It Is All Right

Scripture

2 Kings 4:25 So she set out, and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
 When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman; 26 run at once to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?” She answered, “It is all right.” 27 When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” 28 Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?” 29 He said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, give no greeting, and if anyone greets you, do not answer; and lay my staff on the face of the child.”

Observation

The Shunammite woman had great faith and yet she was struggling with what she was facing. She and her husband had shown great hospitality to Elisha and he was very grateful. The woman had been unable to become pregnant and this had caused great pain for this couple. During one of his visits Elisha declared that they would have a child, and the woman eventually gave birth to a son. Sadly, the little boy became ill and just before we reach today’s scripture, he dies in her arms. The only thing this woman knows to do is to go and find Elisha. She refuses to tell anyone that her son is dead, but instead declares on several occasions, “it is all right.” It’s not until she finally reaches Elisha that she allows her emotions to show and reveals the reason for her pain. 

She knew there was one person to whom she could go for an answer to her problem. That’s why she told everyone else along the way, “it is all right.” They didn’t need to know what was wrong with her son because they could do nothing about it. She needed to get to Elisha whom she knew would take immediate action. Not only would he take action, but his action would have results.

The woman didn’t need to waste time telling everyone that her child was dead because she really did believe “it was all right” until she could reach Elisha. Her words were a statement of her faith to believe that it could be all right, as long as the powerful man of God became involved in her situation. She lived and believed “it is all right,” and it was.

Application

Sometimes our circumstances may seem completely out of control. That “thing” that we have birthed may suddenly seem as if it’s on life-support. We may be struggling with relationships. Our finances may be deteriorating. We may have lost our job. It’s easy to worry and to fret and tell everyone we meet what is going on. It’s not as easy to calmly press on, telling others, “it is all right,” when we are in pain. More than likely we succumb to the temptation to complain and tell those along the journey what is going on. The problem is that when we respond in that way we become distracted from reaching our goal. For the Shunammite woman, her goal was to get to Elisha for she had faith to believe that he was the one who could do something about her son. When we are in the midst of extreme difficulty we need not get distracted from our goal of getting to Christ. To all others we declare, “it is all right” for they are but a distraction and a stopping point where we might complain.

The answers to our problems and needs are found by walking in the wilderness with Jesus. This is part of our Lenten journey. We are not to be distracted by anyone or anything that keeps us from getting to Jesus. Others cannot solve our problems but Jesus can. By faith we live in the “it is all right” until we fall at the feet of our loving Savior. There we cry out from the depths of our hearts and express to him our deepest needs. Jesus hears and will respond with empathetic holy love.

The day may seem daunting, but we press on in faith for “it is all right.”

Prayer

Lord, may I press on in faith and not be distracted along my journey to knowing you. Amen.