Week 4: Understanding the Underlying Issues

DAY 1

Read 2 Kings 4:1-7

  • Describe the problem the woman is facing in this scripture.

  • Think about the deeper symbolism of this passage.  What could the small jar of olive oil represent?  The empty jars?  The leftover oil after paying the debt?

  • Describe a time of desperation or emptiness when God showed up for you.

DAY 2

Read 2 Kings 4:8-17

  • What does the woman from Shunem do for Elisha?

  •  What would this act of hospitality have cost the woman?

  • When have you intentionally made room for God in your life?  What was the result?

DAY 3

Read 2 Kings 4:18-37

  • What happens to the son of the Shunamite woman?

  • The woman refuses to leave Elisha saying, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”  These are the very words that Elisha repeated to Elijah as he insisted on staying with Elijah until he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2).  What impact do you think hearing these words had on Elisha?  

  • Clinging to the feet of Elisha, the woman says, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?” We can probably all relate to her anguish.  Many of us have loved and lost.  Or we have briefly glimpsed a blessing that forever remains just out of our reach.  What experience does this scripture bring to mind for you?  

Day 4

Read 2 Kings 4:38-44

  • What caused the death in the pot?

  • The man who brings the twenty loaves bakes them from the first ripe grain.  What does this say about the quality of the man’s offering?

  • Which image is a better depiction of the quality of the gifts you typically offer to God, worthless gourds easily gathered off the ground or bread baked from the first grain of the harvest in the midst of a drought?

Day 5

Read 2 Kings 5:1-14

  • What healing instructions does Elisha give Naaman?

  • Why do you think Naaman reacts to Elisha’s instructions the way he does?  What underlying issues does his reaction reveal?

  • Like Naaman, we sometimes struggle with the simplicity of the Gospel Message.  What underlying issues are revealed by our reluctance to accept God’s free gift of grace and love in Jesus Christ?

DAY 6

Read 2 Kings 5:15-27

  • What is Naaman’s response to his healing, in verse 15?

  • Why do you think Elisha refuses any kind of reward?

  • What do you think motivates the servant, Gehazi, to run after Naaman for some of the reward?  Can you relate to Gehazi’s actions?

DAY 7

Review The Week

  • What stands out the most to you?  Why?

  • What do you most need from God right now?

  • Briefly summarize your prayers from this week.