2 Kings 4: It Is Well, Even in the Midst of Trials

Introduction

"Saved alone." That is the telegram Horatio Spafford's wife sent to tell him that their four daughters had drowned in a shipwreck. Matt Marvane opens the second message of his series "On the Path of the Worshiper" at Église SOS Lyon with this story, after having the congregation sing the hymn born from that tragedy, known as "It Is Well with My Soul."

Behind these lines that we sometimes sing while simply thinking "I'm a little tired," there is a family devastated by grief, "real exhaustion, real depression, and probably a real desire to die." And yet this hymn was born from a text of the Bible: the story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4.

"If this word could lift up a family that had just lost five children in two years, then I believe your situation is not hopeless." From this story the preacher draws two simple things for the path of the worshiper: a declaration of the mouth and an attitude of the body.

Message Outline

1. The Story Behind "It Is Well with My Soul"

• Horatio Spafford is a wealthy lawyer who owns many properties in Chicago. On October 8, 1871, a fire breaks out and burns until October 10. The city, built mostly of wood, is devastated, and the family loses everything.
• Held back by his business, he lets his wife and daughters leave for Europe without him. He is preparing to help a famous evangelist preach the Gospel there. The steamship Ville du Havre collides with another ship and sinks in twelve minutes. The mother watches her four daughters drown before her eyes and survives by clinging to a plank.
• Having arrived in Wales, she sends the famous telegram. Horatio immediately boards a ship to join her. One evening, the captain knocks on his door: "We are right now above the place where your daughters died."
• He looks at the churning waters for a few moments, goes back to his cabin, and writes this hymn from the words of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:26): "Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?" She answered, "It is well."
• More than a century later, we still sing this hymn. "Maybe you came today with a heavy heart, grieving, or with things that no longer work the way you would like. I want to tell you: there is hope."

2. A Woman Who Asked for Nothing

• The prophet Elisha passes through the village of Shunem. A well-to-do woman insists that he come and eat at her house, and her home becomes a regular stop.
• The family prepares a small room for him with a bed, a table, and a chair, so that the man of God has a place to rest each time he passes through.
• Elisha wants to thank her and asks what he can do for her. Her answer: nothing. "I am happy, I need nothing, all is well."
• His servant Gehazi notices that she has no child and that her husband is old. Elisha announces to her: "At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son."
• She answers: "Don't give me false hope." Against all expectations, a year later she holds her son in her arms. "The story could have ended there, and it would have been beautiful. But the story goes on."

3. The Tragedy, and the Answer "It Is Well"

• The child grows up and goes to help his father in the fields. One day he says: "My head, my head!" A servant carries him back to his mother, and the child dies in her arms.
• "Why? She asked for nothing, she wanted nothing. Everything was fine, so why now? Why such a tragedy?"
• She goes up to the prophet's room, lays the child on the bed, shuts the door, then asks her husband for a servant and a donkey so she can go to the man of God. To her husband, who does not understand, she answers: "It is well."
• Elisha sees her coming from far away and sends Gehazi to ask whether she is well, whether her husband is well, whether the child is well. "He even asks the right questions," and she answers again: "It is well."
• She does not stop there. When she reaches the prophet, she throws herself at his feet. Gehazi wants to push her away, but Elisha says: "Leave her alone." She cries out: "Did I ask a son of my lord? Didn't I say, 'Do not deceive me?'"

4. The Staff Is Not Enough: Faith That Perseveres

• Elisha sends Gehazi running with his staff, to lay it on the child's face, without stopping on the way. But the mother declares: "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." "What determination!"
• Gehazi lays the staff down: no sound, no reaction. "The staff was not enough." He comes back to tell the prophet: "I did exactly everything you told me, but it didn't work."
• Elisha goes in alone, shuts the door, and prays. "Going in alone, shutting the door, and praying: it is the best thing to do, in every circumstance and at all times."
• He stretches himself out on the child, mouth on his mouth, eyes on his eyes, hands on his hands. It is strange, like when Jesus makes mud with his saliva for a blind man or puts his fingers in a deaf man's ears. "What matters most is not whether it is strange. What matters most is: am I doing what God asks me to do?"
• The child's body grows warm. Elisha walks around the room, then repeats the same act of faith. "When it doesn't work the first time, it doesn't mean it will never work. Sometimes you just have to start again and persevere."
• The child sneezes seven times and opens his eyes. "Why seven times? I have no idea, and that is not the point. Don't try to decode everything when there is no need." The mother falls at Elisha's feet, takes her son, and goes out.

5. Being in God's Plan Does Not Rule Out Trials

• God chose to bless this woman with a miracle that even frightened her. Maybe God has planned things for you that frighten you: "This isn't really me, I don't know if this is my place."
• "Open your ears wide: being in God's plan and purposes does not rule out disappointment. It does not rule out suffering. It does not rule out difficulties. If you don't understand this, you will not understand the walk of the worshiper."
• The path of the worshiper is not a stroll in the park. The Christian walk also means struggle and battle. Jesus said it: the wind will blow, the rain will fall, but the house built on the rock will stand.
• "Being able to say that it is well when the worst strikes us is the greatest of miracles." In the furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not three but four: Jesus is there.
• Does that mean we do not suffer, do not cry, do not tremble? No. "But my eyes are not fixed on the circumstances. I know that Jesus is with me." The world is drifting, our country is not doing well, but Jesus is King and he holds the world in his hands.

6. Running to the One Mediator

• The Shunammite woman is not content to speak to Gehazi. She wants to see the one who gave her the word, the intermediary between God and her, the theme of the first message in the series. There is only one God and one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
• She could have cried scandal: "I welcomed him, I made him a bed, I gave him food, and in the end he gives me a word and I suffer because of it." Instead, she chooses to go to the one who can change things.
• "Who do you run to first when things don't go the way you want? Before running to me, your pastor, run to Jesus first. We have limits. He has none." Before sending an email because you are disappointed, first consult the one who holds all things in his hands.
• The mediator is also the intercessor, the one who steps in. Jesus intercedes in the heavenly places and still wants to step into your life today. "A church will not save you. A church will not heal you. It is Jesus who saves, it is Jesus who heals, it is Jesus who sets free."
• "I am not a marriage counselor, or a psychiatrist, or a psychologist. I am just someone who can help you look to Jesus." Like the Shunammite woman, you can remind him of his word: "You said... so I am leaning on your word." God loves to see his children claim his word, put it into practice, and put it to the test.

7. A Declaration of the Mouth, an Attitude of the Body

• This "it is well" is a stand, not denial. She knows her son is dead, she sees it. But beyond the situation and the emotions, she places her faith in the one who can calm the storms.
• The declaration of the mouth: "that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). The Shunammite woman declared: "It is well."
• The physical attitude: she ran to the one who could change things. If you are happy today, celebrate it. But on the day you are shaken, remember that we are in a spiritual battle, remember the Shunammite woman and that family who sang "Quel repos céleste" ("What heavenly rest") after losing everything.
• "I want to see a more combative faith in our church, a warrior's faith that is not afraid to confront. When the battle comes, I hold my position. I speak and I act."
• The path of the worshiper is not only what I sing, it is also what I do and how I take my stand. "Hold your position. Keep declaring 'it is well.'"

Key Takeaways

• The Shunammite woman's "it is well" is not a denial of reality, it is a declaration of faith and a spiritual stand.
• Being in God's plan does not rule out disappointment, suffering, or difficulties. The walk of the worshiper is also a battle.
• When it doesn't work the first time, it doesn't mean it will never work: faith perseveres.
• The greatest of miracles is the presence of Jesus in the middle of the furnace.
• Jesus is the only mediator: he is the one to run to first, before any other help.

Personal Application

1. What situation makes you doubt right now that you are truly in God's plan?
2. Who or what do you run to first when things don't go the way you would like?
3. Is there a prayer or an act of faith that you gave up on because "it didn't work the first time"?
4. What promise from God's Word can you remind him of this week, by saying: "You said..."?
5. How can you say "it is well" without denying what you are going through, fixing your eyes on Jesus rather than on the circumstances?

Verses Cited

• 2 Kings 4:8-37
• 2 Kings 4:26
• John 9:6-7
• Mark 7:33
• Matthew 7:24-27
• Daniel 3:24-25
• 1 Timothy 2:5
• Hebrews 7:25
• Malachi 3:10
• Romans 10:9

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Shunammite woman say "it is well" when her son is dead?

For Matt Marvane, it is not denial: she knows her son is dead, she laid him on the prophet's bed. Her "it is well" is a declaration of faith and a spiritual stand. Beyond what she sees and feels, she places her trust in the one who can change the situation.

What is the connection between the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul" and 2 Kings 4?

Horatio Spafford wrote this hymn while crossing the ocean, above the place where his four daughters had just died in a shipwreck. He drew inspiration from the Shunammite woman's answer in 2 Kings 4:26. That word gave a family broken by grief hope and strength to go on living.

Who should you run to when life doesn't go the way you would like?

The Shunammite woman was not content to speak to the servant Gehazi, she ran to the prophet through whom the word had come. Matt Marvane invites us to run first to Jesus, the only mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5), before the pastor, before an email, before anyone else.