A SIMPLE, though very beautiful, account of consecration is given in the story of the Shunammite. Recognizing that Elisha was a holy man of God, this woman was of great service to him in providing for him a resting place in her home. It happened one day that as she stood before him in this upper chamber, the prophet's desire was to do something to show his gratitude for her loving care. He asked whether she would like the honor of being brought to the attention of the king, or of the captain of the host. This no doubt would have given her worldly distinction. But what could be more simple and direct than the woman's answer, "I dwell among mine own people"?
"I dwell among mine own people"! One can quite readily picture the thoughts which peopled the Shunammite's consciousness—purity, tranquillity, sincerity, and love which turned naturally to God, the source of all holiness. Place and human power, ambition, the lure of gold, had no temptation for such as she.
The story is briefly told, but we may assume that the woman deeply loved and cherished the child of promise who came in the fullness of time, and that when the beliefs of the carnal mind tried to blind her vision to his true state of being, she turned from the material evidence of death and fled to Mount Carmel, seeking the highest manifestation of Truth she knew. The woman of Shunem knew that Elisha lived very near to God. Upon her arrival she apparently saw into the depths of human consciousness; for when Elisha volunteered to send his servant, Gehazi, to restore the child, instinctively she seemed to know that Gehazi 's thought had not risen sufficiently above the beliefs of the carnal mind to be able to raise another from death. She therefore refused to leave until she was accompanied by the man of God himself. What this truehearted woman really sought was a clearer sense of life, as revealed by her own statement, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee."
