The Gift That Keeps On Giving – Part II

2 Kings 8:6 – When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

My last post showed how the Shunummite woman received directive instruction from Elisha because her and her husband had blessed him by providing him with a room to stay in.

The directive instruction the woman received was that there would be a seven year famine in Israel and that she needed to leave and seek refuge elsewhere.  So at Elisha’s word, she up and left her house and fields in Israel and went and dwelt among the Philistines.  This would have been at a massive cost to herself, and perhaps the evidence of the famine had not yet set in, but she obeyed the word of God.

But here we see the Lord’s amazing and miraculous provision.  Upon her return seven years later, she goes to the king, just as the king is talking with Gehazi, Elisha’s servant.  As Gehazi is relating the story of a woman whose son was raised from the dead, she walks in and Gehazi says ‘This is the woman!’.

The king is so taken by what he has heard, that restores not just the woman’s land to her, but gives her all of the income that she should have had over the seven years as well.

We can draw immense encouragement from this story.  When we follow God’s instructions, no matter what they might cost us, He sees to it that we are provided for completely and totally.  At the end of the story, the woman was in a better position than the other Israelites who had struggled through the famine.

Trust God!  He WILL provide for you.  Seek his direction and follow it, and your way will be established!