Revive Our Hearts

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Are you growing in contentment? If you’re not satisfied with what you have, you won’t be satisfied with what you think you want.

Dannah Gresh: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Choosing Gratitude, for September 23, 2026. I'm Dannah Gresh. What's the deepest longing in your heart today? Nancy wants to help you hold that desire faithfully, praying earnestly that God will meet it, while also being content if he doesn't. We’re continuing in the series "A Breath of New Life."

Well, we come today back to the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings chapter 4. If you’re just joining us, this is a woman who lived in the town of Shunem. We don’t know her name, but she’s called the Shunammite, the woman who lived in the town of Shunem.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We’ve seen that she is a wealthy woman who extends hospitality to the servant of the Lord, Elisha, who is the prophet of God. Let me just backtrack and read the paragraph we read in the last session, beginning in verse 8, and then we’ll continue in this passage.

"One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, 'Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.'"

Now, when you think of a room on the roof, don’t think of our pitched roofs. Think of a flat roof and just building a structure, adding on a room to the house. That was the place where it could most easily be added on. This woman and her husband opened their home, they opened their hearts, and they show hospitality to the prophet Elisha.

Guest (Male): I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I think that's what Elisha could have said about this Shunammite woman and her husband. "I've derived much joy and much comfort from your love, my brother and sister." This is a family relationship between believers here because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

The ministry of hospitality is the ministry of refreshment. As we were saying in this room before we started recording here today, keep in mind that to be hospitable doesn’t require that you be some gourmet cook, or that you be always baking or making everything from scratch, grinding your own wheat. If you do that, that’s great, but don’t feel that you have to. I know people who are grinding their own coffee, they're so serious into this—grinding it—and that’s great if you can do that and want to.

Listen, I've shown hospitality in my home with very hastily prepared meals at times. Sometimes just, "Do you want to come over for popcorn and something to drink?" I bought one of these coffee makers recently because I’m not a coffee drinker, so I bought one that you can put the little cups in and make your own, pick your own kind.

People love it, and I’ve served hundreds, maybe thousands of cups of coffee in my home. Somebody said to me the other day, "In spite of the fact that you're not a coffee drinker, thanks for making coffee available in your home." That's blessed that family. You can do it in ways that don't require huge amounts of time.

Your house doesn't have to look like it's on the front of a magazine. If you’re having people in your home, it won’t look like it's on the front of a magazine, because the only place homes look that way is on the front of a magazine. The gracious ministry of hospitality is a way to reflect the heart of God to others.

Now one old-time writer who talked about this passage made this point: "While we are doing good to others, we are always in the way of finding good for ourselves." We see that's exactly what happened with this Shunammite woman as she extended hospitality to the prophet Elisha. Blessing came back to her.

Let's pick up in verse 11 of 2 Kings 4. "One day he came there and he turned into the chamber and rested there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, 'Call this Shunammite.' When he had called her, she stood before him, and he said to him, 'Say now to her, "See, you have taken all this trouble for us. What is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?"'"

Now this woman had never charged Elisha and his servant for her hospitality. She’d never asked for anything in return. She wasn’t expecting anything in return. She was just doing it to be a blessing to them. But Elisha was, as a good guest would be, appreciative. He was grateful. He was touched by this woman's kindness and he didn't take it for granted. He wanted to know if there was some way he could be a means of blessing to her.

But what do you do for the woman who has everything? So he sends his servant to ask her, "Is there anything we can do for you? Is there any way we can bless you? Do you want us to speak to the king for you?" Elisha knew the king, King Jehoram, who was the king of Israel at the time, the son of wicked King Ahab. Jehoram actually owed Elisha a favor.

In chapter 3, the previous chapter of 2 Kings, there was a rebellion where the confederate armies of Judah and Israel and Edom were fighting against the nation of Moab. The people of God and their armies had no water. They had called on Elisha to pray, and God had miraculously revealed to the prophet that he was going to provide an abundance of water, which he did, and therefore the Moabite army was defeated.

That’s a long, complicated story you find in chapter 3. God had used Elisha to help win a victory for the Israelite army. So he says, "Do you want me to ask the king to return a favor? I don't need anything from him, but maybe I could ask him for something for you." Elisha isn’t looking for anything for himself, but he’s glad to use his influence to help someone else.

"Is there anything we can do for you? Do you want us to ask the king or the commander of the army for something?" Think about the things that this woman could have asked for in response to that blank check. It would be nice if I could have a bigger house so we could have more room, more stuff, more whatever. But she answers simply, "I dwell among my own people."

And he said, "What then is to be done for her?" Gehazi answered to Elisha, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old." Let’s just unpack that for a moment. First of all, this woman has no child. There is in that culture the shame of barrenness. To be married and not have a child was considered to be a curse. It was a shameful thing—not because God said it was shameful, but people considered God hasn't blessed you with children, there must be something wrong with you.

This woman would have no male heir; her family line, the family name, would not continue in Israel. After her husband was to die—we see that he is older, he’s likely to die before she dies—she’s likely to become a widow and she’s going to have no means of provision for herself after her husband dies. This is a serious thing in that culture, that a woman has no child.

Here is a woman who has human reason for discontent, for resentment, for restlessness. But here is a woman who is satisfied with what she has. She has what she needs. She just says, "I dwell among my own people." They say, "What can we do for you? Ask us anything." She says, "I’m fine. I have what I need." She lives among extended family, so she has their support and their protection.

That’s not always going to be the case, as we’ll see later in this series. When it comes to the point where she doesn’t have provision, God is going to providentially intervene to meet her need in other ways. But she has what she needs right now. She’s content with what she has. She has a husband, she has a home, and she’s not focused on what she doesn’t have, which is a child.

She’s using this season of life as it is, imperfect as it is, to reach out to others. She’s not pining about her childlessness. She’s still being a giver and nurturer of life. She’s making a home, she’s making a nest, she’s serving others. There's just no evidence that this woman—the implication is that she can't have children—is bitter or discontent.

One commentator made this comment on this verse: "How few are there like this woman on the earth? Who is so contented with what he has as not to desire more?" Imagine if somebody were to say to you, "Write your own ticket, write your own check. What do you want? What do you need?" Would you have a long list in your heart, even if you didn't give it to them? Or could you say, "I’ve got what I need. What I have is enough"?

She didn't even mention the fact that the one thing perhaps that she most longed for she didn't have. She didn't bring that up. There's such a human tendency we have to crave more, not to be satisfied with what we have. For many of us, what we have is never enough. That is fueled by reading catalogs.

I come to points in my life where I just have to toss the catalogs. I get a lot of them for some reason and I know if I hold on to them, I’m going to be fueling discontent in my life. I’m really happy with what I have until I see all the things I don’t have. Last year's styles are fine for me until I see all of this year's styles.

I know it's not just me. That’s one reason among many that I tend to stay out of malls. They don't help my spiritual life. They don't help me be more content. If you're not satisfied with what you have, you won't be satisfied with what you think you want. I see in this woman a heart of contentment.

The Scripture talks to us a lot about that. 1 Timothy 6—we read from that in the last session, but let me read another paragraph from 1 Timothy 6: "Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

That's simplicity, isn't it? Not having to have more, not having to accumulate, and not just stockpiling the stuff we have, but cleaning out our closets, getting rid of stuff, and using it to bless and benefit others. I looked at some things in my closet the other day and there are some items that I have multiples of that I'm not using.

As I was studying this passage, the thought just ran through my heart, "You need to get rid of some of this stuff." I do that periodically, but I need to do it again. Maybe you need to do it again as well. There's an old-time minister named William Jay, who lived in the late 1700s and the early 1800s, who wrote a piece about the Shunammite woman.

There's a fairly lengthy passage here—I don't usually like reading lengthy statements from other people on the program—but I just thought this was so good I want to read it to you on this whole issue of contentment as we see it lived out in this woman. He says: "The truth is that happiness does not depend upon external things, but upon the principles and dispositions of the mind."

"And therefore that happiness is as accessible to us in our present state as in any imaginable one. You can be as happy with what you have now as you think you would be if you had stuff you don't have now. Cultivate therefore happiness within. Seek it not in a superior station, but in a contented mind. Endeavor to reduce your wishes rather than to enlarge your means."

"Guard against a roving mind. Make the most of present enjoyment and of actual possession in distinction from the future and the imaginary. Enter that school in which the Apostle studied and was able to say, 'I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'"

This pastor goes on to say: "Confide in the providence of your heavenly Father as concerned in fixing the bounds of your habitation. Let your heavenly Father decide how much space you need, where you should live, and what is good for you. And trust him as engaged to make all things work together for your good."

"Leave him to choose your inheritance for you, and then in the end you will be able to acknowledge: 'The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage.' You would do well also to remember that this is not your rest, that you are only strangers and pilgrims upon earth, and that in a very little time it will be a matter of indifference to you whether you have been poor or rich, splendid or obscure."

"Seek after a well-grounded hope of heaven. This will reconcile you to any privations you may be called to bear upon earth. And should you even walk in the midst of trouble, this will revive you and you will be enabled to say: 'I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.'"

"Seek after a well-grounded hope of heaven." Be content with what you have now, with what God has given you here, and then ground your heart and your hope and your affections in the hope of what is yet to come—the hope of heaven. Well, I see that heart of contentment in this woman, and that's the kind of heart I want to have as well.

Verse 14: Elisha says to Gehazi, "This woman who says she doesn't need anything, she has what she needs, she's content. What then is to be done for her?" And Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son and her husband is old." This is a great idea. This woman could use a son; she apparently would love to have a son.

She can't have a son; there's no hope of her having a son, humanly speaking. Why bring this up? Because there's nothing that can be done about this. What can Gehazi do? What can Elisha do? This woman can't do anything, her husband can't do anything. She has no son, and her husband is old. The implication is she's barren. Why bring it up? Well, it's humanly impossible, but God.

Elisha says in verse 15, "Call her." And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. And he said, "At this season about this time next year you shall embrace a son." Talk about reward for your hospitality. This was amazing. This must have been the last thing in the world this woman expected to hear. But Elisha discerned God's plan to bless this couple, to bless this woman with a child.

And she says, "No, my lord, oh man of God, do not lie to your servant." What she's saying is, "Don't mislead me. Don't get my hopes up if they're not going to be fulfilled." But verse 17, the woman conceived and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.

Here is a woman whose husband at least is old. She may have been past childbearing years herself, we don’t know. Jewish women were eager to bear children because that was the blessing of God. Here is a woman who was past the point of hoping that she could ever have a child. But God knows the unfulfilled longings of every person's heart. And in this case, God said, "I'm going to grant you the desire of your heart."

Guest (Male): He makes the barren woman to be a joyful mother of children.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Let me remind you of what Pastor William Jay said. God may not bless you with the physical blessings that you're longing for. We have women in this room likely who can't have children. That doesn't mean that you cannot be fully blessed by God.

There's no promise in this story or in God's word that God will grant every longing of your heart, including that great longing that so many women have for a child. That's where we need to remember that it's God himself who fulfills the longings of our hearts, that he is the fulfillment of those longings.

He may choose to give you a child, even in your old age. He may not. But the woman who is content with what God has given her and with God himself will have a means of joy in her life regardless of whether those longings are fulfilled in this life or not. The person, the woman who has her heart fixed or set on heaven is going to have joy.

I say that as a single woman who does not expect to have a husband or children—biological children. But I know that I can find and do find fullness in Christ by embracing, by accepting as God's gift to me the season of life that he has me in, which is to be a single, older woman and to minister and pour into the lives of others. I’m blessed.

Does that mean I never have those unfulfilled longings? Does it mean you will never have those unfulfilled longings? It's all right to have the unfulfilled longings. What isn't all right is to let that make us discontent, depressed, discouraged, or to become demanding that God fulfill those longings.

So here God gives this woman that desire of her heart but fills her with himself. As one commentator says: "Thus did she joyfully experience that the God of Sarah and of Hannah still lived." God who had given Sarah a child in her old age, God who had given Hannah a child when she was barren, God in his providence and wisdom for his kingdom purposes chose to bless this Shunammite woman with a child when it was not humanly possible.

This was something beyond her wildest dream. Can you imagine the change that took place in that household? You know what bringing a child into your house does when you have the child at 22. Imagine at whatever age she and her husband were, never thinking that there'd be a child in that home. They're probably the age of grandparents and now bringing a child into their home—the change that came about, but also the joy that God brought to this woman.

Going back to Pastor William Jay, he says: "And thus she who built a chamber for the man of God has the prospect of her house being built up in Israel. And she who had distinguished herself by her generosity and friendship is rewarded by the gift of a life the most precious." God is rewarding in this way this woman's graciousness and her generosity to the servant of the Lord.

I think of that principle in Scripture. It doesn’t mean you’ll be blessed with a husband or with a child because you’re hospitable, but you will be blessed. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10: "For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints as you still do." God knows how you’re serving. He knows the behind-the-scenes ways that you serve. He knows the un-applauded ways that you serve, and he will reward.

Proverbs 11 verse 25: "Whoever brings blessing will be enriched." Proverbs 11 verse 25: "Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered." Or as Jesus said in Luke 6: "Give, and it will be given to you."

As we look at this passage, I want to just remind us that there's nothing too difficult for God. There is no longing that God cannot fulfill, if and when he knows that that's what will bring the greatest glory to him. At that point, God can and he will in his providence grant the desires of your heart.

But in the meantime, and even if God never grants those unfulfilled longings because he wants to glorify himself in a different way, that's where we must learn to trust God's provision and God's timing in our lives. Look at this woman and I’m just reminded that I don't want to waste any season of my life by pining for what I don't have, what I wish I did have, or what I do have that I wish I didn't have.

Be in the moment, enjoy the season, and use it to the fullest for God's glory. Then the reminder to give and to serve in whatever ways you can in this season of life. Ask God: "How do you want me to use what you've given me to be a blessing and a means of grace into the lives of others?" and watch God pour back into your life as your channel of blessing to others.

Dannah Gresh: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been showing us the peace that comes from godly contentment. It's true; contentment does bring so much peace. I want to remind you as we close today that contentment and grief aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, most often the path to true rest in the Lord is paved with moments of lament.

If you're listening today and you're deeply longing for a child, tell the Lord that. Weep over what you hoped would be, and then turn to God in trust. Rest in the promised goodness of his plan for you. If you'd like to learn more about lament—what it means and how to practice it—we'll link some past conversations with Pastor Mark Vroegop, author of the beloved book on lament, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. You can find those links in today's transcript at reviveourhearts.com.

We’re learning about the Shunammite woman this week, and she is featured in our newest woman of the Bible study devoted. In that book, you’ll also find the stories of Hannah, the woman at the well, Anna, Sarah, and Mary the mother of Jesus. Let us send you a copy as our thanks when you make a donation of any amount this month. To give and request Devoted, visit reviveourhearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959.

When crisis hits your life, where do you turn? As we continue to study the life of the Shunammite woman tomorrow, we'll see how she responded when the unthinkable happened. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts. This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.