2 Kings 8:1-6 - Daily Devotion - 23 July 2026

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park

1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine, and it has already come to the land.”

2 So the woman had proceeded to do as the man of God had instructed. And she and her household lived as foreigners for seven years in the land of the Philistines.

3 At the end of seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to the king to appeal for her house and her land.

4 Now the king had been speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things Elisha has done.”

5 And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”

6 When the king asked the woman, she confirmed it. So the king appointed for her an officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the country until now.”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Susan Everett

When have you seen God miraculously intervene in your own ordinary life?

A few years ago, I needed to move suburb quite quickly. I remember praying to God, asking for his help. I had no idea how I could manage the move as a broke Uni student with very few connections outside my home town. To my astonishment, I was contacted by a family from the church I had just started attending – they offered for me to come live with them at a rate even a broke Uni student could afford. A week later, a job landed in my lap. It was so clear that God saw me, and was miraculously providing for me, even though I was just an ordinary Uni student.

We see something similar in 2 Kings 8. After all these grand tales concerning kings and nations, we zoom in to the ordinary life of one woman – the Shunammite woman we met back in 2 Kings 4. She has returned to Israel after 7 years, as Elisha had instructed her, but it seems someone has taken her house and land. Yet God sees her, this unnamed woman, and has already set plans in motion to provide for her. When she goes to the King, he’s already mid-conversation with Elisha’s old servant Gehazi, who is telling him all about how Elisha raised her son back to life. Coincidence? I think not. And despite the terrible reputation of the Israelite kings, all the woman’s property is restored.

It’s clear that God is at work here. Our God intervenes in all our lives – no matter how ordinary we seem. And if we obey the word of the LORD – like the Shunammite woman did – we can trust that God will provide what we need. As Jesus says, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:33). Spend some time now thanking God for the ways he’s intervened in your life, and ask him to keep providing what you need.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan is one of our student ministers.