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Faith to Ask; Faith to Accept

by Autumn Dickson

One of our people from this week’s readings is Elisha. He is the prophet who was called after Elijah. We don’t get many of his words or sermons, but we do get to read about many miracles. One of those miracles includes a Shunammite woman who took care of Elisha.

The Shunammite woman recognized Elisha as a man of God despite the fact that she lived in an idolatrous nation. Elisha and the prophet before him, Elijah, both worked to address the sins of the northern kingdom of Israel, but it only went so far. Widespread problems still occurred. Yet despite the widespread sin, the Shunammite woman chose faithfulness.

She constrained Elisha to come in and eat one day. After that first time, he came in to eat as often as he passed by. The Shunammite woman takes it farther and convinces her husband to make up a room for Elisha, and Elisha stays for them some time. Because of her kindness, Elisha prophesies that she will have a son. The son later dies from a tragic reaping accident, and the Shunammite woman goes to see Elijah.

2 Kings 4:22-23

22 And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.

23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

Her son has died, and she wants to go to the prophet. Her husband asks, “Why are you going to the prophet? It’s not a religious day.” She simply responds, “It will be okay.”

She moves quickly to find Elisha and finds him at Mt. Carmel. Elisha sees her coming and sends his servant to meet her.

2 Kings 4:26 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.

I want to draw your attention to two details that speak volumes for this woman and teach us valuable lessons about approaching prayer.

Detail one. Her husband didn’t make the connection between the death of his son and his wife’s desire to go and see the prophet. This implies that it didn’t even cross the husband’s mind to ask the prophet for a miracle. It occurred to the wife though.

How often do we pray for miracles? What is our mindset towards miracles? When something tragic happens, does it even occur to us that we can ask for a miracle? Maybe we believe in miracles, but maybe we don’t even think to ask for them. It makes me think of the quote from Elder Holland, “God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can’t if you don’t pray, and He can’t if you don’t dream. In short, He can’t if you don’t believe.”

It certainly didn’t occur to the husband to dream and ask the prophet to bring back his son. This isn’t a pronouncement of judgment on the husband, but it does reflect the strong faith of the wife. She had enough faith to dream up something miraculous in response to the tragedy. When her son died, she went for the prophet to ask for help.

As I look back on my life, I think I got the concept of faith wrong sometimes. When something tragic would hit, I would often despair and think God was mad at me or I would try to press myself into faithfulness and acceptance of whatever the Lord was sending my way. Perhaps tragedy was the Lord’s way of softening my heart sometimes, and it is always the appropriate response to accept what the Lord sends your way.

But faith isn’t just about accepting. Sometimes the Lord sends tragedies (or allows tragedies) because He wants to bless us directly. It draws us to Him. He wants us to have enough faith that we feel comfortable approaching Him in humility. There is power in humbly approaching the Lord. You see His hand when you’ve asked Him for it.

My husband is super handy. I’m convinced he can fix anything, and apparently, my kids are likewise convinced. Whenever they break something that matters to them, it is placed on dad’s desk. And he does fix it. Conner often fixes it.

One time, near the end of a pregnancy, we were all gathered in the kitchen. I turned to my husband and said, “I think my water just broke.” I didn’t realize my oldest was even listening, but she didn’t miss a beat. Before my husband could respond to this life-altering detail, my daughter called out, “It’s okay mom! Dad can fix it!”

We all laughed pretty hard, but as I write this particular post, I actually find myself in tears. My kids trust their dad. They have faith in his abilities to fix things. They have so much faith that my daughter’s immediate response to the word “broke” is to call for her dad’s help. I hope that I can keep building my faith until my response is that immediate.

What tragedy or uncertainty are you facing right now? What miracle can you pray for? What’s your happy “ending” for this particular episode in your life? Have you prayed for it?

Perhaps sometimes we simply forget to ask for a miracle, and other times, perhaps we’re simply afraid the answer will be no. The second detail I want to point out can likewise help with this.

Detail two. She responds with, “It is well.”

The Shunammite woman, in the face of horrifying tragedy, responds, “It is well,” two times. When her husband asks and when Elisha asks, that is how she chooses to respond. Her son had just died but when asked if everything is okay, she says, “It’s okay.”

I don’t think the woman was trying to downplay the tragedy. I don’t think this is one of those quintessential stories where you ask someone if they’re okay, and they sigh really big and say, “It’s fine,” when it’s anything but. I believe the wife was declaring trust in the Lord.

I believe she was saying, “It’s going to be okay. I can ask the prophet to save my son, but if not, it will still be okay.”

As I mentioned before, maybe it’s hard to ask for a miracle when you’re scared of a “no.” When Elisha tells the wife that she is going to have a son, she responds with, “Please don’t lie to your handmaid.” This could signal a lack of faith, but the fact she calls herself his handmaid is significant. She is calling herself his servant. She is saying “I serve you. Please don’t lie to me if this isn’t a real thing, but I’m your servant.”

So even the Shunammite woman was afraid to ask at some point. However, turning to the Lord, even when He is going to say “no,” can still be a cathartic experience if we approach it with the right heart. Demanding a miracle sets us up for failure because the Lord won’t take away every hardship.

But turning to the Lord with a specific type of heart will always bless us. We find this type of heart in the Shunammite woman. Her heart trusted in the Lord’s ability to fix things, but she also declared that it would be fine if He chose not to. She would trust Him. We talked about the blessing of the first detail, but the second detail can be just as important.

When the Lord says no, we’re willing to say “okay.” This faith enables Him to bless us even when He won’t fix things. It is this humble, trusting attitude that allows Him to comfort our hearts with the life-altering facts that we have a powerful God who orients His every action towards giving us what’s best for us. We trust that He can fix anything. We trust that He loves us. We trust that if He chooses not to fix something, He’s got a good reason and all things will be made up to us. Even when He has told me no, I have found special comfort when I’ve responded with, “Okay.”

I testify that prayer is healing. I testify that it brings great blessings into our lives. Building that childlike faith that the Lord can fix anything is powerful in our life. It brings joy and hope. Building that faith even farther brings a mature faith that withstands even the hardest of tragedies on earth. It is the kind of faith that will carry us. It is the kind of faith that can’t be brought down because it leads one to trust that He will fix it, even if it’s not immediately. I testify that He can and will fix everything. Trusting Him soothes and carries us in the meantime.

 

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.