chapter 10 and verses 40 through 42. It's a well-known text, one that Jesus himself spoke. Listen to these words. Whoever receives me and whoever receives me Whoever receives you, sorry, receives me, and whoever receives you receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. One of the things that comes to mind when I think about the Shunammite woman and this particular story is that text. And the reason I think of that particular text is because in verse 40, we find the woman receiving a prophet's reward because she's received a prophet. But in verse 42, we find that the prophet gives a cup of cold water to a little one. It's a beautiful way of thinking about this particular story summed up in the teaching of Jesus. She's a beautiful woman, and the prophet is a wonderful man of God. But here is this woman, and she receives this prophet. And I said to you that I wanna talk about the expression of her faith. And there are three aspects of that faith that I want us to pay attention to in this story, three aspects that I think are helpful not only for noticing what's going on in the story, but I think these are three aspects that are helpful for us to think about as we contemplate our own faithfulness before God. You can put these three aspects in the abbreviation of the anachronism IRS. There's insight, thank you, appreciate that. IRS, there's insight, there's reverence, and their service. We'll talk about those. The first one I want us to think about is her insight. And when I say insight, what I mean is there's some sense of spiritual discernment at work here. I want you to think about this woman. She's a Shunamite woman. She lives in the village of Shunam. It's about 20 miles southeast of Mount Carmel. 20 miles southeast of Mount Carmel. Elijah lived at Mount Carmel. And in verse nine, we see this said to the husband by this woman. I know this is a holy man. I know this is a holy man. How did she know? Did you ever pause to think about that? How did this woman know? Did she gather talk from the other women in town, in the village? Did she hear about things that he had done and so she discerned that he was a holy man? Had she heard him say some things as he walked through the village of Shunem, and that just resonated with her? She thought, this is a holy man. Could be any of those explanations. Maybe that's where, and it does appear this way, but did she go there before or after she discerned he was a holy man? I don't know, but it appears that she goes there every Sabbath to Mount Carmel to hear this man unpack the word of God, to give his prophetic pronouncements. I don't know how she understood, how she knew that he was a holy man of God. But I can tell you this. I can tell you there is a level of spiritual discernment that goes into any one of those explanations. And you probably have all felt it or at least experienced it before at some point in your life. I'll never forget we had planted a church in Meadville, Pennsylvania. And we were small but growing. And there was a point in time where we had some folks come to us who had moved recently from Canada. And they came to worship and they spent the afternoon just visiting with us. And I can still remember the husband telling me on the phone afterward, he said, my wife and I cried the whole way home. And I said, were we that bad to you? And he said, He said it was wonderful to know that we were with family. And I thought to myself, that's wonderful. That's the spiritual intuition. That's the spiritual insight that I'm talking about here. When you gather together with the saints, you know they're siblings. You know they're brothers and sisters in the Lord. And I want you to understand something. This woman who understood that Elisha was a man of God, she knew it to the extent that she said to her husband, I know this is a man of God. This isn't a charlatan. This isn't one of those priests in the north. This is a true man of God. I know it. And so she wants to serve him. But I also want you to understand this, in trauma, When this woman experiences perhaps one of the worst experiences, if not the worst experience of her life, she knows exactly where she's going to go. She's drawn to this man because he's a man of God. Well, that's first. There's insight. There's this spiritual intuition. She knows that this man, regardless of what he says, there's a sense in which she knows he's a man of God. The second thing is this. She demonstrates Look at verse 13. It says in the ESV, you've taken all this trouble with us. You know how it is in the Hebrew. It doesn't always look like it looks in the English. You know, for instance, in the prophet Zephaniah, he says, I'm going to sweep away everything, right? It's not that. It's I'm going to sweep, sweep, because it's a Hebraism. And in Hebrew, The way you emphasize was by repetition. So for instance, in Genesis chapter 14, we read there were tar pits in which the kings were stuck in. But it doesn't say that in the Hebrew. It says that there were pit pits that they were stuck in because these were pitty pits, right? Or God is not just holy. He's holy, holy, holy. You get the idea. So here, in verse 13, it doesn't just say, you've taken all this trouble for us. It's, you've been careful for us with all this care. You've been careful with us with all this care. But the words care and careful could easily be translated because there's a sphere of meaning. It's not just a one for one scenario. This word means that. It's this word could mean a number of different things, all related, of course, but one of the things that it could mean is fear. You've been fearful with us with all this fear. Now, we need to understand that this fear is not servile fear. This is not the fear of a slave to a master. This is more, well, this is more like respect. This is what we might call a filial fear. This is the fear that a son or daughter has for a father. Not a servile fear, not that they fear for their life, but you have such a respect for this person who is your father that you have fear. That's the idea, that's the way of it here. And this insight led to respect, this insight that this woman had that this is a man of God, This led to respect. I don't know if you've ever experienced that before, where you're in the presence of someone you respect so much that you lose your words. That's the idea. There's this fear. And I don't divorce, and I don't divorce that from the word of God. In other words, if this would have just been a funny old man walking through Shunem once in a while, he would have just been a funny old man walking through Shunem. But this was a holy man of God who was a prophet. In other words, this was a man of God who spoke the word of God. And she knew him as a holy man, and the word that he spoke was God's word. And you can't divorce that respect from that idea of spiritual insight that she has. There's a third thing here. She served the Lord. She served the Lord by serving him. So she fed him, she built a room for him, she sacrificed for him. I want you to think about it like this. Here was a woman who really, in many ways, used her gifts and graces to bless this man of God. She didn't know when he would show up, but she knew he would show up, and when he did show up, she wanted to be ready. And so she blessed him. Now, those three aspects, insight, reverence, and service. Now, those things will become important, especially when she's experiencing testing. I want you to simply keep this in mind for a minute. And I think it's important for you to hear this said. There are some things in life you can practice for. You can practice football, right? You can practice soccer, you can practice hockey. And if you do the same motions over and over again in practice, in some ways it won't feel any different, except for the elation of scoring that goal, than you would feel in a game. But there are some things you can't practice for. There are some things that you can't be prepared for, not least fully. I remember years ago in my first pastored I worked for a funeral director and he asked me if I would go with him to pick up a body from a morgue in Virginia. And I told him I would. It was my first one that I ever, first trip like that I ever went with him on. And he was preparing me as we drove. And we walked into that morgue, and I want you to know right now, there's nothing that he could have said to prepare me for that moment. There's not a word you could have said. And I'll never forget when they pulled that man out of there. He was in his 30s. So he was about my age. They pulled him out of the cooler, and I just stood there. And my boss walked up to me, and he said, are you OK? And I said, I need a minute. You know, everybody's eating lunch. We showed up at lunch. They're all desensitized. They've got a mouthful of fries to pull this guy out of there. I need a second. I'll be all right. I just need a minute. And this is what he said to me. I thought I prepared you. I'm sure you did. These things, the things that we're seeing in her life, are important when we are trying. So let's look at the trial. The trial. Elisha wants to show some kindness to the woman for her kindness toward him. So he calls the woman. And he says to her through Gehazi, what can be done? What can we do for you? Should we speak a word to the king? Should we speak a word to the commander of the army? What can we do? And the woman says, you know what? I just kind of live in my own circle. I don't spend time with the king and all that sort of thing. No, I don't need any of that. So Elisha says, well, what can we do for her? And Gehazi says, you know, Gehazi is the one of the common sense guys. He says, well, her husband's old. She doesn't have any children. Maybe a child. You know what I mean? Elisha's like, oh, yeah. That's a good idea. Call her. Tell her that. And what's her response? Her response is? Don't give me hope. Don't give me hope. No, my Lord, O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant. And verse 17 ends the whole thing. It's a beautiful thing. Verse 17, but the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her. And then verse 18. The child's grown, not fully grown, this is a lad. And he goes into the field with his father, and he says, oh, my head, my head. And the father says, take him to his mother. You know, just to pause a sec, don't you love that? There are no hospitals, no urgent cares, there are moms. There've always been moms, right? There've always been moms. And the saddest thing, She held him in her lap until noon, and then he died. The narrative unfolds rather quickly at that point. This woman is ready. This woman, remember what I said, there's no practice for this sort of thing. You don't get your, you don't have, you never practice this sort of thing, and yet this woman says, Take the boy to the prophet's chambers, lay him on the bed. Get me a donkey. She saddles him up. She sends word to her husband. She heads off to Mount Carmel, 20 miles away. A five to six hour journey, if your donkey goes about four miles per hour. This woman is in the midst of a test. And the first thing that we notice about her is that she is a rock. She is the saint of Psalm 112. She's not disturbed, not afraid of bad news. Now why is that? It's because she knows the God who stands behind all things. Do you notice what she says? This is incredible. Her husband says to her, why are you going, I don't get it. It's not a new moon, it's not a Sabbath. Honey, why are you going five, six hours away to see the man of God? And she says, all is well. Now, when she gets to the man of God, when she finally gets to Mount Carmel, again, she's been traveling five, six hours, and the man of God sees her and he sends Gehazi, his servant, go and find out. And the man says, are you okay? Is your husband okay? Is your child okay? All is well. Now, here's what I want you to notice. All is well is all well and good, but the Hebrew behind that is shalom, peace. It's at peace. How in the world can it be at peace? How in the world can things be at peace? Her world has been turned upside down. Is it a pious platitude? Is she faking it? Is she just trying to be something she's not? I don't think so. I think that this woman understands. She's the woman of Psalm 112. But I'll tell you what else she is. who absolutely knows that her husband, her servants, even Gehazi, can't do a thing for her. She goes to the prophet. And she goes to the prophet not just because he's that funny man that used to walk through town, but she goes to the prophet because she knows that this man has the word of God. This man has the presence of God. I wanna say something to you for just a minute. I want you to think about that. There's an interesting little thing in this text. It says this. This is what the prophet says to Gehazi. See, Gehazi, you know, he's standing in front of the prophet, and the woman comes right to the prophet. He's trying to push her away from the prophet, and the prophet says, let her come. Listen to what he says. The Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me. Now you think, well, no, no, no. Amos 3.7 says, the Lord does nothing without first telling his prophet. This is an anomaly. The Lord has not disclosed to the prophet what he is about to do, what he did. And so this woman goes right to the prophet. And I want you to know something. The beautiful thing about this is this. The beautiful thing is that this woman reminds us of the woman we find described Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3, listen to what it says. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you. You see, this woman didn't trust in the prophet. She trusted in the God of the prophet. Her faith was in God. She understood that the prophet was necessary for her to hear the word of God, but she trusted in God. I want you to think about this woman. This woman is a woman worth emulating. She's like a weightlifter, right? You ever see one of those weightlifting competitions where, you know, the weight's hoisted above their head or, you know, they're doing a deadlift and they're completely and totally still. Every vein is popping, every muscle, every cord in their body is standing out. And they're waiting for what? They're waiting for the light. Yep, you got it under control, you can put it down. And they are a picture of stillness. The best of them are a picture of stillness. And yet inside, everything is crying out, you dummy, put the weight down! And you see, that's this woman. Everything in life is falling apart, and her world on the inside is upside down, and yet she's at peace. Why? Because she knows the God who stands behind all things. And what we find, finally, is that her faith is vindicated. This is absolutely beautiful when you think about it. I mean, verse 28, look at what it says. Then she said, did I ask my Lord for a son? Did I not say, do not deceive me? And then look at verse 29. He said to Gehazi, tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. He knows. He doesn't even have to be told. All she has to do is say that, and he says, you go. And what's the woman say? You would think that a mother would go, I'm right behind you, Gehazi. But she says to the prophet, I'm not leaving your side. And I think that because of the way we've been thinking about the prophet and the word of God, I think what we need to understand is, She's saying, I'm not leaving the presence of God. I'm not leaving the side of God. I'm with God. And when the prophet gets to the chamber, he finds the boy just as has been described. Gehazi's returned, said, the boy is dead. I can't. He's not moving. I laid my staff on him like you said. Nothing's happening. The prophet arrives. And you can see what's happening in the life of the prophet. He goes in and he prays and he paces and he lays down on the child and he gets up again and he paces some more and he lays down on the child. What's he doing? That's a strange thing, isn't it? What's he doing? I think the best way to understand it is the way that the Old Testament would have us to understand it. clean, holy man is doing is he's saying, let me take upon myself the curse of death that this boy might live. I think it's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ taking our sin upon himself so that we might live. And as he's laying there on top of the boy, the boy sneezes. Can you imagine? That first sneeze. I think of Hebrews 11, 35. Women received back their dead by resurrection. And the beautiful thing about it is that this picture of the resurrection This boy that was raised once will be raised again. And that's the hope of the gospel because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let me pray with you. Father, we thank you and praise you for the Spirit who makes us ever mindful of His presence in our lives. Lord, bless us and strengthen us, we pray.