Devotional

Christian Devotional – July 21, 2020

July 21, 2020 /

Double Portion – #15

Unfulfilled hope. There are very few things that are as disheartening and disappointing as hope that has gone unfulfilled. Read 2 Kings 4:24-28.

Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.” So she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite. Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?'” And she answered, “It is well.” When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my Lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
2 Kings 4:24‭-‬28 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/2ki.4.24-28.NASB

When the woman started taking care of Elisha, she had no expectations of what would happen. Even when Elisha said he wanted to do something special for her, she did not dare to hope. Then Elisha told her that she would have a son. And she did. She gave birth to the son and she raised the son just as Elisha had said. She had had no hope before but now she had hope. However, then the son died. Everything that she had hoped in was ripped away from her. She was coming back to the man of God saying, “Why did you even promise me this? I was so much better off when I didn’t even have hope. Now I’ve had hope and yet it is been disappointed.”

We must be careful what we place our hope in. If we’re not the careful, we could find ourselves hoping in something that will never come to be. And that sense of disappointment can be overwhelming at times. The only thing we should place our hope in is Jesus Christ. He is the only one who will truly fulfill all of our hopes and dreams. Everything else will disappoint.