Make Room for Expectation
Now there came a day when Elisha went over to Shunem, where there was a prominent and influential woman, and she persuaded him to eat a meal. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he stopped there for a meal. She said to her husband, “Behold, I sense that this is a holy man of God who frequently passes our way. Please, let us make a small, fully-walled upper room [on the housetop] and put a bed there for him, with a table, a chair, and a lampstand. Then whenever he comes to visit us, he can turn in there.”
One day he came there and turned in to the upper room and lay down to rest. And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her and she stood before him. Now he said to Gehazi, “Say to her now, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us; what can I do for you? Would you like to be mentioned to the king or to the captain of the army?’” She answered, “I live among my own people [in peace and security and need no special favors].” Later Elisha said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.” He said, “Call her.” So Gehazi called her, and she [came and] stood in the doorway. Elisha said, “At this season next year, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord. O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.”
But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at that season the next year, just as Elisha had said to her.- 2 Kings 4:8-17
The Holy Spirit is able to break the limits off of our expectations, but He wants us to ask. As believers, we have to challenge our own faith and expectations, because we serve an all-powerful God who is limitless. He is able to exceedingly and abundantly above all we can ever ask, think, or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
The Shunammite woman desired a child, but when given the opportunity to tell the prophet Elisha what she desired, she did not ask for it. While her response demonstrates contentment, she may have been dealing with fractured faith. There is a fine line between being content in your faith and being convinced that your faith can produce more.
Although she had not yet seen her desire for a child come to pass, she remained faithful. This is an example for believers: even when we don’t get what we want from God, we keep on worshipping Him, because our purpose is to be faithful every day.
Let’s be believers who do not allow difficulty to rob us of our faithfulness. The Bible says that the faithful person will be richly blessed, and we see this come to fruition when the Shunammite woman is blessed with the baby she was too afraid to ask for.
As we make room for more of God, He gives us more of Him. When our hearts line up with God’s will, He will give us the desires of our hearts.
Don’t settle for what you have – believe that there is more. The Holy Spirit is asking us today: What do you want? Why haven’t you asked Me for it?
