Pain Won't Have the Last Word

Introduction

There are days when the promise God made you seems to die in your arms. Patrice Martorano, in this short "Word of the Day" message, revisits the story of a woman in the Bible who lives through exactly this tragedy and chooses an unexpected response: instead of isolating herself with her pain, she carries it into God's presence. That's where the miraculous becomes possible.

Message Outline

1. A Promise Received, a Promise Broken

• God makes a promise to a woman who hadn't asked for anything: "You will have a son about this time next year."
• The promise comes to pass: what God had promised happens.
• A few years later, tragedy strikes: this child dies.
• The woman is devastated, watching the promise itself die in her arms.

2. The Natural Reaction She Refuses

• She could have said, "It's over, God wasn't up to it."
• She could have accused the man of God of raising her hopes only to leave her shattered, broken into a thousand pieces.
• That's the human, natural reaction any of us would have: "Leave me alone, I've had enough, I've been hurt too much."
• Isolating your problem means letting it die far from God.

3. The Gesture That Changes Everything: The Upper Room

• She takes her son and goes up to the upper room she had fitted out for Elisha, the man of God who had made the promise.
• This room symbolizes the one who carries the anointing, the one who carries God's presence.
• She refuses to isolate her problem from God's presence: she brings her problem back inside that presence.
• Then she goes to find the man of God, and that's where the miraculous takes place.

Key Takeaways

• A promise that seems to die doesn't mean God has failed.
• The natural reaction in pain is to isolate yourself; the reaction of faith is to bring your suffering back before God.
• Don't separate your problem from God's presence.
• It's when things are placed in God's presence that the miraculous takes place in your life.
• Take everything, don't isolate it, and bring it into God's grace and anointing.

Personal Application

1. What promise from God do I feel like I'm watching "die in my arms" right now?
2. Am I treating this problem in isolation, far from God's presence?
3. What does "going up to the upper room" look like concretely for me this week?
4. Is there a spiritual disappointment pushing me to say "it's over" instead of coming back to God?
5. How can I bring this situation into God's grace and anointing today?

Scriptures Cited

• 2 Kings 4:8-37 - The Shunammite woman and her son restored to life
• 2 Kings 4:16 - "At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son"
• 2 Kings 4:21 - She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do when a promise from God seems to die in my arms?

Don't treat this problem in isolation. Like the Shunammite woman who carried her son into the upper room she had prepared for Elisha, bring your situation back into God's presence instead of letting it die far from him.

Why shouldn't I isolate myself from God in trials?

Because it's when things are placed in God's presence that the miraculous takes place. Isolating your problem keeps it far from God's grace and anointing.

What does the upper room symbolize in the story of the Shunammite woman?

The upper room is the one she had built for Elisha, the man of God who had made the promise. Laying her son there means refusing to separate her pain from God's presence.