A TALE OF THREE WOMEN
I. The Widow — When Finances Die
II Kings 4:1-7 ESV
A widow’s husband (a prophet) dies.
Creditors are coming.
Her sons are about to be sold into slavery.
Her finances are dead.
Her future is dead.
Her security is dead.
She cries out to Elisha.
And God multiplies oil.
Bank accounts can die.
Businesses can die.
Livelihoods can die.
But the same God who raises the dead can resurrect what looks financially buried.
Romans 8:11 ESV 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesusd from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
II. The Shunammite Woman — When a Promise Dies
II Kings 4:8-37 ESV
Jeremiah 32 17 ESV 17“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
1 Corinthians 15:55 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” —
Psalm 112:6 NIV6Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. 7They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. 8Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
When her son dies:
She doesn’t call for a funeral.
She doesn’t summon mourners.
She doesn’t announce his death.
She lays him on the prophet’s bed.
She saddles a donkey.
She goes to the man of God.
And when asked, she says: “It is well.”
She was not preparing for burial. She was preparing for resurrection.
She positioned the problem in the place of promise.
Vs 14-15 “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” 15He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway.
Vs 20 the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. 21And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out.
III. Hagar — When Relationships Die
Genesis 16:7 ESV The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”
Vs 13 13So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”d for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”e 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;f
Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Genesis 21:8 ESV And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.b 10So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son,
Genesis 21;11 11And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. Isaac was about 15-16 years old
Genesis 21:14 14So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.18Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20And God was with the boy, and he grew up.
Runs out of water.
Places the boy under a bush.
Walks away. Says, “I cannot watch the boy die.”
She creates emotional distance from hope.
But “God opened her eyes…”
The well was already there.
She was preparing for death while life was within reach.
And you’ve already held the funeral in your mind.
But our God interrupts funerals.
He interrupts foreclosures.
He interrupts divorces.
He interrupts prodigals.
He interrupts graves.
And He says:
Because resurrection is not an event — it is who He is.
Some of you are carrying:
Some of you aren’t physically dead —but something in you feels lifeless.
Resurrection is not just something God did. It is something God does.
She called Him El Roi (אֵל רֳאִי), which means “God Who Sees Me.”
As for the name meaning “God who is more than enough”, that is: El Shaddai
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