We Must Guard Great Visions

After the death of her son, the Shunammite woman goes to her husband and asks him for the means to visit the prophet. She asks him to provide her with one of the servants and a donkey so she can hurry to where the man of God is. She has already formed a plan. She knows she must go and speak with the prophet because the same God who gave her her son is powerful enough to give him back to her as well.

Yet here an interesting dialogue takes place that reveals something about the thinking of both the Shunammite woman and her husband. When she says to him, “Look, I want to go see the prophet,” he replies, “Why are you going to see him today? It is neither a new moon nor a Sabbath.”

This man cannot conceive of the Shunammite woman going to the prophet for any reason other than a ritual one. He is like people who go to church only on Sundays and never think of going on a night of prayer or getting involved in a Bible study that would bring them there on another day of the week. The ritualistic person keeps only to the bare minimum and has not included God in all the other dimensions of life.

This also reveals something about this man, because, as we have said before, a character is revealed through actions and words. He is rather like many typical men, someone who seems content with the way things are in spiritual matters. She, the woman, is the one living through the drama of her relationship with God and the spiritual adventure. Because he is on the sidelines, he has no idea of the incredible story unfolding at this moment. And so he asks her almost casually: But why would you go visit this man when there is no ritual occasion, no festival that would take you to worship where the prophet is officiating?

Interestingly, the Shunammite woman does not tell her husband why she wants to see the prophet. She does not tell him that their son has died. And that tells us something: I believe that if this woman had told this man their son was dead, he might have become distraught, interfered with her plan, and made things harder for her. At this moment she needed resources; she needed to go straight to the prophet without stopping. She was focused on a mission and knew that time mattered, that she needed to be single-minded and clear about what she had to do, and that she needed no distractions of any kind.

Another spiritual lesson. Many times, when we face situations of great urgency and grave emergency, we cannot afford to share the spiritual vision we have with superficial people who do not understand the level of faith we are exercising at that moment.

If you are going to share the dreams and visions God has given you, it is important to do so with people who can strengthen you, support you, stand behind you, and even enrich your vision—not with people who will say, “Oh, that’s crazy. How dare you think that? God doesn’t work that way. You’re being fanatical.” No. We must reserve the great visions and great adventures to share with people who can truly understand what we are doing and can be a resource to us.

That is why I believe that when the Lord was about to perform this miracle in the Gospels concerning Jairus’s daughter—you will remember—He brought only a couple of His disciples into the room. The other people were laughing at Him when He told them, “No, she is not dead; she is simply sleeping,” because He knew He was going to raise her. They laughed at Him because that is how superficial people are: they do not understand the more powerful moves of God.

So the Lord reserved that miracle for just two of His chosen disciples, who could believe, who had the maturity needed to see what He was going to do, and who would not rob Him of concentration or clarity in the miracle He wanted to perform.

This woman remains silent. She says nothing to her husband for the moment because she knows she needs to get to the prophet as quickly as possible. And there is a lesson for us here. If our relationship with God is superficial, the great adventures, the great revelations, the great manifestations of the Power of God will go right over our heads, and we will remain on the sidelines.

This woman is determined, and everything she does is directed toward a mission. In our next meditation, we will see how important this aspect of her personality is. God bless you, and until our next message.