Tag Archives: Gehazi

Laying aside Coincidence, Looking for Divine Appointments…

“There is a God who governs the world, so that things do not come to pass by chance, no, not the smallest event, but all by Divine direction.” ~ Matthew Henry

The late, and beloved, Corrie ten Boom did not believe in coincidence. She had too many Divine Appointments to prove otherwise.

If you are not familiar with Corrie, she is credited with saving the lives of many Jews during WWII by helping them escape, and many others by hiding them from the Nazis in her home.

During 1943 and 1944, there would be as many as six and seven people living secretly, and illegally, in the ten Boom family home. She and her family were later imprisoned for their underground deeds.

One of Corrie’s “coincidences” came about when a clerical error allowed her to be released from the prison camp a week before all women prisoners her age were executed. Corrie later wrote that, “God does not have problems, only plans.”

Coincidence- A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged.

There was another lady who experienced quite the coincidence in the Bible. You may or may not know her as the Shunammite woman whose son was raised from the dead by the prophet Elisha in the book of 2 Kings, chapter 4.

Elisha had told the woman that there would be a famine in the land and she should go and stay wherever she could, because the famine would last for seven years. She obeyed and took her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

At the end of the seven years she makes her way back to Israel to make an appeal to the king to get her house and her land returned to her. Now this is no small feat for anyone, especially for a woman. To go before the king and demand your property be returned to you after seven years of being gone had to be a little scary, and from the commentaries I have read he might not have been particularly easy to work with.

In the meantime, the king is talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, they are just sitting around discussing all of the great things Elisha has done. There they are going down through the list of all the miracles he had performed and when Gehazi gets to the story of Elisha bringing the Shunammite woman’s son back to life she walks in at that very moment to ask the king to restore her house and land! Gehazi is beside himself and reacts like this:

“My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 2 Kings 8:5 NKJV.

It isn’t like they are the only ones in the room…surely there are many people in line to see the king just as this woman. But Gehazi sees her just as he is telling about her son’s miracle.

The king listens to her story, assigns an official to her case and tells him to “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.” 2 Kings 8:6 NIV.

Crazy Coincidence? I prefer to call it Divine Appointment!

God had taken care of her this far; He sure was not going to abandon her now.

Can you handle one more story?

We all love Ruth and Naomi and their dedication to one another in the Old Testament. After the death of both of their husbands they move back to their homeland and in order to provide food for the two of them, Ruth is out in the field gathering grain that is left over from the harvesters.

“Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.” Ruth 2:3 NKJV.

She just happened to come to the field that belonged to Boaz…a man of influence and wealth who would soon fall in love with her and take her for his wife.

But it doesn’t end there. This little “coincidence” truly is a Divine Appointment, for we find Boaz and Ruth listed in the New Testament in a pretty important place.

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham…Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.” Matthew 1:1-5 NKJV.

Surely you can think of times in your life when circumstances have come together that you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it had to be God. Some would have called it coincidence but you knew better.

God had His hand all over it!

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.” Psalm 37:23 NKJV.

We miss out on giving God glory when we pass something off as chance, happenstance or coincidence.

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What specific instances can you recall that God has done in your life that you knew was not a coincidence?

Have you found yourself in the right place at the right time and just knew it was the hand of God?

Nothing happens by chance!

I think my God delights in getting out His datebook and setting up Divine Appointments for me!

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I don’t want to fail to give Him the praise and glory for each and every one. Do you have one you would like to share? We would love to hear it!

Leaving you with this poem that supposedly was a favorite of Corrie ten Boom…

Ode to Coincidence

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me
I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily.
Oft times he weaves sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent and shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weaver’s hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

It SHALL be well!

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Blessed to introduce Angela Jones as our guest writer today. Angee is my niece on the Elkins side! She is a schoolteacher, a Sunday School teacher, an anointed singer and woman of God. Enjoy her thoughts on the promises of God.

While sitting in service this past Sunday morning, I listened to the minister as he read and spoke of the Shunammite woman who was blessed with a son because of her kindness to God’s servant, Elisha. She was devastated when the child suddenly fell ill while working in the fields with his father; and just hours later, died while sitting upon her knee.

Nonetheless, she didn’t surrender to the feelings of despair but told her husband she was going to see the prophet, Elisha; and added this statement of faith, “It shall be well!”

She had no way of knowing what might transpire after meeting with Elisha, but seemingly had faith enough in the God of Elisha and trusted in the wisdom of his God enough to proclaim: “It shall be well.”

Sometimes we may find ourselves in the midst of a storm, and so overtaken with grief or uncertainty, that at the time we have not the courage to hold our head high and walk boldly, and willingly, into the raging winds. Yet, I challenge you, as the Shunammite woman, with no insight as to how, or in what time frame it may come to be, make the statement “It SHALL be well!”

This grieving mother apparently felt the same confusion and hurt by these events that we often feel when troubles come, for she accused Elisha of deceiving her with the promise of this child.

“Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, ‘Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.’ So she said, ‘Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” 2 Kings 4:27-28 NKJV.

Elisha sent his servant, Gehazi, to lay Elisha’s staff upon the child, but the child was not revived. Again, the mother could have said, “All hope is lost.” Elisha also tried and no answer came, but we know the story was not over because of one statement of faith she had previously made, “It shall be well.”

It was not the end because all was not yet well!

After Elisha went in to the child, the child was revived and once again gathered into his mother’s arms, all was then well, letting her know this test in her life had ended.

Though in this story all was well in a short period of time, in making a like statement of faith, you may have to wait weeks or months before “All is well.” Do not yield to despair. In God’s own time, and in His own infinite way, “It shall be well.”

The story is not ended until you can say “It IS well!”

Sharing with Hearts for Home, Faith Filled Fridays

A little chamber on the wall…

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Continuing our series on Elisha, Man of Miracles! You can read the first one here! Love this story of Elisha and the Shunammite woman. So much faith, so many good nuggets to tuck away in our hearts! If you do not know the story, I will be quoting quite a bit of scripture so we do not miss a thing in this great story from the Word of God.

A little chamber on the wall…

In 2 Kings, Chapter 4, the story begins like this: “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.”

She is described as a “great woman” here in the King James Version, as a “notable, wealthy, well-to-do, and even leading lady”, in other versions. We gather that she is, at the least, well-known in her city. It is also obvious she wanted to serve the prophet, Elisha. She wanted to do something special for him any time he was in the area. She even fed him regularly!

But for this woman of faith, it wasn’t enough and she asks her husband to make him a room. It wasn’t fancy, as we see in the scripture, just a bed, a table, a stool to sit on and a candlestick for light.

Elisha is thankful for the place to stay and wants to do something special for the woman in return. His servant, Gehazi, tells the prophet that the woman has no children so Elisha prophesies to her, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son…the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.”(NKJV)

Here is his first miracle for the Shunammite woman…a child of her own after so many years of being barren.

The child gets a little older and one day runs to his father in the field holding his head and complaining of pain. His father has the servants take him back to his mother to care for him. The Bible says he sat on her lap until noon and then he died.

Distraught, this woman of God “…went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.”

She didn’t take him to his own room, nor to her room, but to Elisha’s room!

Then she gathers what she needs for a journey…and takes off to go find the prophet.

Elisha sees her coming and sends Gehazi to meet her. “…and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ And she answered, ‘It is well.’”

Pausing here! It is well? Her son is dead and she says, “It is well.” Why? Because she knew if she could get to the man of God that all would be well! What faith!

She ran on to the prophet, caught him by the feet and Gehazi came close to push her away. “But the man of God said, ‘Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

The Shunammite woman tells Elisha what has happened to her son and Elisha immediately sends Gehazi on ahead of the two of them. “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.”

Gehazi obeys and when he arrives he lays the staff on the face of the boy but nothing happens. He runs back to Elisha, who is coming to the house, and tells him, “The child has not awakened.”

Elisha goes into his room, shuts the door and begins to pray. He then performs one of his more interesting miracles!

“And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm.”

Things are starting to take place but the boy still has not awakened. He is not completely healed.

Elisha begins to pace in the house, we assume he is praying, and then he goes back up to the boy and does the same thing again. This time the child sneezes seven times and then opens his eyes!

Persistence has paid off on the part of the Shunammite woman! Persistence has paid off on the part of Elisha!

He calls for Gehazi to bring the mother and presents her son alive and well.

This miracle is exciting in the fact that the boy was a gift to his parents when they were unable to have children. The Shunammite woman was honored by God because of her service to the prophet, the man of God, Elisha.

When trouble comes, she immediately goes to the source of her miracles; the man that she knows can touch God! She believed in the God of Elisha, she believed even before He had given her a son, so now in her time of grief and distress she runs back to the prophet so that he can touch God for her situation.

Today, we don’t have to have a mediator; Jesus already took care of that for us at Calvary. He paid the price, we don’t have to, and He took upon Himself all of our sickness and even the keys to death and hell.

If we have persistent faith like this woman, we can see our prayers answered and miracles, signs and wonders performed for us too.

What if the Lord asks you to do something different to see that miracle come to pass? To step out in faith and trust HIM and Him alone to do what needs to be done? Elisha had likely never laid his body on another before to see life come back, but he was obedient to God, and that is what it took to accomplish the miracle!

What if your prayer is not answered the first time?

Keep praying, keep asking, keep knocking and let God be God.

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He will answer in His time, according to His will, and what is best for us at that time.

If Elisha had walked away after the first attempt at raising the boy, there would have been no miracle, no joy for that family and nothing recorded in the Word of God for us today. But because of his faith and persistence, God showed up and proved once again that He is God. He alone controls life and death!

Have you built a little chamber on the wall? Do you make time for God each day?

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That was her way of allowing God into her life and today we can have him literally in our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Let Him be Lord of your life and begin to believe Him for great things in your life. You will be a living testimony in reaching others for the Kingdom.

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