Shunamite Woman: The fullness of God's plan for your life.

Shunaam was a small village, located near the Jezreel Valley, north of Mount Gilboa. In this village, there was a wealthy and influential woman whose name was never mentioned but is known today as the Shunammite woman. She’s particularly known for the hospitality she showed to Prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 4:8-36. 

About the Shunammite Woman

The Bible describes the Shunammite woman as a wealthy, prominent, leading, and influential woman who urged Elisha the prophet to come for a meal in her house. This act of hospitality led to many more visits and one day she asked her husband if they could build a small room for Elisha to rest every time he was around. As a show of Elijah’s gratitude to this woman, he reached out to her asking if there’s was anything she needed him to do for her and her response was: 

“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.” ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Elisha still went ahead to ask his assistant what they could do for the woman and he found out she didn’t have a child. As the prophet of God that he is, he spoke a word to her that she would have a son next year. When the woman heard what Elisha said she responded saying; 

“No, my Lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.” ‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT

Well she got pregnant and had a son as the prophet had said. However, the story didn’t end with her having a son because as the boy grew older he fell ill and died. In her pain she went to meet Elisha, told him what had happened and that she wasn’t leaving without him. He followed her back home and after praying the boy came back to life. 

Interestingly the woman’s story didn’t stop in 2 Kings 4:8-36, her story came up again in 2 Kings 8:1-7, after a famine period she came back to her family house and all her properties were gone. When she went to meet the king, her story was being told to him and as a result of that the king granted her all she had lost. 

Modern picture of the shunammite woman in 2024 

Now we have context of who this woman is, let’s paint a picture of her in 2024. 

A successful career or business woman, married and comfortable, that is a Christian. As a Christian, she doesn’t try to complicate her relationship with Jesus; she attends church when it’s convenient, prays and reads her bible as often as she can. As she engages more with Jesus, she feels a nudge within her to go deeper into her relationship with him. So, she does this by inviting him into every area of her life. However, what she doesn’t know is that inviting Jesus into her life would require her to surrender her beliefs of being comfortable and relying on the successes she’s had. It would show her that there was more to her. 

That extra step of letting Jesus be part of every moment of her life helps her to come face to face with the question: How does God see me? 

• Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to give God access to every area of your life? Have you ever wondered if God’s definition of success aligns with yours?

The Bible doesn’t give us the entire context of the Shunammite woman’s story but we can see based on her response that she didn’t want to get her hopes up about having a child. It's clear she had boundaries about that area of her life. But she had to learn to surrender that part of her life to God.. 

One thing with having a relationship with God is that it requires you to surrender fully. You can’t be half and half, you are either in it or not. 

According to Miriam Webster dictionary, to surrender means to yield to the power, control, or possession of another. It also means to give up oneself up into the power of another. So if you are surrendering to God, then you are surrendering to his own plans and identity for your life. 

This is why the journey of faith isn’t a one-time event; it’s a constant, continuous process of building a relationship with God. As human beings, we don’t like unknowns; we want to have everything all figured out. So, we come up with ideas and plans of how our lives should be. And when things don’t go our way, we sometimes lose hope. This is why the Bible says in Proverbs 13:12, hope deferred makes the heart sick. 

We are all limited in our thinking, and the desire we have to understand life and purpose can only be found in God. The way to gain understanding is by surrendering our plans, ideas, expectations, and meaning of life to him. God has bigger plans for you than you have for yourself. In the case of the Shunammite woman, part of his plan for her was to become a mother. And In 2 Kings 8, you see that the testimony of what God did through her and her son gave her access before the king. 

What God chooses to use in your life is beyond your control but as long as you choose to walk with him, be rest assured that he also wants good things for you. However, he wants you to enjoy these things in the fullness of his plans for your life. 

Revelation 3:14-22 talks about God's message to the church in Laocidea, and verse 19 highlights God's love from a point of view of discipline. It reads: 

”Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I rebuke and discipline [showing them their faults and instructing them]; so be enthusiastic and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behaviour—seek God’s will].“ — Revelation‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Because God loves you, he wants you to seek his will and see yourself the way he sees you. He wants you to see yourself more than the wealth, more than the comfort, and more than the success because these things are temporary. The only thing guaranteed is eternal life which is in Christ Jesus, hence why he cares more about your soul.