Old Llantrisant Hill
Introduction
- In this chapter [reading before v8 and beyond v37] we will meet four nameless and helpless people
- A widow in debt
- A well to do woman whose son dies
- A man who has a disaster (puts poisonous vegetables in a famine)
- We meet all in a time of famine
- A huge range of human experiences
- Women/men
- Poor/rich
- Four experiences: Debt, Death, Disaster and Dearth
- The chapter is mainly taken up with the woman whose son dies
- Death leaves us all helpless
- It leaves with the longest pain
- Can God meet this need?
- Yes
- The man of God with the word of God is able to face death
- Let us approach the passage as if we are journeying through it
- Not the fastest but a more scenic route
- We need to learn how God deals with death
- But we need to look at additional things
The Lord often rewards kindness
- The woman has a heart for the man of God
- Example
- She knows he needs a rest
- She provides for Elisha's needs
- God is no debtor and promises the woman's needs will be met
- Elisha chooses his words carefully
- Gen 18:10
- We can understand why God gave Sarah a son
- Why did God give this lady a son?
- God wants this lady to experience the joy of having a baby
- Example from Dale Ralph Davies
- There are times when God gives us the desires of our hearts
- God rewarded her kindness to the man of God
The Lord takes away (as well as gives)
- Loss is part of a fallen world
- Examples
- God is no respector of age - some people die young
- The woman is determined to take her problems to the man of God
- Elisha was God's representative on earth - in coming to Elisha, she is coming to God
- The husband - is he a believer?
- He does not want to build the house
- He thinks Elisha is just for 'Sundays'
- The woman tells the husband shalom - 'it is well'
- She will only pour out her heart to the Lord
- We can pour out our hearts to God
- The man of God did not know the circumstances
- Sometimes those around us do not know any more than us
- The Lord knows
- Sometimes we need to tell people that we do not know
The Lord raises the dead
- The woman is determined to lay hold of God alone until He answers - v30
- Does this remind you of Jacob, Isaiah and the Lord Jesus?
- We do not know why Elisha sent Gehazi ahead with his staff
- Perhaps to show there is no 'magic' in his staff
- Perhaps to show the boy really was dead
- Elisha did not raise the boy from the dead
- He prayed to God
- God brought the boy back from the dead
- Acts 26:8
- Although God's prophets and apostles were used to raise people from the dead - it was God at work
- Jesus raised three people from the dead by His own authority
- He raised the widow of Nain's son - the opposite side of the hill to the Shunam and the Shunammite's son
- Why this women's son and not us?
- We believe in a resurrection
- We believe that all will be raised - to the judgment (either everlasting life or everlasting judgment)
- Recital from John Duncan
- This is our confidence - for ourselves and our loved ones
Closing Remarks