“As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” (2 Kings 4:30)
The Shunamite woman recognized that Elisha was a holy man of God (v9). She gladly offered her home, with a room set aside for his use whenever he passed through. Elisha wanted to do something for her and knowing that she had no children, asked the Lord to give her a child. She was hesitant to believe this would happen, having experienced many past disappointments over the issue of barrenness. She did give birth to a son later but her happiness was short-lived when the boy fell ill and was close to death’s door. She persisted in her quest for Elisha to make good his prophecy to her regarding the son he promised her from the Lord. She bowed before him and would not let him go until he dealt with her son who by then was dead. Elisha brought him back to life and returned him to his mother.
She had her hopes raised when Elisha promised her a child from the Lord. Now she was holding on to Elisha to make good his words. In a similar scene in Genesis 32, Jacob seized the person he was wrestling with and would not let go until he received a blessing. He did and received a name change, from Jacob to Israel, from “cheater, deceiver” to “he who struggles with God”. The Shunamite woman did the same. She hung on to Elisha until the son was brought back to life.
The imagery of a woman hanging on in prayer for the well-being of a child is a challenge to Christian ladies to hang on in prayer for the spiritual well-being of a younger generation. God definitely listens to prayers and much more to the ardent pleas of His people who will not let go until they receive His blessing in prayer. The well-being of the next generation could very much rest in the hands of the persistent womenfolk and mothers of this generation. Having spent a whole lifetime in raising up and nurturing them in the Word and the ways of the Lord, they are not about to let go unless and until the Lord pours forth His blessings unto these younger lives.
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