Address—G. Hayhoe
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#209 Our times are in my hand, Father, we wish them there. Our life, our soul, are all we leave entirely to thy care. 209.
Our times.
Chapter 4.
Second Kings chapter 4.
In the 18th verse.
And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the ***** that I may run to the man of God, and come again. And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him? Today it is neither new moon nor Sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.
Then she saddled an *** and said to her servant Dr. And go forward, slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.
And she went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass when the man of God saw her afar off.
That he said to Gehazi, his servant. Behold Yonder is that Shunamite.
Run now, I pray thee to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God, to the hill, she caught him by the feet, But Gehazi came near to thrust her away. The man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
Then he said. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my Lord?
Did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way. Must thou meet any man? Salute him not. And if any salute thee, answer him not. Again. Blame my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child.
Thought there was neither voice nor hearing, wherefore he went again to meet him and told him, saying The child is not awake.
And when Elijah was coming to the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes into his upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands. And he stretched himself upon the child in the flesh of the child, waxed warm. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro, and went up and stretched himself upon him.
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And the child sneezed 7 times and the child opened his eyes.
And he called Gahazi, and said, that call this Unamite. So he called her, And when she was coming unto him, he said unto her, Take up thy son. Then she went in and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.
Well, it's a very interesting story that God has given to us in connection with this Shunamite. I'm sure we've all enjoyed reading it just because of the great interest in the way the story is told. But I believe that there is a lesson for us all in connection with this. And the lesson that I feel particularly is that when this woman was in trial, we find that there were those who did not enter into the cause of her trouble and her distress.
And then there was one who could enter into it and was able to be a help to her. And so, dear young people, that's my desire this afternoon, not only to speak of the problems that you might be confronted with, but that there is a way and that there is help. The Lord is sufficient, and we can turn to Him and count upon Him.
One, just to go back a little bit in the story here when we first read about this woman.
We find her as one.
Who saw Elisha passing by the house from day-to-day? And then she said to her husband, couldn't we put a little part, a little lean to on our house where this man of God could stop when he passes by? Well, I think this is almost beautiful because as we look in the past of her life, we see a singular devotedness to the Lord. And very often as we look upon the lives of young people, we can see a very singular devotedness to the Lord.
And this may continue for some time until some great problems and difficulties arise. And so it was here that this woman, she, she prepared this place. And it wasn't without cost, it wasn't without sacrifice. For I gather from the story that they were probably quite poor.
And it was a great expense to herself and to her husband that they prepared this home and this little room on the side of their home so that Elijah might stay there. And your young people, the Lord sees and values any devotedness, any love for him, any little service that you have ever done for him. He hasn't overlooked it. It's precious to him. He knows what it may have cost you. He knows the problems that you may have to meet and how you've sought to be faithful to him.
In your school.
And even if it may seem to be in the past, I say the Lord has not forgotten.
Whatever is done for Him is precious in His sight. He has told us in His word that not even a cup of cold water will lose its reward in that day. He has said that it would be unrighteous if He were to forget your work and labor of love which you showed toward His name. Isn't it lovely that He can righteously forget our sins? He can tell us your sins and iniquities. I will remember no more.
And yet he would tell us that it would be unrighteous if he forgot anything that we did for him. Oh, how lovely that he so values what is done for him. Well, and we find that she was rewarded not only in the in the future. And whatever has been done for the Lord will be rewarded in the coming day. But you know, the Lord delights to also come in and show us how He can work things out in our life down here.
And so, because of what she had done for the man of God, we find that as she was rewarded even in this life, and the desire of her heart was granted, she had wanted to have a son, and that had been withholding from her. But the Lord now rewarded her and gave her a son. Well, should I say that for a time everything seemed to go on quite happily.
And there was devotedness on her part. There was the Lord's blessing apparent in her life. Things continued like this for some time, but then a shadow fell. And dear young people, this is the way it is in life. Everything goes along, perhaps happily for a time, and the Lord makes Himself dear and precious to us. But it has often been said that God must test everything that is of Himself.
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And saw this test must come in this home and it must come in your life.
Maybe up to this point things have gone on fairly well. Or perhaps you too have come to the point when some great shadow has fallen in your life, some trial has come, some problem has arisen. You find yourself quite insufficient for this difficulty. It does come. I say again, the Lord allows this in our lives down here, and as we sang in our little hymn, we can say our times.
Are in thy hand, and faith can rise up and say Father.
We wish them there, we wish them there what we wanted otherwise.
Well, so where I began to read after everything had gone along quite smoothly.
And apparently, happily, a great sorrow, perhaps the greatest sorrow that she could have anticipated. To have lost her money, to have lost a position, wouldn't have meant so much to her. But this boy, this son of their old age, he takes sick, he takes sick. And it appears that the father is unable to enter into the sorrow he ought to have been able to.
It surely has. As the father in the home, he ought to have been able to enter into this sorrow, but he didn't.
And sometimes even those near and dear to us don't seem to enter into our troubles. They don't seem to enter into the sorrows and the things that we are facing. And we feel as we must, as if we must go through them alone. But dear young people, we don't go through them alone. The Lord is ever near. He has promised. I will never believe thee nor forsake thee. He has said, Lo.
I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.
Does crave understanding and justice? Think of this, father.
When the boy took sick, instead of having some feeling, he said carry him to his mother.
He just shelved the responsibility and can't we do the same? Sometimes when a problem rises, we just like to wash our hands and say, well, that's not my responsibility. If someone else can meet this problem, someone else can solve this difficulty. And so the father said we'll bring him to his mother.
And so he was carried to his mother, and he sat upon her knees until noon, and then he died.
Not she was allowed to feel now the full reality of the sorrow. She had held the boy upon her knees. She had seen his life, as it were, having a way, and now he was gone. He couldn't expect that her husband could enter into this.
Have because he had shown such indifference in this matter. And perhaps, dear young person, it might be that such a thing has come in your life. You were going through something. Maybe there's something right now in your life and you're passing through it and you feel as if there's no one that you can talk to. There's no one that understands, there's no one that can enter into it and help you. Well, the Lord does, and sometimes He uses others too.
Sometimes he raises up those who can be a help and here, I think is a lesson for us.
Because when the Lord Jesus was here upon earth, was He not the most approachable of all men? As He went about all those who were distressed and in sorrow, they found relief in Him. The woman of the city who was unwanted by society, she felt wanted by Him, and she came right into the very home of the Pharisee, and she took her place at His feet. If there was no one on earth.
That understood there was no one that knew the burden of her heart. The sin that she was living in was not bringing happiness to her.
Others might have just shunned her and said, well, look at the life she's living and it was wicked, but the Lord still was able to bring blessing to her soul. The Lord was able to meet her need. The Lord was able to bring pardon and salvation and He is able to bless still. As the little hymn says, the Savior can solve every problem. There's nothing.
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Too hard for Jesus?
There's nothing that he cannot do.
Well, then, it tells us here in the 21St verse that when the boy had died, she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him and went out. Well, I think there's something rather touching about this. This man of God had stayed there at that home. He had that room by the side, and she felt there was one who could.
Enter into this trouble that had come in her life.
And I speak a little word to myself. I speak a word not only to the young people, but to those who are older. And I speak a word to young people too. This is a time when, if ever it was needed, it's needed now, that there should be those who would understand, those who would be able to enter into the problems.
That are very real in life today and that this world is changing so rapidly.
And young people are called upon to face these changes in a much greater way than we who are older. They are faced with situations that are exceedingly difficult, and they need the help and the understanding of those who are older. They need the help and the understanding of fellow young people, not to look lightly upon sin, not to become careless about it, but to know how to meet these.
Problems, these situations, these disappointments, these frustrations that come in a way that would be for God's glory and for their blessing.
And so here it tells us that she took this dead boy and laid him in the room of the man of God. And dear, dear brethren in Christ, I would ask you, if someone is in trouble, do they come to you? Or do they know that you would just turn away from them and say it's your own fault? Or do they come to you and find one who is willing so without saying a word, without even asking?
She went up and put the child in the room.
This man of God, she knew that was a room of prayer. She knew that was a place where there was a man who communed with God. She recognized in him a man of God, and she knew that she could find some help in this terrible calamity that had come into her life.
And then she called her husband, which was only right and proper. That is, she recognized her responsibility.
And we must never fail to recognize relationships and responsibilities. God has formed those relationships. God has formed those responsibilities. And it's never right under any circumstances for us to disregard those human relationships which God has formed. And even when perhaps they may not be all that they should be, even when there is not the understanding that there should be, it is right that we should recognize them.
Because God has owned them.
The relationship of the child to the parent, the parent to the child, the husband to the wife, and the wife to the husband. These are relationships formed and owned of God. So she calls her husband, and she asks that he would saddle an *** and that he would.
Allow her to run to this man of God. Well, he didn't understand.
Notice his reply on the 23rd verse.
And he said, wherever wilt thou go to him today, it is neither new moon nor Sabbath. And she said, it shall be. Well, yes, he, he didn't enter into this. There was no argument. There was no unpleasant words, but there was a lack of understanding. And this is something that's very sad. And this is something that perhaps is a word to those of us who are in the relationship of husband and wife.
Is there an understanding when problems rise? Is there an understanding, a sharing of the problems that come? Well, it was not just exactly so in this home.
Because we find that this father sent the child to the mother didn't inquire how he was and when she wanted to go away, he said, well, why do you want to go? It's not a new moon, it's not a Sabbath. All how sad this was. Well, this is a little word to us because when God gives a a wife as she used to be the helpmate and the husband.
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To love his wife, even as Christ also loved the church. So we can see, perhaps there's a little lesson. There was a lack in this home. But does this lack 'cause this woman to be so down and depressed by the situation that there is no help for her in the Lord? Oh no, there's. There's help for her in the Lord. And no matter how things may turn out to be.
And no matter what problems we may face, no matter how human relationships may fail.
You're young people, there's one who never fails, the little hymn says. Jesus never fails. Earthly friends may prove untrue. Doubts and fears of sale. 1 still loves and cares for you, and he will not fail. And I believe this dear woman had this confidence in her soul that there was one who did the Lord, the one whom Elijah, so to speak, represented.
As his servant, as his prophet, was the one who did care, and so she said she was going to go to him.
And so it tells us in the 25th verse. So she went and came unto the mount of God, to Mount Carmel. Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, Yonder is that Shunamite. Now you know Gehazi was a very keen man.
We find him in different situations. He was very keen, he was very shrewd.
But he was certainly not very understanding, and here we find that he wasn't the first one.
To notice her coming because natural keenness never perceives the problems and the difficulties.
But Elijah was a man of God. He was one who walked with God. He was one whose heart went out to the people of God. Indeed, I might say that he was a prophet at the time when Israel was at a very low state in their National History, and they had not hearkened to the call of God under Elijah, seeking to call them back to the true God. And so Elijah was a prophet at a time.
When the nation had shown a very sad attitude.
But here we find that Elijah was on the lookout, so to speak, and he saw this woman coming and he said there is that Shunammite there she is coming. And he saw that there was something was wrong. Do you and I noticed that, you know, often isn't it true that a mother will be quick to perceive, oh, there's something wrong with the child, there's something wrong. And her first thought, her first instinct is, can I help the child?
Do we have that feeling toward the people of God? We find that Paul did. It says that with those Philippians, or with the Thessalonians rather, he nourished them as a nurse cherishes her own children all. He had such a love for those dear people, saved from the darkness of heathendom, connected with all the worst observances of heathen practice, and yet he had a a soft and a tender heart.
Toward those people and cared for them. And that was the heart here of Elijah. I believe that's why he can be called a man of God, a man of God. Because godliness is God likeness. It's to be like God. And think of the Lord Jesus when he was here standing still at the cry of a blind man. There never was a heart in distress that he didn't know about it and that he didn't enter into the distress.
And the trouble?
And so it tells us that he sent Gehazi to meet her.
Run now, I pray thee to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. Well, this is a lovely expression of faith indeed. And she said it was well with her husband. She found no fault, although he certainly had not acted his part. Her little child was dead. And she said, It's well.
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And is it well with thee? And her heart was oppressed with grief, and she still could say it is well all. How beautiful the faith that manifests itself in this circumstance.
What a challenge this is to us, dear young people. It's a challenge to us. It's a challenge to me. When someone has not treated you the way he should, you say, Oh well, it's well with him. I have nothing to say against him. Is that your attitude? I'm afraid it's not always mine. But this was the attitude that she displayed. Yes. It's well with my husband. It's well with the child. It's well with me. Beautiful triumph of faith. And yet.
There was a burden upon her heart.
Why didn't she tell it to Gehazi? Why didn't she mention her problem to Gehazi? All Gehazi could never, never enter into it. And how sad it is to think that this Ghazi, associated as he was with the man of God, was quite unable to enter into the difficulties of the people of God. And it shows too, how that any one of us, how we can perhaps.
Have a prominent place. We can become very active and yet not have a heart that understands, a heart that enters into things. And so we find here that she didn't tell Gehazi a single word.
Says in the 27th verse when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet and Gehazi came near to thrust her away. While Gehazi shows still more his lack of understanding, she was acting in an unusual way. She was she was forward and he didn't understand this and he was going to thrust her away.
And perhaps sometimes we may see a person acting in a strange way and we'd like to and we'd like to thrust them away. We'd like them to do something and perhaps we do drive them away. Sometimes people haven't actually driven away from the meeting. And the reason they acted the way they did was their heart was burdened. There was a sorrow pressing upon them and we didn't understand they couldn't enter into it.
We didn't know how they felt and so this was what Gehazi was going to do.
But the man of God, Elijah said, no, the faults with me, it's not with, it's not with him, it's with me, with her, it's with me. He said the Lord hasn't showed me what's the matter? There's something the matter and the Lord hasn't showed me. And when and we see people in problems and difficulties, do we blame them or do we do we say, well, what can I do to help that person? What can I do to minister Christ?
To lift that person out of the situation and so instead of the person being lost.
He would be helped, He would be encouraged, He would go on for the Lord, because it's a very happy sequel to this story, as we know, and for the rest of her recorded life. And God has told her, told us quite a little bit more about this woman in His word. We find that she went on happily after this, but Gehazi would have thrust her away.
But that little expression of the 27th verse. And the man of God said, let her alone.
For her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
The Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me all. May I say again, when we see the days in which we live, the problems that our dear young people must face, the situations in which they find themselves?
Do we Do we enter into it?
Do we seek to be before the Lord that he might show us what the problem is and how we can be a help and a blessing? Well, this I think is a very humble attitude on the part of Elijah. He didn't blame her. He didn't even blame Gehazi. He just said let her alone. He said. The Lord hasn't showed it to me. I want to help her, he said.
But the Lord hasn't showed me what it is that is burdening her heart and all. There are many that have burdens upon their hearts. Many have trials, many have sorrows. And perhaps they say to you, it's well all, everything is all right. And in a sense, faith can say this. But in another sense, perhaps their soul is vexed within them. Maybe they're cast down.
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And oh, I think it's so sweet here, the way.
Elijah meets this situation.
In the 28th verse then she said, Did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say Do not deceive me? That was all she said.
She didn't say the child was dead, she didn't mention her problem, she just said enough.
Understood what it was. It was something about the child. It was something about that boy that she loved. And she didn't undertake to tell it all. She just told a little bit. She said, did I ask her son? Did I say don't deceive me? He said, I know what it is. That's what's on her mind. And so he was quick to discover what the trouble was and he was ready to do what he could to help out.
In this problem.
And Ohio, how lovely it is to see him prepared to make any effort, any sacrifice in order to be a help. I'm not just saying this to you who are older. I'm saying it to myself. I'm saying it to every young person here because you can be a help or a hindrance. One young person can be a help to another. One young person can be a hindrance to another. An older person can be a help to a young person.
All each one of us.
Paul said in Hebrews 10, Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Think of something that you can do to help someone to love the Lord Jesus more, to follow Him more, to do more of what's pleasing to Him.
Well, the 29th verse Then he said, The Gehazi drew up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
Well, shall I say.
Even Elisha sought out an easy way out of this difficulty. Perhaps if he could just send his staff and Ghazi could take it and put it on his face, that would help. Perhaps we see somebody in trouble, we send them a little pamphlet, a little tract in the mail. We think maybe this would help all. She said no, she wouldn't leave him. She said the 30th, 1St and the mother of the child said as the Lord liveth.
And as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
And he arose and followed her. Isn't this lovely? She said no, there's no easy way of helping in some of these situations. There's no easy way, brethren. It takes what we find in the verses that follow by getting into our room with the Lord, having the problem out with Him, being in His presence, getting close to it, and that we find so beautifully set before us.
In what follows.
But Gehazi, impetuous as he was, he passed on before them. He was going to do something. He was going to show that he could do something. And so he takes the staff and he puts it on the face of the child and he comes back. He says the child is not awake. And how often we get impetuous. We like to do something in a hurry. We like to clear out the thing in a hurry by some easy method.
Remember, but the Lord Jesus said, when the disciples came down from the mountain, and there was that Father and his boy was possessed with that evil spirit, he said, I spake to thy disciples, and they could not cast him out. Well, they asked the Lord why it was, and he said, this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting.
This kind God is not out but by prayer and fasting. Now don't mistake me, I don't minimize what great good can be done by a little gospel tract, by a little tract or message that might be sent in the mail. The Lord has often been pleased to use such efforts. But there are times when it requires more than that. It requires an entering into a situation that we have never entered into before.
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Something that has never perhaps arisen in our life or in that other person's life in exactly the same way.
And so it tells us in the 32nd verse and when Elisha was coming to the house.
Behold, the child was dead and laid upon his back. Yes, the mother had done this before. She'd taken the boy up. She had placed his lifeless body upon the bed of this man of God, and she had gone to seek him. And now he comes back. He follows her back.
Seeking no doubt to enter into her sorrow. And he goes up to his room. And there was the problem, so to speak. There was the problem in all its reality.
And it was put right there before him.
Was he going to drive her away? Was he going to say the case is hopeless? Or was he going to turn to the Lord and find a resource in him? In the God of resurrection, in the one who is able to give life in the presence of death, The one who can do what no mortal on earth can do. The one, as we remark before, who can solve every problem.
Who can meet every situation, and who has said, My grace is sufficient for thee? How He went up to his room, and there it was, and the 33rd verse. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. Oh, how beautiful this is. It wasn't his problem. In a way he could have said, Well, this isn't my difficulty.
Let the others straighten about themselves. It wasn't his own family. It wasn't his own in that sense, but he had a heart for the people of God. And that's what a man of God is. I say again, He is one who represents the heart of God, who acts in that way that God is.
Is made known through one of his servants. He was perfectly made known in the Lord Jesus.
He was God manifest in the flesh. But here we find Elisha in the room, and there the two of them, the dead child.
The difficulty and he's praying to the Lord, He's looking to him. Oh, what a grand thing it is that we have such a resource in God.
Yes, we have one that we can turn to. You know, dear young people and those of us who are older, I say it again, we're living in difficult days. We can say all it's hopeless. Things are going from bad to worse. But here the child was dead.
But the Lord was sufficient. The Lord was sufficient. Or may we have that confidence when such things come, and that we will do what Elisha did here now on the 34th verse. And he 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 warm. There's something very touching in this description here when it says he put his mouth upon his mouth.
Have we ever entered into another person's situation? Have we ever entered into it?
Tells us about Ezekiel, that when he was sent to the children of the captivity.
He came in the heat of his spirit. He was grieved at the conditions that existed.
Among the people of God who had been carried captive. And he went in the heat of His spirit. But when he went there and saw where they were, it says he sat where they sat, and remained astonished, and didn't say one word for seven days. And I think that's what is brought before us here. He put his mouth upon his mouth.
All how important for us to enter into what others are going through.
Have we put our mouth upon their mouth? We put our hands upon their hands, We put our eyes upon their eyes? Do we know what they're exposed to, what they're having to meet? Maybe they're things that we never had to meet, things that we never entered into before. And our children are facing things that we older ones don't know much about. We didn't have to face those things, but they're facing a new age. They're facing a different one. But here we find this man of God.
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And you notice a striking expression. It says he stretched himself. Now, you wouldn't think if I were to lay on top of a child, I wouldn't have to stretch myself. I'd have to shrink myself to get down to the size of a child. Why does it say he stretched himself?
Oh, you know, it takes a great deal of effort, takes a great deal of stretching because we're so cramped in our thoughts, we're so cramped in our affections.
That, as Paul said, that be also enlarged. We need to have our affections enlarged. We need to have our thoughts enlarged to enter into things. And so he stretched himself and he stayed there until it flesh of the child waxed warm, flesh of the child wax warm. He could have said, oh, it's so cold, I can't bear it. But he stayed there until a flesh of the child.
Relaxed, warm, and then even though lowlife didn't return, even low, it didn't seem as if he had the answer just yet. It says here in the 35th verse. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro.
It wasn't something that could be done hurriedly or quickly. He walked in the house to and fro. And sometimes we want a situation to be cleared up at once.
See, the thing answered right away. But there are times when we need patience. It says that the signs of an apostle were wrought in all patients. It says in Colossians 1 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power unto all patience, and long-suffering with joyfulness. And so he went up again, and he laid upon the child again.
And it says.
The child sneezed 7 times. Did you ever wonder if that expression?
The child sneezed 7 times. Well, I I read a remark that another maid, which I much enjoyed a good many years ago about it, he said the first signs of life may be in a very unexpected way. I thought that was very good. Sometimes we want to see the first evidence as something as something that's very pronounced, very glowing, very touching.
But here he just sneezed 7 times, the strange evidence of life, but it was a great evidence to the heart of the man of God who was looking for it. That's what he was looking for. He was looking for the evidence of new life. That's what he was looking for. Dear young people, that's what I want to see in you. That's what the Lord wants to see in you. I confess I often fail not having enough patience to wait for it.
Not looking for it enough.
Not having the grace to enter into the situation till I have seen the display of that new life, the Lord.
Values for that which is of himself in your heart and mind, any feeble pale reflection to his love. And as I said, it came in a very strange way, but the man of God could say child is alive, there's life there, and oh how beautiful it is where there's life there.
It will manifest itself, It will manifest itself. And So what a triumph for this dear man of God. He didn't give way to the feelings of Gehazi. He didn't give way to his own feelings which might have been of disappointment. He continued in his room along.
In contact with this problem until there was the evidence of life, and then he called in the mother.
And he could say, here's your child, here's your child. Oh, how beautiful this is. No, dear young people, I want to say to your heart and to mine this afternoon there. And we're living in difficult days. We're living in times when everything about us tends to suppress that new life that God has given to us. We're living in times when all that we contact in this world tends to occupy us with man and with his progress.
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Instead of with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, His love.
But all how lovely to know that when difficulties do come, when we seem to be overwhelmed by them, that there is an answer. And again, I want to say before I close that we find the two different ones here. Gehazi, he was a servant of the man of God.
But Gehazi was a man of God.
Hey, about Elijah, I should say was a man of God. What a difference one was a servant of a man of God, that is he was a people servant and so he was going to.
Treat this dear woman harshly. He didn't enter into anything of what was going on at all. He was no help in this situation. But in the case of Elijah, how different he was a man of God.
He was a servant of God. He had a love for the people of God. He saw what they were in. He didn't allow the sad condition in which the nation was found to hinder him in the outgoings of love to the people of God, in their needs and in their difficulties and all. I'd like to ask each one of us here, young and old.
Are we seeking to be a help? There never was a day.
Of greater need than right now. Young people on every hand are in need. Their hearts are burdened. They crave understanding. They crave someone to enter into just what they're going through. Are you and I seeking to do this? It's easy to thrust them away. It's easy to fail to see. But may the Lord give us to come close, as it were, to, as it were, stretch ourselves upon them.
To wait, to pray.
And to know that the Lord is sufficient and that he can enable us to be a help and a blessing. And when he gives new life, it's a life that is able to rise above all the circumstances and problems and difficulties that we may have to face as we go through this life. And so I say again, she took back the child, she bowed before him. The child went through a famine afterwards.
Lord preserved the child through the famine. They lost their land, but the Lord gave them back their land.
Yes, and it all started here when we find this man of God.
Who was able to be a blessing in this family and to be a blessing to the people of God? May the Lord enable each one of us to have understanding of the times and to be a help rather than a hindrance in these last days.
Jesus, my Saviour, thou art mine, the Father's gift of love divine.
All thou hast done, and all thou art are now the portion of my heart. 193.
He's a smile.
Savior.