I was reading in 2 Kings 8 the other day when I came across something I couldn't believe I had missed before. Let me set the scene:
A famine is coming, and the prophet Elisha knows it. So he warns a certain woman and her family and tells them to leave their home and find refuge from the famine in another land. That's a big ask. There had been years of famine before. They make for tough times, but eventually things bounce back and move forward. But if you give up your home and land, how are you supposed to move forward when the famine is over.
This family, however, was very familiar with Elisha and had long supported him and his work. They trusted him and they trusted the God that he spoke for. So they left to the Philistine country for seven years.
Fast-forward seven years, they return to Israel and want to find a way to get their land back. So they go to make a request of the King. This is an uncertain and desperate attempt at best. None of the kings of Israel, since the split from Judah, have been good. Not a single one revered God as he should have, and every one led Israel to worship idols instead of the one true God. So even the best of these kings was lacking in moral fiber. Yet, the king was their only hope of receiving back their land. So the family goes to make their appeal.
It just so happens that at this time the king is listening to stories of Elisha's miraculous exploits from one of Elisha's previous servants. As the servant waxes eloquent over Elisha's accomplishments, he tells the king of a young boy who once died and was then brought back to life by Elisha. This is where the family comes in...literally.
As the family is brought before the king, Elisha's servant tells the king that the son of the family is the very one whom Elisha had raised from the dead. This revelation seems to intrigue the king, because, after confirming the story with the family, the king decides to not only give them back their land, but to also give them the produce from the land for the seven years they were gone. This was a very generous provision for a family who only moments ago had next to nothing.
What a great story, right? God has once again provided for his people by a strange combination of coincidences. It all seems like a very happy tale.
But it wasn't always...
This story goes back, many years before the famine, to chapter four. This woman and her family had been generous supporters of Elisha, and so he asked how he could repay them. It was discovered that she had not been able to have children. So Elisha tells the woman that she will have a son. But her response was to tell the prophet not to get her hopes up. Clearly she desperately desired children, but had finally resigned herself to her barren state and did not dare hope for a son even at the word of a prophet of God.
Yet God gave her a son, and all seemed good. Until one day when the young boy came to his father complaining of a headache and, later that same day, died in his mother's lap.
Why?
Why would God do such a thing?
Why give this family the joy and hope of a child after so many years of suffering the pain of barrenness, only to take his life at such a young age? Why must this family face this suffering after all else that they had endured? It doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem good. Why would God do such a thing?
As the story continues, Elisha is summoned, and he brings the child back to life by the power of God. An incredible miracle, to be sure. And I can only imagine the rejoicing that would have taken place in that home. But it all still seems rather meaningless.
Why make them barren, only to give them a child anyway, only to take the child's life, only to give it back again? Is this some kind of joke? Is God playing with people's emotions for his own entertainment? Or just to show off how powerful he is?
I don't think so.
Because even before God promised them a son, God knew that the famine was coming. Even before God took the life of the boy, God knew that Elisha's servant was going to disgrace himself before Elisha and eventually find himself in the company of the king. Even before God brought the child back to life, God knew that the king would be so fascinated by this resurrection story that it would cause him to be generous toward this family in need.
God knew, and God had a plan. But the plan would not work without going through periods of intense, agonizing, and seemingly pointless pain and loss.
It reminds me of another story of a Son who died and rose again for the provision and salvation of thousands and millions. God knew, even before he created the world, the pain his Son would have to endure. But God also knew the life and the glory that it would bring in the end.
God is not unkind and unfeeling in the way he orchestrates our lives. He understands and sympathizes with us in our suffering. And He does not waste a single life or even a tear. But He works all things together for our good.
Even when all we can see is the pain, God has a plan.
