Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.
This verse comes from the story of a generous woman from Shunem in the book of 2 Kings. She had shown extraordinary hospitality to the prophet Elisha — a man considered a messenger from God — by building him a room in her home. In return, Elisha had promised her a son, even though her husband was elderly. The boy was born, but later died suddenly. Devastated, the woman traveled urgently to find Elisha. Sensing something was deeply wrong, Elisha sent his servant Gehazi ahead to meet her on the road and ask if her family was all right. Her reply — 'Everything is all right' — was not the truth. Her son was dead at home. She was holding herself together just long enough to reach the only person she believed could actually do something.
God, you already know what I'm carrying behind my 'I'm fine.' I don't have to perform for you. Meet me in the grief I haven't said out loud yet. Give me the courage of the Shunammite woman — to push through and bring the real thing to you. Amen.
She said 'Everything is all right' while her son lay dead at home. There is something achingly familiar about that. How many times have you answered 'fine' to someone's 'how are you' when nothing was fine — when you were running on fumes, when the diagnosis had just come back, when the marriage was quietly crumbling, when the 3 AM thoughts wouldn't let you sleep? The Shunammite woman wasn't exactly lying. She was surviving. She was holding herself together long enough to get to the one person she believed could bear what she was actually carrying. What's striking is that no one in the story rebukes her for the answer she gave. She didn't collapse on the road. She didn't unravel to the servant who had no power to help. She saved her grief for the one who could actually meet it — and that took its own ferocious kind of faith. Not the tidy, everything-is-fine kind, but the white-knuckled, I-am-getting-to-God-if-it-kills-me kind. What pain have you been packaging up in polite answers? Maybe it's time to stop telling the servants you're fine and bring the real thing to the One who can actually do something with it.
Why do you think the Shunammite woman told Gehazi 'everything is all right' when it clearly wasn't — and what does that response reveal about her state of mind and the nature of her faith?
When you are in real pain, do you tend to open up easily or hold yourself together until you reach someone you genuinely trust? What has shaped that pattern in you?
Is there a meaningful difference between dishonesty and protecting your grief until you can bring it to the right person — or is that just a coping mechanism that keeps us isolated?
How does this story challenge the way you show up for people who say 'I'm fine' — what might you start listening for beneath that answer?
Is there something you have been saying 'I'm fine' about that you actually need to bring honestly to God — or to someone safe in your life — this week?
And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
Matthew 10:13
And when ye come into an house, salute it.
Matthew 10:12
And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 1:21
Please run now to meet her and ask her, 'Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?'" And she answered, "It is well."
AMP
Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” And she answered, “All is well.”
ESV
'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.'
NASB
Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” “Everything is all right,” she said.
NIV
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.”
NKJV
Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child?’” “Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”
NLT
Quickly now. Ask her, 'Is something wrong? Are you all right? Your husband? Your child?' " She said, "Everything's fine."
MSG