#94. Her Abiding Faith
And the mother of the child said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her.
II Kings 4:30 NKJV
When Jesus heard the words and expression of faith from the centurion whose servant was sick, Matthew tells us Jesus “marveled and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel’” (8:10). Who had such faith in Israel in Elisha’s day?
After Elisha sent Gehazi to lay his staff on the dead boy, the Shunammite woman did not return to her husband and home. She stayed with Elisha and said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” We have come across these words previously in our studies in II Kings. They were the same words used by Elisha before Elijah was taken up into Heaven. We might not marvel at Elisha the prophet speaking them to another prophet who soon would be taken up into glory, but what of a Shunammite woman whose son just died? What faith was there in Israel in Elisha’s day like the faith of the Shunammite woman? Hers was an abiding faith.
The word abiding has to do with enduring or remaining. He who endures in the faith until the end will be saved. So the writer of Hebrews gives us God’s word saying, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:1-3).
Did the Shunammite woman know the words of Elisha on the day Elijah ascended into Heaven? I do not know. But this we can see: Her eyes were fixed on one hope, her Savior, the Messiah, Jehovah God, who would help her. He had begun the faith within her by His free gift and He would surely perfect and finish that faith until the day she saw Him in glory. She could not leave the one with whom the Lord dwelt in a special manner, His prophet, but as long as the Lord lived and as long as Elisha lived, she would be with him until the matter was resolved. What faith in God displayed in this woman and what a response to her faith by Elisha: “So he arose and followed her.”
This is a moving portion of Scripture. Elisha would not leave Elijah until the matter was resolved. Now the Shunammite would not leave Elisha until the matter with her son was resolved. Would the Lord raise him now or in the future? Elisha saw this faith and went with her.*
How is your faith enduring today? The unrelenting things we see around us are attacks on our faith. Is your faith holding strong? One way to gauge its strength is by examining the foundation. If your foundation is on worldly things, yourself, your strength, your wealth, or your health (perhaps this one is quickly going away?), your faith will not endure because your foundation will not endure. It is like a man who builds his house on the sand. The wind and rain comes and the house falls with a great crash. Conversely, if your faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ by whom you have received salvation and on whom alone you rest for salvation, your faith may be strengthened by attendance to the Word, the sacraments, and prayer, and your faith may endure as you keep your eyes on Christ. It is like a man who built his house on the rock. The wind came, the rain fell, and the house stood firm because its foundation was solid rock. Christian, your rock is Christ!
*Elisha’s following the Shunammite woman gives assent to the idea that Elisha knew Gehazi and the staff would do nothing for the dead boy. It seems the Lord through the prophet may have been testing the faith of the Shunammite woman to see if she would continue in her unrelenting hope in the Lord… and she did.
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