I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 3-4.

    The wealthy woman in Shunem fed Elisha whenever he passed through Shunem and provided him with a place to stay. She did this out of the kindness of her heart and expected no reward. Elisha wanted to pay her back for what she had done for him but she did not want anything. When Elisha told her that she would have a son, she did not even want that. When her son died she confronted Elisha with the fact that she had not asked for a son. There are two lessons for us in this story. One lesson is about doing things for others. The other lesson is about receiving good things.

    I am not sure I am going to be able to get the message I see in this passage into writing. The woman was afraid of receiving good things because she was afraid of the pain she would suffer if they should later be taken away from her. We are often like that. We sometimes do not experience the joy God has for us because we are too afraid of the pain that may come later. On the other hand, Elisha did not take into account the pain the woman might experience if she had a son. Expressing this part of the message is even harder. When we do unsolicited for someone we need to take into account the reasons they did not ask for it. We need to be prepared to deal with the pain they may experience later because they received the thing we did for their good. That did not come out quite right, but I cannot get the thought to come around the right way, so I will leave it like that.