2 Kings 4:8-24

Entertaining a Prophet

2 Kings 4:8

The real man needs a very small supply of outward comfort, because his life is hid in God. It does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses, but in faith, love, and hope. What a noble testimony it would be to our character, if people who saw us going to and fro became convinced that “this is an holy man of God,” 2 Kings 4:9!

Sunstroke in the tropics is a frequent cause of death, Psalms 121:6. When a child is taken sick, it is the mother who is the best comforter; but there are limits to a mother's power to help. This woman of Shunem must be referred to in Hebrews 11:35. She was so sure of the life-restoring prayers of the great prophet that she did not feel it necessary to tell her husband what had befallen. Why should she grieve him, when the child would soon be given back to them! In noble confidence she dared to say that all would be well, and God did not disappoint nor fail. Shunem was fifteen miles from Carmel, and there was not an inch of the road which was not covered by the mother's splendid faith that God would make all-grace abound toward her.