The Shunammite Woman said, “All is Well.” 💕

Hi Friends,

I hope you’re doing well!

I want to share a short devotional about the Shunammite woman with you. 

Her story can be found in 2 Kings 4 and 2 Kings 8. 

I love the Shunammite woman!

She had a gorgeous Christ-like character and many qualities I admire and want to embody as a woman of God. 

Now, the Bible doesn’t give us her actual name. 

We only know her by the name of the city she lived in, which was called Shunem. 

The Shunammite was a wealthy, married woman. 

She provided food for Elisha. Whenever he stopped by Shunem, he ate at her house. 

One day, she told her husband, “Let’s build him a room and put a bed, table, and chair in there for him.”

So Elisha and his servant, Gehazi, would stay with the Shunammite woman and her husband whenever he passed their way. 

One day, while there, he told the Shunammite woman, “You have gone through all this trouble for us. Now, what can we do for you?”

But she didn’t accept anything from him.  

So Elisha asked his servant, Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”

Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

So Elisha spoke with the Shunammite woman and told her, “Around this time next year, you will have a son.”

The following year, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, just like Elisha prophesied. 

But unfortunately, later in the story, her son gets sick. 

So his father has a servant carry the son to his mother, and while sitting on his mother’s lap, he dies. 

The Shunammite woman doesn’t panic. 

She doesn’t blame God or ask why me. 

She doesn’t mourn or grieve. 

She doesn’t run out and tell everyone what happened. 

She doesn’t even tell her husband. 

Instead, she asks her husband if she can take the horse and go and see Elisha, the man of God. 

When her husband asks her what is going on, she says my favorite line in the chapter, “All is well.”

She leaves home and goes to see Elisha at Mount Carmel. 

When Elisha sees her, he tells his servant, Gehazi, to go and meet her and ask if she and her husband and child are okay. 

The Shunammite woman tells Gehazi that, “All is well.”

But when she reaches Elisha on the mountain, she falls to his feet in distress and tells him about her son. 

When Elisha hears this, he sends Gehazi ahead of him to place his staff on the boy's face, and then he and the Shunammite woman come after him. 

Elisha goes to her house and eventually brings the boy back to life. 

Once the boy is alive, Elisha calls the Shunammite woman into the room, and she falls to his feet and bows to the ground.  

She’s thankful, and she takes her son and leaves the room. 

There are so many gems we can gain from the Shunammite woman’s story:

She honored God by showing hospitality to Elisha, the man of God. 

She sought to help him and show him hospitality without looking for anything in return. And because of her kindness, Elisha blessed her. 

This woman had great faith. Two times, the Shunammite woman said, “All is well.” When things weren’t well. 

Remember, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. 

When the Shunammite woman was distressed, she took her issues to God and no one else, not even her husband. God used Elisha to restore the boy's life. 

Sometimes, we can only tell our problems to God and Him alone. Don’t get me wrong. Having family, friends, and a supportive community is important and great. 

We all need each other. But sometimes, we need God and Him alone to work our situation out for us. 

Amid our difficult circumstances and despair, let’s always go to God first before turning to anyone else. 

She was generous with her wealth. She supported Elisha and provided comfort and rest for him. Her generosity was a blessing to Elisha and his servant, Gehazi. 

She still served others in her personal pain of not having what she desired from God, which was a child.  She didn’t focus on herself. She focused on helping and serving someone else. She served amid her own suffering. 

The Shunammite woman showed humility and gratitude to God by bowing to the ground after her son was brought back to life in thankfulness. 

I don’t know about you. But I want to be more like her. When I am faced with difficult things in life, I want always to be able to say, All is well. Because I know God is going to work everything out for my good. 

The Shunammite woman’s kindness and hospitality to Elisha led to great blessings in her life. God even blessed her life abundantly during a famine in 2 Kings 8. 

When we are kind to others and serve them selflessly without looking for our own gain, God will bless us just as He did for the Shunammite woman. 

In 2 Kings 8:1-6, this principle is evident when Elisha warns the Shunammite woman of a famine that is to come. 

He tells her to move her and her family to another place for seven years so they won’t be affected by the family. 

So, the Shunammite woman moves her family to the land of the Philistines. 

At the end of seven years, she and her family returned to their town and found that their land and home had been sold. 

So, the woman goes to the king to get her land and property back. 

As she goes in to speak to the king, Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, is there. 

He tells the king about all the great things Elisha has done, and one of those things is how Elisha brought the Shunammite woman’s son back to life. 

When the king hears this and asks the woman about it, she confirms the story, and then the king restores all of the woman’s land and property to her, including the income gained on her property during the seven years that she and her family were gone!

What an amazing story and testimony of what God can do when you show kindness, hospitality, and love to someone else. 

The Shunammite woman wasn’t looking for a blessing. She was focused on being a blessing to someone else, and God blessed her abundantly for her selflessness. 

What a wonderful woman!

From her story, I see why Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than receive.” Acts 29:35

I hope this story inspired you and blessed your life! 

Until next time, happy reading!

XO,

Dr. Rich 💋