(Excerpt from Pastor’s book, ‘How to Get a Grip on God’s Promises”)
There are some very interesting things that this woman did. When they brought her child in from the field and the child passed away, do you know what she did? She picked up the child and walked straight to the room that she and her husband had built for the prophet of God. She ran to the investment that she had made in the Kingdom of God. Do you have such an investment? When the storms of life come can you run to that investment and say, I may not understand what is going on, but I have an investment in God’s Kingdom. You make an investment in good times and God is going to help you in the difficult times.
What do you do when the pressure is on? Your first response many times determines the outcome of your situation. What it looks like at the beginning of a challenge is not the way it has to remain. If you put seed in the ground before the storm, then your harvest will be ripe when you need it. Just like this woman, you can have confidence in what God promised. She picked up the lifeless body of her son and walked right into the prophet’s chamber and laid him on the bed. Did she fall down beside the bed and weep and scream and carry on? No! She walked out and shut the door. She postured herself in faith for a miracle to be manifested. Is she outside the door, mad at God and mad about what happened? No! She went to her husband and said I am going to see the man of God. Give me a young man and a donkey that can help me move quickly.
She did not run away from her problem; she ran to the source of help. There was no hesitation in her spirit; she was not going to let go of her manifested promise. She never told her husband that their son was dead. She just moved in faith. When her husband began to question her actions, she said, “It shall be well” (2 Kings 4:23). That word well is translated from the Hebrew word shalom which literally means peace. So when the husband said, “Wife you do not just run off without any explanation. What is going on?” She said, peace, “…it shall be well.” She was telling her husband that she knew what to do. Everything is going to be all right. She knew her son was dead, but she just kept saying, “…it shall be well.”
Do you know where we usually miss it? We miss it in our initial response to the situation. In that moment we have a choice; we can choose to believe God’s Word or we can just align ourselves with the circumstances. If we do not guard our faith, life will chip away at it until it is gone. Usually when our faith wanes our peace wanes. If you can have the kind of peace this woman had in the midst of a tragedy you are going to make it. If you can have peace when the bottom has dropped out, you are coming through. If you can have peace when the doctor’s report is very negative, you are going to be all right. The night a devastating tornado destroyed our church building, Joy and I were absolutely overwhelmed for a few moments. But we decided to get a grip on the promise of God for our future. We began to proclaim that we would come out stronger than before and that God would get the glory for the victory.