Good news: you just went to a garage sale and, like the storybook Aladdin, you found a magic lamp. Bad news: inflation. You rub the lamp and the genie tells you that due to recent cutbacks you only get one wish instead of the traditional three. Still, one wish isn't bad. What will you wish for? 

If you're a student, you might wish for the answer key to your algebra exam. If you've got a stack of bills, you might wish to win the lotto. If you've been arguing for years with your spouse, you might wish that his or her eyes would be opened to see how much you do for the family so you could get a little respect. 

If our one wish were granted, we're certain all of our problems would disappear. But that's not the way it works. Right after your algebra test, you're going to have to face a history quiz. Right after you pay off your bills, someone in your family could get sick --  and no amount of money will be able to help. Right after your relationship with your spouse is restored, your teenage son tells you that he's running off to join the circus to pursue his dream of becoming a human cannonball. 

Trials in life are relentless. Quick-fix blessings won't get you through the long haul -- but fixing your eyes on God, the Source of all blessings, will. 

One lady in Scripture who learned this lesson is nameless to us. She's simply referred to as the "Shunammite woman" in 2 Kings chapters four and eight. She lived in Shunem in northern Israel near the Sea of Galilee.  Like everyone, she had problems. Not like everyone, she had abandoned any hope of solving her problems. She desperately wanted a child (or more specifically, a son --see below), but figured there was no way it was ever going to happen. 

The Shunammite woman won the favor of the prophet Elisha by providing him food and lodging whenever he passed through town. Elisha wanted to bless her in return. He called her and asked if there was anything he could do for her (2 Kings 4:13). She turned him down. She said, "I have a home among my own people" (2 Kings 4:13). In other words, "No thanks Mr. Prophet. That's a really nice offer, but my family around here will take care of me."

But Elisha wouldn't take no for an answer. His servant told him, "She has no son, and her husband is old" (2 Kings 4:14). And so, Elisha told the woman that God would give her a son within the next year (2 Kings 4:16). 

For the Shunammite woman, that promise of a son was too good to be true. She couldn't believe it.  She said, "Don't mislead (me) your servant , O man of God!" (2 Kings 4:16).

Why was having a son such a big deal? Well, maybe she had a very strong desire to be a mother. Or maybe she felt shame for not having children in a culture and in a time when that was expected of her. But even beyond those reasons, there was a very practical problem to deal with. Her husband was old. What would happen to the land and property when her husband died? It would all go to someone else on her husband's side of the family since there was no male heir. Prospects weren't very good for widows centuries ago. That's why having a son, a male heir, was her wish. If only she had a son, then all of her problems would be solved. 

True to Elisha's word, God did give her a son within the year (2 Kings 4:17). But her problems didn't magically go away. 

Cruelly, it seems, her son died while he was still young (2 Kings 4:20). And when her son died, so did all of her dreams. She didn't want to get her hopes up because she knew it wouldn't last. She was at her wit's end. She ran to Elisha and poured out her heart, "Did I ask you for a son, my lord? . . . Didn't I tell you 'Don't raise my hopes'?" (2 Kings 4:28).

Fortunately the story doesn't end there. Elisha goes to the child and prays. God raises the child from the dead (2 Kings 4:35-37).  Trusting in the son wasn't the solution to the woman's problems. Trusting God, who gave her the son in the first place and who is powerful enough to raise the dead, was the solution.

At first, the Shunammite woman hadn't raised her hopes high enough. She needed to look beyond the hope of a son, and look to God. As we face our problems we need to do the same thing. We need to look beyond the tangible solutions and fix our eyes on God, our Creator and the Source of all blessing in our lives.

Let's look beyond the stuff to the Source. 

"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering  produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us" --Romans 5:3-4