2 Kings 8:4-6 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray you, all the great things that Elisha has done.… God is always unwilling to allow us to suffer, and yet if He constantly checked suffering great evil would follow. If Israel had not been visited during the reign of Jehoram with famine, a worse evil would have befallen the nation; it would have sunk into a deeper state of idolatry; a plague of corruption and darkness would have stolen over the people and there would have been a famine of the Word. National calamities fell, but alas! the innocent had to suffer with the guilty. The woman of Shunem had done what she could to honour God and His servants, and yet she was involved in the general distress. One thing.she gained by her piety — a prophet's warning. He told her to go and sojourn in a strange land. Intense longing at length merges into actual movement. Her face is turned homewards. Her weary steps bring her at length within the walls. None salute her. A kinsman passes, and she hails him, but he, alas! declares that he has not the pleasure of knowing her. To the very door of her own home she comes. In the spot from whence she had often given a welcome to the wayfarer she is questioned by a hireling and coldly met by another kinsman. To whom shall she go for redress? She goes to the gateway, the place of justice, and seeks, after the manner of Boaz, to gather a jury to decide between her and the men who have appropriated her property. All refuse, for one and another had filched from her something. They are afraid they will have to disgorge. They are trembling at her reappearance. Let her go again to Philistia or starve in Shunem. Treatment such as this was, for the poor widow, harder to bear than famine. She could have borne it from strangers, but from relatives it is bitter indeed. To whom can she have recourse? Who will execute judgment for the oppressed? Were Elisha living she knew that he would help. Had he not once offered to speak for her to the king, or the captain of the host (2 Kings 4:13)? "Why should I not go direct to the king?" is her sudden thought. She mentions it to her son. "He will not have time to listen to us, mother; our cause will be such a trifling affair to a great king." "Ah, my son, you are right. We are doomed to poverty. Once I was an honoured woman in Shunem and could help others, now I can only crave help. Position or possessions are not for us again." Thus pondering, and perhaps murmuring, she comes into the presence of the king. She trembles, and is ready to turn back. Yet she knows Jehoram by his attire and his staff. He is talking with some aged man, doubtless on weighty matters of state. As she approaches, and glances again at the companion of the king, she fancies she recognises those features. Yes, it is Gehazi, the one who had been attendant on Elisha, the mighty prophet. Jehoram has just asked Gehazi to tell him something concerning the doings of Elisha, the man to whom he owed his success in the beginning of his reign. Through him he repulsed the Syrians. He wishes he had acted subsequently more in harmony with the prophet's principles. Hence he is wishful to know more of them. "Who is that?" Gehazi gazes with astonishment. Can this be the very woman and son of whom he had been speaking? Yes, but how changed, the woman, and aged. And that young man? 'Tis the child of prophetic promise and miraculous restoration. 1. We have in this an illustration of certain coincidences that come to us in life, and which have oftimes great effect in determining our future. Some men get into a certain course and then life runs on smoothly to the end, like a locomotive on a level line. Others are swept into a current and are turned hither and thither like the stream or torrent that is checked, narrowed and tossed by, the rocky inequalities over Which it has to flow or over which it has to leap. There are certain points in life where We turn completely for good or evil, for time and for eternity. We may not notice these points. There are moments when life appears to turn as on a pivot.. The slightest action, most trifling event, may suffice to give the turn, the complexion, the change of direction to the life. I remember when in great mental perplexity on one of the most important doctrines of the New Testament, that I casually met, at Naples, Dr. Symington of Scotland, and in an afterdinner conversation, and during a stroll along under the castle of St. Elmo, words and thoughts were uttered that make me to-day a Christian worker instead of a mere agnostic. 2. God's hand should be traced in the minutiae of life. The mighty God of Israel cared for her — a poor lone, rejected, oppressed widow woman. Her houses and lands were speedily restored. The king acted with alacrity. The unjust were rebuked. The removers of the ancient landmarks were punished. The land filchers were frustrated in their scheme. The woman of Shunem could only exclaim, "Truly there is a God that judgeth." "He is the father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow." And all who are in any trouble, sorrow, perplexity, or who have to suffer through the wrong-doing of others, may always be sure of access to the King of kings, and of the fact that there is an Advocate with the Father. The Bible is full of hints of the special working of God. The silver thread of Providence runs through the whole. Christ taught us that the very hairs of our head are numbered, and that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Divine notice. Since Christ's death all history shows that God has been working for the welfare of men and the advancement of His kingdom of goodness in all hearts. Men specially fitted for great works are born at different periods. All things shall converge towards His great end. Everything, even that which seems most adverse, — as with the Shunammite woman seeking her lands — shall coincide to the restoration to Christ of all the kingdoms of the world to Him. His right it is to reign. The usurpers shall not only have to give up their usurpation, but shall have to do homage to Him who hath brought in victory. 3. Now although we believe in the converging of circumstances under the direction of God, and although we urge upon all the need of looking for Divine direction and of following the indications of the providence, we would also utter a warning against always looking for coincidences to guide us in every circumstance. We might err and be only leaning on an arm of flesh. It is always best to do that which the heart suggests when acting under the consciousness of earnest prayer to God. We may not look for signs. We are to act as though all depended on ourselves, but, at the same time, rest in God's power by simple prayer. 4. Sometimes there is a convergence of misfortunes, a coincidence in sorrow. We have a familiar saying that misfortunes never come singly. There are periods that try faith severely. A man may lose his situation, fail in business, be called upon to pay some guarantee for one he trusted, and have at the same time wife ill, children stricken down with fever. Or he meets with some accident and is prostrate. Wave of trouble succeeds wave, until it seems as though there were no more to come, and he exclaims, "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." Well for him if at such times he, like the Shunammite, seeks help from the king, and lays hold of that mercy which is never withdrawn from the most erring, or fails the feeblest. (F. Hastings.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. |
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