The Shunammite

Wow saints...  I want to be like this Shunammite woman of 2 Kings chapter 4.  Her story correlates well with psalm 142.  The pairing is so right on from the common book of prayer.  Anyway, as it says in the psalm " before Him I tell my trouble".  How often do we tell ourselves our troubles all day; or others?  Yet this woman relentlessly pursued the man of God as her anchor and would only be satisfied with him.  When his servant Gehazi went out to meet her after her son passed she would not share with him her heart.  She reserved the pouring out of her anguish towards Elisha.  I love that.  How often do we reserve our words for the intimacy of the Lord?  The passage strikes me as being in similar times as the book of Ruth; dry, desolate, joyless.  In the midst of this I was struck by this woman's  simple faith and trust.  She would only allow Elisha to come and minister to her dead boy and not his staff.  She made room for the holy in her life by preparing a room for him and serving him a meal.  And, the Lord rewarded her by bringing into her life the one thing she desired so badly.  She could not even speak the words herself, "I want a son".  She was so afraid that the Lord would dash her hopes.  That is my one beef with this woman.  She was hesitant, even willful against declaring the desires of her heart.  And, I believe our God wants us to hope!  And, the Lord raised her hope from the dead as Elisha placed flesh upon flesh and covered him.  Doesn't Jesus do that for us?  He places flesh upon our flesh and breath upon our breath.  What a great passage.  Well, that is my ramblings for the day.  Babies are screaming... gotta go.