Grace notes // When We Were Kings Part 2
Week 5 // Options: A Blessing or A Curse?
Written by Keli Miller
This is now our third week in 2nd Kings chapter 4 (this chapter has been full of wisdom for us!). We’ve previously learned about the Shunamite woman after she provided radical hospitality for Elisha, from which she received a prophetic promise of a son. Fast forward a few years, and this son has had a tragic injury and has suddenly passed away in his mothers arms.
This is where we find Elisha this week - wanting to help the Shunamite woman but unwilling to fully give himself over. He first offers his staff, but the widow is persistent and asks for more. She insists on Elisha’s presence and his full attention. It’s not until Elisha lays head to toe on top of her son, giving his very breath, that we see the boy’s life restored.
In our culture today we love options. As a 7 on the enneagram, options are especially attractive and important to me. It is a deep fear that if I commit to something that I am limiting my options. What if something better might comes along? I’ll be trapped (some call this FOMO).
On the surface options appear as being the source of all freedom. If I have the power and freedom to choose from whatever I want, then I must really be free. The irony is that I am often paralyzed by all the options laid in front of me, and the fear of missing the right one can easily run my life. In the hesitancy to commit to a single thing or person, we miss out on depth and fullness of community. This story in 2nd Kings holds a revelation for us that isn’t as much prescriptive as it is descriptive of the Lord's heart for us. The message is simple: He wants all of us.
The sermon on Sunday reminded me of my first experience being baptized. I was 13 and at the age where all the kids in my church would normally decide to get baptized. My decision for getting baptized was simple: I knew I wanted to go to heaven and all my friends were doing it. In the Mennonite church there were two options presented to us: we could get baptized in the river or choose to be sprinkled in the sanctuary during service. I chose the later, with the next 10 years serving as the perfect metaphor for my Christian faith. Interested and touched by the gospel, but not completely consumed. Unlike those who had been submerged, I hadn’t been fully consumed and overtaken by the water.
My faith and relationship with the Lord became a favorite accessory to my life. It was a category of my personality and was part of what made me me but it wasn’t the core motivation that all my being stemmed from.
What we can learn from Elisha’s (relatable) example though is that faith doesn’t belong on a list or in a category of our identity. The truest expression of a life following Jesus is one that completely gives ourselves over. Head to head, toe to toe, mouth to mouth. Intimate all consuming surrender involves making not just your resources available but your full self to God.
We see this fully demonstrated for us again in the New Testament when we see Christ surrender his full self so that we might have true life. This message of complete surrender is timely in the weeks leading up to Easter and during Lenten season. Before the resurrected life comes death and surrender.
In The Word
2 Kings 4:17-37
Matthew 26:36-46
Galatians 2:20-21
Processing
Elisha first sent his staff before sending his full self. When have you sent your resources in place of yourself?
What have you been hesitant to fully commit to? Has this been out of wisdom or fear? Take time to discern and process within your community.
What does a fully surrendered life mean to you?