by Jesse Kleingardner

Resurrection is not exactly something I would call a part of ordinary life, not my life at least. How many people do you know have been raised from the dead? I am just guessing, but I doubt it was a regular occurrence in the world of the Shunammite woman. Yet when her son dies on her lap she saddles up and heads for the feet of God’s messenger, telling her husband “All is well.”

Thinking of everything that could come out of my mouth in that moment, the phrase “All is well” is not even a remote possibility. Their son just died. All is not well! What I would be inclined to do is to complain. “You gave me this son by a miracle, God! Now you’re taking him away!? Why can’t you make up your mind?” “Why did this happen to me, God?” Although death is normal, and all of her friends would tell the mother to just bury her son and put the past behind her, she says “All is well” and goes to find the man of God, somehow holding out hope that the story does not end there. She knew that God had given her a son by a miracle, and that God could bring her son back by a miracle. She had faith in a resurrection, and that’s exactly what she got.

So what could I learn from this? Based on the circumstances, things looked really bad. Who can overcome death? It is impossible…at least for us. But God knew what He was doing, even when the circumstances looked impossible. Time and time again God makes His plans and promises look impossible, so that we know it is He who brings it about. From God’s perspective this was a trial of faith for the woman, and a real faith builder for all who heard the story, including us. Maybe not next time, and maybe not the time after, but someday I’d like to learn to respond like this Shunammite woman. Instead of throwing up my hands at the situation, I’ll throw them up to God, who brings life from death, and who will one day bring resurrection to all who have laid themselves at the feet of His messenger, Jesus Christ.

Your fellow traveler,
Jesse