"Why Go Today?"

Scripture Passage

2 Kings 2:1-25; 2 Kings 4:1-44

Scripture Focus

“Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.” (2 Kings 4:23 NLT)

Observation

Today’s reading details a series of remarkable miracles God accomplished through the hand of his servant, Elisha. Not the least of these miracles, reminiscent of God’s promise to Sarah and Abraham, was a miracle given in "promise form" to a childless woman well along in years. “Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!” (2 Kings 4:16 NLT).

God’s promise through Elisha comes true, but some time later the boy suffers some sort of affliction and dies. However, instead of calling the mortician, the mother places the body of her son in a room often used by Elisha, and requests of her husband “one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back” (1 Kings 4:22 NLT). It’s his response that captures my attention:

“Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.” (2 Kings 4:23 NLT)

The father’s casual response revealed his failure to comprehend the urgency of the moment. The mother’s purposeful response showed the opposite—that she understood how significant this moment was. The father’s casualness in sending the boy home to his mother in the first place, and then his lack of inquiry as to the boy’s condition, reflected his unhealthy preoccupation with “business concerns.” The mother’s tenacity in connecting to the power of God (in this case, through God’s servant) reflected her understanding that nothing else would adequately address her need.

The father’s words—“Why go today?”—warn me that I can miss what is urgent in the middle of what seems important—that I can all too easily minimize the utter necessity of experiencing God's touch in the press of daily concerns.

“Open my eyes, Lord, to that which matters most—your touch, your work in my life—that I might lay aside the pressing to pursue the irreplaceable.”