Not Lost In Faith But....Found Grief

“It’s all right.” “We’re all right.” 

“Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t give me false hope’?” Select verses from 2 Kings 4 

He was her son, her one and only son. He was the son of a promise made to her by the prophet Elishasome years before that within a year of the promise, she would bear a son. He was no doubt precious to the woman from Shumen. 

Now a young man, her son went to work his father in the fields as the workers reaped the grain. We are not privileged to know what happened, but somehow during the harvest, the young man sustained a head injury. His father brought him back to his mother to be comforted. As she comforted him, he died in her arms. 

Rather than break down in mourning, she carried the boy to a guest room where the prophet Elisha often stayed and laid his body in the bed. She closed the door behind her, quietly concealing the young man’s death. She announced to her husband that she must go to see the man of God. When questioned by her husband as to why, the woman from Shumen simply replied, “It is all right.” Her response seems to indicate that she had hope that Elisha could call upon the name of the Lord to raise her son. 

A servant led her on a donkey to find the man of God at Carmel. When Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, asked her if everything was well with her family, she once again replied, “We’re all right.” Her faith and her hope in the resurrection had sustained her to that point. 

But when she saw Elisha, the temporal reality of her loss overwhelmed the woman of Shumen. The wonder crossed her mind of why God would bless her with a son only to have him taken away. She expressed her grief to Elisha, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t give me false hope’?” She had not lost her faith. She had simply found her grief. 

We see this same dichotomy in Martha when her brother, Lazarus, had died. In faith, she knew Jesus had the power to raise the dead to life and that she would see her brother again in the resurrection on the last day. In her sorrow, she mourned and cried with Jesus that her brother had died. She had not lost her faith. She had rather found her grief. 

Let us mourn with those who mourn when we have lost loved ones in this life. We are not being unfaithful. Jesus wept. We are simply expressing our sorrow that until the resurrection we will be separated from them. Let us, in faith, cling to the resurrection hope secured for us in Christ’s resurrection from the dead. He has proven to the world that He is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Him, even if he dies, will have eternal life. This is our blessing, 

Frank Van Brocklin 

Principal/Staff Minister 

Coming up at Immanuel Lutheran School:

❖ March 27-March 31 MAP Testing 

❖ March 30 NLHS Children’s Theatre - K-4th Grade

❖ April 2 K-8th Grade Sin for 10:30 Worship Service

❖ April 7- April 14 Spring Break - No School