Truth Matters

Guest (Male): Today on Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis.

Dr. Cheryl Davis: My husband and I attended the funeral of a baby that died in utero one week prior to his due date. And just two weeks prior to the funeral, the baby shower celebration was extravagant and beautiful. They were celebrating not just a baby, but the faithfulness of God. Unexpectedly, their promise died in her womb, and she had to go through the birthing process to birth her promise stillborn. What do you do when your promise from God dies?

Guest (Male): In those moments when God appears to break his promise to us, we must remember that we're not seeing things from his eternal perspective. No matter how short-lived that promise might appear to us, we take comfort in knowing that death is not the end, but ahead of us is heaven with our Savior who said, I am the resurrection and the life.

Dr. Cheryl Davis: This family said something very powerful. They said, don't weep for us because our son is in heaven. He actually made it to heaven before us. Her baby is now cuddled by the presence of the Lord where there is perfect peace. While the sorrow was palpable that day, their hope overcame the sorrow. We must remember that God's ways are higher than ours, and his thoughts are higher than ours. For this family, though they are broken currently, in due season God will heal the wound and turn this into a testimony of his faithfulness. Our suffering is not wasted by any means.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Truth Matters, empowering men and women in the Christian faith to teach biblical truth in the culture and the marketplace of ideas using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth in sharing the message of Jesus. Our program host is Dr. Cheryl Davis. Dr. Davis is a wife, mom, speaker, and Bible teacher. She is a graduate with a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. She is married to Thad Davis, pastor of Faith Assembly in Saint Paul's, North Carolina. On today's edition of Truth Matters, Dr. Cheryl Davis shares the story of the Shunammite woman from 2 Kings chapter 4 who, when her only child, her precious son, God's promise to her, grew sick and died, called upon the prophet Elisha to perform his greatest miracle, asking God to restore life to this child.

God's promise does not always end this way, but despite our pain, he is always faithful. Today's message is titled When God's Promise Dies. Let's listen.

Dr. Cheryl Davis: For many years, the amount of tragedy that occurs in our world has been increasing year over year. Billy Graham once said, you need to read the newspaper in one hand and have a Bible in the other. The newspaper reports what is happening, and the Bible tells you what it means. Tragedy seems to be affecting the world mainly, but now it has made its way to the people of God. The recent death of Charlie Kirk reminds me of the verse in Job chapter 5 verse 7, as sure as sparks fly upward, man's days are few and full of trouble.

In my mind, I'm saying, yes, Lord, I understand that there will be trials, but I did not imagine such tragedy in my lifetime. Spiritually, it appears the enemy is advancing in the spiritual war for the territory of this nation. The battle has become more intense with the most recent events. It appears that the enemy is trying to wear down the saints with sorrow. Tragedy is not just happening nationally. It is happening in our local communities as well. Most recently, my husband and I attended the funeral of a baby that died in utero one week prior to his due date.

This is one of the most tragic events that I have witnessed in the ministry. While all babies are special, this baby was a result of a prophecy almost one year ago to this very week during a revival in our church. The prophecy was witnessed by others, and months later it actually came to pass. This family was so excited and overjoyed. And just two weeks prior to the funeral, the baby shower celebration was extravagant and beautiful. They were celebrating not just a baby, but the faithfulness of God. Unexpectedly, their promise died in her womb, and she had to go through the birthing process to birth her promise stillborn.

As I was walking to greet the mother in the funeral line or the procession, the sorrow was palpable. During the funeral, I asked myself, if man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, what do you do when that word dies? I feel that this family is not the only family that has seen their promises pass away or has experienced such incomprehensible loss. We find the answer in Scripture with the story of the Shunammite woman. Let's turn in our Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 4 verses 8 through 37.

I won't read all the verses. Please allow me to summarize the story. Shunem was a town halfway between Mount Carmel and Elisha's hometown. He would stop in to stay with a Shunammite woman and her husband on his way to Mount Carmel. The Shunammite woman was given to hospitality and made Elisha a room on the roof of her home and provided a bed, table, and a lamp for the prophet, as well as a room for his servant Gehazi. Elisha wanted to repay her for her kindness to them by blessing her. When he asked her what she needed, she basically said, I am fine.

I live amongst my people. I don't need anything actually. But Gehazi realized she was childless and informed Elisha that her husband was old and that a son would be a blessing to her. Elisha then prophesies to the Shunammite woman and tells her in verse 15, about this time next year you shall embrace a son. And actually, in hindsight and remembering the events of the prophecy with this family, the preacher actually said the same thing about this time next year you shall embrace a son. Verse 17 goes on to say that she conceived and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.

The word of God manifests itself among her and gave life to a son. The story goes on and the child grows. It happened one day that he became sick and the mother held him in her arms until noon, and then the child died. The promise of God died in the mother's arms. What do you do when the promise of God dies? The Shunammite woman puts her son in a room and shuts the door. She then heads to Mount Carmel to find Elisha. Her family asks her, why are you going now? It's not the right time.

And she says, it is well. And I can see her very emphatically saying, it is well. When she reaches Gehazi, he asks her, is it well with you and your family? She again emphatically replies, it is well. She was in deep distress and sorrow, but constantly says, it is well. The story goes on with her telling Elisha about the death of her promise that came through him. He immediately goes to her home, and her son is then resurrected from the dead after the prayer of Elisha. This was one of Elisha's greatest miracles of his ministry, an evidence of the power of God over death and a prophetic picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that was to come.

But unlike the Shunammite woman, the family I mentioned earlier, this mother's promise was carried out in a small casket and buried in the ground. What do you do when your promise is buried in the ground? What do you do when your promise from God dies? Before we get into the scripture, I would like to begin with the end in mind. If you do not remember anything during this message, I would like you to remember these three points. The first one, the promise of God will never die. Number two, the promise of God will never lie.

And number three, the promise of God never harms you. When you look at this tragic situation through the natural eye, you would think that the promise of God did die because we saw him placed in the ground. But the natural world will pass away and cannot give life. The promise of God will never die. The promise of God will never die. There are only two things in this life that are eternal, the word of God and the spirit of man. I 'm going to say that one more time. There are only two things in this life that are eternal, the word of God and the spirit of man.

John chapter 1 verse 1 says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The word is eternal and has always been and forever will be because the word is God. The Holy Spirit inspired word of God written by man, which we call the Bible, is eternal. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8 tells us that the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. The spirit of man will live on forever in one of two places, heaven or hell. Just because our natural bodies may decay in the ground at our death, our spirits live on forever.

For the believer, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 8 that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Just because our promise may cease to exist in the natural realm, it does not mean that in the spiritual realm it does not live on. Actually, in the spiritual realm the promise is now more alive than ever before. This family said something very powerful. They said, don't weep for us because our son is in heaven. He actually made it to heaven before us. While the sorrow was palpable that day, their hope overcame the sorrow.

Why? I'm so glad that you ask. Why is because the resurrection of Jesus Christ we can have such a blessed hope. Because Jesus died and gave his life, he defeated death. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? Her baby is now cuddled by the presence of the Lord where there is perfect peace. The Shunammite woman had such a blessed hope as well. She told her family that it is well. She was in deep sorrow, deep distress, but she had faith to know that even though her son was dead, it is still well.

She may not have known how, but she purposed in her heart to believe that it is well despite his death. She was already standing on one miracle. Therefore, it was easier to believe for another one. The promise of God will never die. The promise of God will never die. Let's move on to my second point. I want you to remember this. The promise of God will never lie. The promise of God will never lie. The promise of God is not always what we assume. I am sure many of you listening has received a promise from God or a word from God and expected one thing but received another.

The Shunammite woman was in this place herself. She tells Elisha when he blesses her, do not lie to me. She did not want to be given false hope. Her son was born. The truth was made flesh, but then her son dies. When she goes to Elisha, she said to him, did I ask a son of my Lord? Did I not say, do not deceive me? When we receive a promise from God and it is not what we expected or it does not turn out the way that we expected, we feel that we have been deceived.

We feel that God has lied to us. This is a prime point in the process for the enemy to take up residence in our mind to convince us that God cannot be trusted. He cannot keep his promises. Therefore, he cannot be trusted. This is Satan sifting us as wheat even at the point of tragedy. He does not give up. What we have to remember is when it appears to us that God has lied, our perception is wrong 100% of the time. Numbers chapter 23 verse 19 tells us that God is not a man that he should lie nor a son of man that he should repent.

Has he said and will he not do? Or has he spoken and will he not make it good? In contrast, the Bible says in Jeremiah that a man's heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? We must remember that God ways are higher than ours and his thoughts are higher than ours. We may attempt to reason and think that we can understand him, but our perception is imperfect. And when we think we have God figured out, we don't. Really, the time that we will be like him is in heaven, but until then we must walk by faith.

By definition, faith is based on trust more than understanding. But if the enemy cannot get you from an angle of not trusting God, he will get you from the angle of not hearing him correctly or the promise not being genuine. For those of us who are seasoned Christians, we know that God does not lie, and we know that God is perfect. But the devil knows that as well. However, it is easier to deceive us into thinking that we did not hear God correctly. When we are deceived in this way, we doubt the validity of our promise.

Therefore, in the situation of the family that I mentioned, they could say because this baby died, he must not have been from God. The Shunammite woman could easily say the prophet was wrong and my son was not a promise from God. It was just a random act, a random occurrence that happened. If the Shunammite woman would have stopped believing in that moment that her son was born of a promise, she would have not went back to Elisha and he would have not been resurrected. The Shunammite woman did something very powerful. When her son died, she laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door.

The Shunammite woman knew he was given to her by God, so he belonged to God. She gave him back to him by placing him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door to unbelief. She could have easily put him on his bed or even on her bed, but no, she takes him upstairs to the bed of Elisha and lies him on the bed of Elisha and shuts the door. She shut the door to unbelief. We too must shut the door to unbelief. Remember the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God.

The enemy's target is our belief. If he can get us to doubt and to not believe, then he can affect our choices, therefore our surrender and our obedience. We must shut the door to unbelief. Just because it does not turn out the way that you expected or anticipated, no matter how much it hurts, it does not mean that the promise was not from God. The promise is not always what we assume. Our perception of God is usually off, and the enemy uses this to sow seeds of doubt and unbelief. But we must shut the door to unbelief.

It is not always what it looks like. No matter how much it hurts, we must shut the door to unbelief. When we allow unbelief to take up residence in our mind, we are trading the truth for the lie. We are trading the promises of God for the deception of the enemy. Before I move on to my last point, please allow me to summarize the first two points. The promise of God will never die. The promise of God will never lie. And lastly, the promise of God will never harm you. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

The promise of God will never harm you and it will bless you. Now I know that you are saying, how could the Shunammite woman be blessed in such tragedy? How could the family that you mentioned believe that they're blessed in such tragedy? No matter the tragedy, Romans chapter 8 verse 28 tells us that we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11 tells us that, for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

For the Shunammite woman, yes, her child died, but he was resurrected. She was a part of one of the greatest miracles of Elisha's ministry. But later on we see her story again in 2 Kings chapter 8. There was a famine in between chapter 4 and chapter 8. The Shunammite woman moved to live in the land of the Philistines, and she is returning after the famine. After she returned to claim her property, Gehazi was speaking with the king and telling him about the resurrection of the boy, and a Shunammite woman showed up in the palace. The king authorized the officials to return her property to her along with whatever income she had lost during her absence.

God allowed her to redeem the time. She was able to redeem the time and receive that which was lost. That is a blessing that only God can do. The death of the boy turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and it's only God that can redeem the time. But deep in our emotions and in our worst moments of tragedy, it is hard to believe for the blessing. It is hard to fathom that something good can come out of such pain and such death and such darkness and such evil. For the local family that I mentioned, even I felt the same way.

And I had only witnessed the promise. The promise was not even mine, but even I felt hopeless. I asked myself, what do you do when your promise dies and everything that you believed is challenged? Philippians reminds us, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Luke tells us that it is the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Romans tells us, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

God himself went through the pain of separation from his own promise to give us access to the spiritual kingdom of God and eternal life. If God loves us that much to not spare his own son for our sake, don't you think that he will keep us in all things and bless us in all things? Pain can turn into a blessing if we walk in the spirit long enough to reap it. But at this point in the pain, the enemy knows that if we step off the highway of holiness that we are revoking the blessings of God that he has for us.

This is why he tempts us at this point in the process of sanctification and in the process of maturation. We have to remain on the highway of holiness. We have to remain and walk in the spirit long enough to reap what the Lord has already given us in order for us to possess. We have to keep walking on the highway of holiness. We have to remain pure. We have to keep and abide in the vine. For this family, though they are broken currently, in due season God will heal the wound and turn this into a testimony of his faithfulness.

Our suffering is not wasted by any means. Psalm chapter 56 tells us that you keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Just like the Lord keeps a record of our sorrows, we will be able to keep a record of the blessings that he gives us in the place of these sorrows. Isaiah tells us that he will give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that we may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified.

Your suffering will glorify God. Count yourself blessed to suffer with him. For those that suffer with him shall also reign with him. A story of great suffering that turned into great blessing is the story of Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery and was away from his family in prison for over 20 years. And even in the prison he was imprisoned for doing good. However, God has a plan and he blessed Joseph to be second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt. God used Joseph to save a nation of Israelites. Joseph was faithful to God through the suffering and never forgot the dream that he was given early on in his life.

It was his promise and his alone. He shut the door to unbelief and still believed even though his life did not turn out the way he anticipated. Remember, the promise of God will never harm you. It will bless you exceedingly, abundantly above all you can ever ask or think. In my closing, some of you may be asking the difficult question, where do I go from here? What do I do now? Lord, I feel like you have lied to me. I feel like I have been deceived. What do you do when the promise of God has died?

The story of the Shunammite woman shows us this. The promise of God will never die. The promise of God will never lie. And the promise of God will never harm you. If you find yourself at incomprehensible loss, much like the tragedies that have happened to us recently, remember, God is faithful. Even when we don't understand his ways, we can trust his heart. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. His word is true and will stand forever. Even though you are hurting right now, it is well. This reproach will not last forever.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis and today's message titled When God's Promise Dies. In these changing times there has been one thing that has never changed, the message in the Bible. The truth in God's word stands stronger than ever. Read it for yourself so that you may know and discern what is true, holy, and acceptable in the eyes of God. Friend, if you're searching or confused in what to believe in this ever-changing modern culture, Dr. Davis would like to help you discover and understand what is true and genuine. You can reach her by email at Cheryl Davis at projecttruthmatters.com.

Cheryl is spelled c h e r y l Davis at projecttruthmatters.com. You can also write to her at P.O. Box 159 Saint Paul's, North Carolina 28384. Or you can connect on Facebook at Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. And lastly, if you'd like to hear more of Dr. Davis's messages, the Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Pandora, and Castbox. Our website is projecttruthmatters.com. Truth Matters is made possible thanks to the prayers and financial contributions of friends like you and is a production of the Truth Project.