<TITLE>05. Par 15-18</TITLE>L-15 And when the great prophet came by and found this, it just blessed his soul to see that she loved God well enough to honor His servant. So she... Then the prophet said to his servant, Gehazi, "Go, ask her if I could speak to the chief captain or some favor I could do for her." And the servant came back and said, "No, she says she dwells among her own people, and she has need of nothing. Thank you, just the same."
But Gehazi said, "Her husband is old, and they have no children." So it must've been God gave the prophet a vision.
Then when--he said, "Call her to the door." And when she stood in the door, the aged old prophet raised up and said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, according to the time of life, you'll bear a son." Yet, the woman could not see how that could be possible, but in the time for appointed she had a nice little boy. And how she loved this little boy.

L-16 And I can hear her say, "Bartimaeus, you know, little boys and girls are God's blessings to a family. It's something about it that ties the family together. You see, Bartimaeus, God gave that lonesome woman a little boy. And God gave you, Bartimaeus, to hubby and I, your daddy. And now, you are our little treasure here at home. Oh, we love you so much..." And he'd put his little arms around her neck and hug her.
And there he was now, wrinkled and old. And She'd been gone for years. Then she would tell the story how the little boy wanted to follow his father, said, "Just like you, Bartimaeus." Go out into the field... And one day, must've been about noon time, high noon in Palestine. And the sun must have stoked him, 'cause he screamed, "My head, my head..."
His father sent him home. And he set on his mother's lap until about noon time and he died. But how God dealt with that woman. How she took him and went over to that little place and laid him on the bed where the prophet had laid (God's representative), laying him on the bed.

L-17 She saddled a mule and went to Mount Carmel. The prophet did not know what her trouble was. He sent Gehazi and said, "Go, see what's wrong with the Shunammite. She's got sorrow in her heart and God has hid it from me." God don't tell his prophets everything. He just tells his servants what He wants them to know, nothing else. See? They can't make God tell them anything. God just says what He wishes to say. And then, how that the--the servant taken the Elijah's staff to go lay on the baby, but the woman held on. She knowed that God was in that prophet, and she said, "I'll not leave you." She wanted to know why that God gave her the baby and then took it away. But you see, all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.
She'd teach Bartimaeus those lessons. Then he would stop and say, "How could it be to the good that I'm blind, then?" But mother, no doubt, was right.

L-18 Then he went on with his dream. And after a bit, he begin to think again, "Now, you know Elijah went into that room, walked back and forth, up-and-down in the floor, went and laid his body on that little dead baby and the baby sneezed seven times and it came to life." Oh, how his little eyes would brighten, say, "Mama, is that God still living?"
"Oh yes, dear. He lives right here in these hills of Judaea. He stays right around His people. He never leaves them. That was ringing down in his heart. All night he'd dreamed of having his sight again. He thought, "Oh, how glorious it would be here, if I could see the autumn leaves a falling. If I could once more look around. (Blindness is a horrible thing. The whole world is shut off to you, the visible world.)


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