| “And he [Elisha] went up, and lay upon ?the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed [became] warm” (2 Kings 4:34). |
| “Meditate upon these things” (1 Timothy 4:15). |
| In this story, Elisha the prophet has a call for his help, and performs a miracle. If you read the whole of the 4th chapter of 2 Kings, you will find a very touching story. This lady, called the Shunamite woman, so very badly had wanted a son. Elisha heard about this wish, and in return for all the kindnesses she had shown to him as he traveled, Elisha told her that the Lord would give her a child. How very happy she must have been! |
| Several years pass by and the little boy is old enough to go out into the fields to help his father. He becomes sick in the heat, and dies shortly after, cuddled on his mother’s knees. Devastated, she rushes off to the place where the prophet is and asks him to come to help. Elisha sends his servant on ahead and tells him to lay his staff (walking stick) on the child. Elisha and the mother hurry up behind. No, sadly, the staff has done nothing to bring the little boy back to life. |
| Elisha goes into the room, closes the door and prays. Then he stretches himself on the little boy as in our verse today. The child becomes warm. Elisha pauses and goes for a walk around the house and then returns and does the same thing again. This time the child sneezes seven times, and opens his eyes. He is alive and is handed back to an overjoyed mother! That is the end of the account, but it sure has given us some things to “meditate” about. |
| Why did the staff laid on him do no good? Why ever did Elisha, a grown man, have to make himself fit to the little boy’s size? And why the sneezing? |
| I would encourage you to think about the stories and verses that you read in your daily Bible readings. Think, What is the Lord saying to me in this? This is what is meant by “meditating,” as we are told to do in our 2nd verse today. When you have the Holy Spirit living in you, once you are saved, He is able to interpret and make what we read become a blessing to us in a practical way. |
| Perhaps we can think of this story as someone being “restored” to the Lord after getting away from Him. When the servant lays his staff on him, it did no good. If we have lost our joy in the Lord, it rarely is helpful if someone confronts us with a stick (or in a harsh way)! But Elisha got right down to where the boy was … right to his size! It was as though he was trying to understand where the boy was in his life. He was listening for signs of life. With prayer, it produced results. The boy sneezed. A sure sign of life! He did not immediately sit up smiling, but you have to have life to sneeze. So, even in some of these wonderful Old Testament stories we can find help and encouragement for every day in this century. Develop the habit of meditating. |
