I Will Not Leave Thee

After months, or perhaps years, of showing kindness to the prophet Elisha, a certain woman of Shunem, who had been barren for many years, was told by Elisha that she would have a child. The woman told Elisha not to deceive her, but she eventually did give birth to a son. When the son was not yet very old, however, he fell and died. The mother immediately took off to find Elisha to inform him that her son had died and to remind him that she had not asked for a son and had pleaded with him not to deceive her. Elisha immediately sent his servant with his staff to see what could be done for the child, and he himself prepared to go after the child. In her utmost grief and perhaps with a little bit of justifiable anger or resentment towards Elisha and even towards God, despite all of those strong and unbearable feelings and with every reason to swear off prophets and their Gods who dangle before her the thing she had desired most her whole life only to then snatch it away from her, this mother managed to say: “‘As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.’ And [Elisha] arose, and followed her.” (2 Kings 4:30). What great faith and humility did this mother have to continue putting her trust in Elisha the prophet and the Lord. She had every reason to abandon the Lord and His servants for the cruel joke that they seemed to be playing on her, but she made a conscious choice hold onto her faith and that tiniest thread of hope that if anything could be done for her son, it was with this man who had so often blessed her life before. Elisha’s servant was unsuccessful and even Elisha himself had to make several elaborate attempts before he was able to bring this woman's son back to life, but in the end this mother made the right choice to not leave the Lord or His servants in her darkest hour. I hope that no matter how brutal our own tests and trials are, we will not let any of them convince us that our lives will be better off if we leave the Lord or His servants. We are never better off without them. Let us all follow the example of the woman from Shunem in our daily prayers and tell the Lord, no matter what, I will not leave thee

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