I have been interiming as the Lead Pastor of a small country church in Central Missouri for the past 18 months. It has been an honor to serve these people of faith. They are old school Pentecostals who have worked very hard their entire lives and are longing for the return of the Lord. Some of them can’t wait and have already gone home to be with Jesus. I can’t blame them, they have lived through the best years that this country has had to offer and they have paid a high price for it. Life can be hard at times, but most of the time, life is good, especially for a believer who has placed their faith in Jesus. So it is with these precious folks.
When I first got to the church it had been through two splits, they lost a private school, and the roof was leaking. This rag tag bunch of believers were in need of a shepherd as their previous pastor unexpectedly passed away. That’s when guys like me get the call from the district office. We roll out to the church and work with them in their transition, loss, and need to move forward. The original plan was to merge another church nearby with them, but nobody wanted to be the church that moved. So I have been holding the fort for these past several months; preaching, fellowshipping, worshipping with and doing some odds and end type fix up jobs around the church. It’s what I do, it’s how I roll.
I have come to love these people and I felt the Lord leading me to give them some eschatological truths in the form of some great sermons pertaining to the return of the Lord, end times, and a host of other relevant messages that addressed the temporariness of this life and the eternalness of the next. I am currently going through both of the Thessalonian epistles in an expository manner. The folks there love the ride and have benefited from the messages. It seems that God is doing a good thing in this little country church. If only the folks in the neighborhood would come around and partake in the goodies. Many don’t have a heart for the things of the Lord, but we do our best to be our best in how we represent the Lord in that community.
This church loves to sing hymns, lots of hymns. I can think of some older people in my church in Gardena who would have loved this place; but they’re all dead now. One of the hymns is ‘It is Well With My Soul,’ a classic from the 19th century. It was written by Horatio Spafford who lost a couple of his kids to an ocean liner accident. The lyric, ‘When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll,’ speaks to the moment when Spafford passed over the place on the ocean where the ship when down and these words began to swell within his spirit. It’s a great hymn and it’s on page 316 in your average hymnbook.
The point of this blog has more to do with the chorus of this hymn, ‘It is well, It is well, with my soul, with my soul, it is well, it is well, with my soul.’ Sometimes things aren’t so well with our soul, but we proclaim that it’s well anyway, even when it’s not so well. This has more to do with practicing our faith in God when matters of the flesh are less than comfortable, and the pain of our loss intensifies with each moment. Our loss is very temporary, as is the pain, because we know that in a relatively short time, we will be with Jesus and all of the loss and pain of this life will be gone forever.
Spafford even wrote about that when he proclaimed,
‘And Lord haste the day when the (my) faith shall be sight; the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend; even so it is well with my soul.’
I think that this man was looking for the Lord even in his day. He passed in 1888 at the age of 60, which is how old I will be in August; Lord haste the day. I am reminded of the Shunammite woman from the OT who also lost a son, at least temporarily, but she had faith to proclaim, ‘it is well.’
Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son: “Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable (great) woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. 9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. 10 Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.” – 2 Kings 4:8-10
- The place where this couple lived was called Shunem. They were well-to-do folks and the room addition project they did would later be known as a prophet’s room. Today we would call it a guest room, but when you’re hosting a prophet, it’s better to call it a prophet’s room; it’s just a better fit.
“And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there. 12 Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. 13 And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ”She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”
14 So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.” 15 So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. 16 Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!” – (vs.11-16)
- The kindness Elijah showed this woman by giving her a prophetic word regarding her future son was exactly what she wanted, but couldn’t have, due to the agedness of her husband. Her response was not meant to offend, rather, to express gratitude for the great gift of life that would come from her womb, even in her husband’s old age.
“But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her. 18 And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. 19 And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. 21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. 22 Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.” 23 So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.” (‘it shall be well.’)” – (vs.17-23)
- The tension of the loss of this mother’s son, coupled with her faith in God and the man of God who spoke the prophetic word that made it possible for her to conceive in the first place, is evident here.
When her husband asked why she was going to see the prophet, she replied, ‘it is well.’ Some translations say, ‘it shall be well.’ In either case, a declaration of faith was made on the part of the Shunammite woman.
“Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25 And so she departed, and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! 26 Please run now 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.” – (vs.24-26)
- This was yet another declaration of faith on the part of the Shunammite woman to Gehazi, Elisha’s steward. But this woman was not stopping with the servant of the man of God; she need to see the man.
“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.” 28 So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?” 29 Then he said to Gehazi, “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.” 30 And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. 31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.” – (vs.27-31)
- The Shunammite woman (who is nameless in this story by the way) pressed into the man of God and reminded him of their arrangement; he was not lying to her about her son. The inference here is that the boy would not die even after he was miraculously born; however, the boy did die and his mother was not happy about it.
Elisha’s decision to send his servant Gehazi didn’t work so well. The lesson here is that sometimes you have to go and do the job yourself, sending a staff member doesn’t always work.
“When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. 33 He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. 34 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. 35 He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36 And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” 37 So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.” – (vs.32-37)
- While I can’t recommend Elisha’s methods in raising a child from the dead; especially the part about laying on the child and giving him mouth-to mouth recession and such; but it worked. God showed up and the child was raised from the dead.
The Shunammite woman was happy to receive her son alive again as her ‘faith was made sight,’ just like the lyric in the old hymn, ‘It Is Well With My Soul.’ The message here is that sometimes we have to proclaim, ‘it is well,’ or ‘it shall be well,’ even when things are not so well; or when they look like they’re not going to be well. This is much harder said than done, but we can appreciate the faith of this Shunammite woman and the result.
I am in a struggling season right now. I want to say ‘it is well’ even when things don’t seem to be going well. I have faith in God and I believe that He has me, but I am also a person with weaknesses, sorrows, and a bit of a control issue problem who must also proclaim, ‘it is well, it shall be well.’ I will get through this, I always do because God is always with me, growing me, stretching me, and shaping me into the image of His Son.
I want to encourage you also my brother (sister), be strong in the Lord and know, even in the midst of your trial that ‘it shall be well.’ Jesus is coming very soon, perhaps today. Wouldn’t that be nice. Like with a lot of watchers, they have some deficits in their life that create some of the tensions associated with watching and working for the Lord. Regardless of this, we are all called to walk by faith, proclaiming like Horatio Spafford and the Shunammite woman did, ‘it is well.’ I choose to proclaim it also, by faith, and I know that I will not be the first or only person that God’s let’s down. He is faithful, even in our deficit. By faith in God I speak it forth that ‘It shall be well; it shall be well, it is well.’
Maranatha!
Encouragemen is a blog written by Pastor Rob Lee, recently relocated to Northwest Missouri. He lives with his wife of 35-years, near their three adult children, their spouses, and children (their grandchildren). Pastor Rob is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, a former Lead Pastor (25 years), police chaplain, and community advocate. He continues to serve, consult, and disciple men of God, including those who are in the ministry.
Encourage Men 