Saying "Everything Is All Right"

Sermon on 2 Kings 4:17-37

Text: But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”
His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“That’s all right,” she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 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.
31 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.”
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

If someone asks, “How are you?”, how do you usually respond? If you’re like most people, you probably answer, “Fine” or something like that. You might continue the conversation by asking how they are, and they will respond in a similar way. “I’m fine.” But are we always fine? Are there times when we are anything but fine? We have this difficulty going on in our life. We have aches and pains. There is something in our life that is causing us great sadness. Yet we mask it all with the words, “I’m fine.” This morning, we are going to hear a woman, who, when asked, “Are you all right?", respond with “Everything is all right.” We look at her example and learn about SAYING “EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT” 1. Even When It Appears That It’s Not, 2. Because Actually It Is.

A bit of background is helpful to understand this heartbreaking account. Elisha was a prophet of God. As he traveled, he often came through the village of Shunem. A woman there said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” (2 Kings 4:9-10) She wanted to support Elisha in his ministry. Elisha was thankful and asked his servant, Gehazi, what could be done to show his appreciation. Gehazi answered, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” (2 Kings 4:14) When Elisha called the woman in, he told that, by this time next year, she would have a son. The woman responded by saying, “No, my lord! Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!” (2 Kings 4:16) Then, we read in verse 17, “But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.”

Can you imagine the joy that filled this woman’s heart? After years of having no children, finally, there he was. The hours that this woman must have spent playing with her child, hearing the sound of his laughter, and experiencing all the other joys of motherhood. How she must have cherished every moment!

But then, tragedy struck. “[The child] went out to his father, who was with the reapers. He said to his father, ‘My head! My head!’ His father told a servant, ‘Carry him to his mother.’ After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.” (Verses 19-20) The boy, who may have been eight years old, was out in the fields with his father. He complained that his head hurt, possibly due to sunstroke. Whatever the cause was, the boy was carried home. He was placed on his mother’s lap, who, I’m sure, was cradling him and rocking him. Then, the boy died. Can you imagine the tears that were flowing down his mother’s face? This was her son, her only child, whom she had waited so many years for. Heartbreak had come to this mother.

Then, we are told, “She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.” (Verse 21) She put him on Elisha’s bed and shut the door behind her. Then she called her husband. We note that she did not tell him that their son had died. Instead, she told him, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.” (Verse 22) The husband responded, “Why go to him today? It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.” (Verse 23) Why are you going to church today? The woman responded with words that sound strange to our ears, “That’s all right.” (Verse 23) How could she say that? Everything, clearly, was not all right!

Then, she set out to find Elisha, who was at Mt. Carmel, some twenty miles away. Elisha recognized the woman from a distance. He sent his servant, Gehazi, to ask, “Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?” She responded, “Everything is all right.” (Verse 26) What’s interesting to note about the woman’s response to her husband and Gehazi are the words that are translated as “All right.” The Hebrew word that is used is “Shalom,” which is often translated as “peace.” She told them “Peace.”

How could she say that? How could she say that everything was all right, that there was peace? Was she just going through the various stages of grief, one of which is denial? Was she just pretending that it really hadn’t happened? We know that’s not the case, because, when she came to Elisha, she fell to the ground, grasping his feet. Elisha could clearly see that she was “in bitter distress.” (Verse 27) In her anguish, she cried out, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?” (Verse 28) After so many years of being without a child, she had been prepared to live her life that way. But to be given a child and then having him torn away from her by death, was more than she could handle.

How well, we can, at times identify with the woman. There are things that go on in our lives, that can be spirit-crushing. Maybe it is the loss of a job that you had given your all to. Maybe it’s a huge financial setback. Maybe it’s a medical diagnosis for yourself or a loved one. It could be what this woman had experienced, the sudden death of someone so close to us. You feel torn up inside. When we face these situations, do we feel like we can say, as the woman did, “It’s all right.” Can we call it peace?

Why did the woman say to her husband and Elisha, “It’s all right?” To help us understand why she said this, we can look at what the woman did when her son died. She placed him on Elijah’s bed in their house. Then, she quickly went to find Elisha. She went to the man of God for help. Though overwhelmed, she sought help from God. How well she models what Peter encourages us to do when we face these types of situations: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) The woman’s prayers were answered. After Elisha entered the room, he laid himself upon the boy. He also prayed and waited for the Lord to answer that prayer. It says that “Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room.” He was pacing the floor as he waited for the Lord’s help. Then, the boy came back to life. Elisha called the woman in and presented her son to her. In conclusion, we read, “She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.” The woman gave thanks to God that he had given back her son to her. We can see why she could say, “It is all right.” She had confidence that the Lord would hear her in her distress and come to her aid.

The woman serves as a good role model for us. When we come to those spirit-crushing times in our lives, when it looks like there is no hope, we, too, can say “It’s all right.” We aren’t ignoring or downplaying the problem. It is very real. However, we have confidence that our loving God will aid us in our deepest need.

The reason that we can have this confidence is the fact that our loving God has taken care of our deepest, most serious need, which is the forgiveness of our sins. When we compare our lives to the uncompromising demands of the law, we see how often we have fallen far short of the perfection that is required. For example, how often don’t we place our trust, our hope, in something other than God as we go through this life? We try this and we try that, thinking that the solution might be there. This misplaced trust is a sin against God. We also see from God’s law that we rightly deserve to be cast out from our loving God’s presence for all eternity. If we were still in this state, there is no way that we could ever say, “It’s all right.” It could never be all right either for this life or the next.

However, God saw us in our deepest distress and has come to our aid. That is our focus during this Lenten season. The Father, in his unfathomable love, sent his Son to be our Savior. Having lived a perfect life in our place, Jesus offered his life on the cross. Through his suffering and death, our sins have been paid for. God sees us as perfect. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we know that our debt of sin is gone and that we have life, eternal life. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, faith has been created in our hearts, and our eyes are opened to see all the gifts, including the forgiveness of sins, that Jesus has won for us. Because this is true, when our consciences remind us of a sin that we have committed, we can say, “It’s all right. Jesus has paid for that sin, as well. There is peace.”

Since this is true, we can also have this same confidence that the Lord will be with us during all the difficulties in our lives. It may well be that God, in his mercy, will deliver us from them. He certainly has the power and the love to do so. If that is the case, to God be all the glory. However, if we are still to go through them, we can still have the confidence that God is with us and will always do what is best for us. If that job is lost or we face that financial setback, we know that God will always provide for us. If the medical diagnosis wasn’t what we were hoping for, we know that God will help us through it. When we face the death of a loved one, we know that God is there to comfort us, just as Jesus did for Martha and Mary at the loss of their brother. When we face our own end of life on this earth, we know that God is there to strengthen us with the sure hope of resurrection and eternal life. Dear friends, take to heart and hold fast the promise that God makes us in Psalm 50:15, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

So, when someone asks, “How are you?”, you can give the pat answer, “I’m fine.” Maybe, if you are facing something distressing in your life, you might want to share that with the person who asks. It’s wonderful to have people who care about you and can lend a sympathetic ear. Often, however, they cannot do anything more than listen. How blessed we are to have a God who not only hears our groans but can do something about them. We know that he loves us so much that he sent his Son into the world to be our Savior. Since this is true, we have this comfort. Whatever may come our way, whether it is a joyous occasion or deepest sorrow, whether the day is full of sunshine or storms, in life or death, we can still confidently and truthfully say, “I am at peace. It is all right.”