It would seem as if Gehazi did not maintain his place in the heart of God. He did not maintain communion with God. His service for Elisha demanded that his heart be right towards God. Something went wrong somewhere in Gehazi’s heart. With increasing time, instead of growing closer to God, he grew away from the Lord.
The Bible says, “The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. `My head! My head!’ he said to his father. His father told a servant, `Carry him to his mother.’ After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out. She called her husband and said, `Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.’ `Why go to him today?’ he asked. `It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.’ `It’s all right,’ she said. She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, `Lead on, don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.’ So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, `Look! There’s the Shunammite! 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. When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, `Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.’ `Did I ask you for a son, my lord?’ she said. `Didn’t I tell you, “Don’t raise my hopes”?’ Elisha said to Gehazi, `Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.’ But the child’s mother said, `As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So he got up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and
told him, `The boy has not awakened.’ When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got onto the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, `Call the Shunammite.’ And he did. When she came, he said, `Take your son.’ She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then he took her son and went out” (2 Kings 4:18-37).
Gehazi had lost touch with God. He could tuck his cloak into his belt, take Elisha’s staff in his hand and run, greet no one on the way and lay Elisha’s staff on the boy’s face, but he could not impart life.
There are many things that a person can do outwardly, things that are quite good in themselves but, because the person lacks vital fellowship with the Lord, these outward deeds produce no life. Life flows from the inside and then it comes to the outside. If there is no vital relationship with the Lord, then the practice of external deeds of fasting, prayer, Bible reading and giving to God, is a waste of time! When fasting, prayer, Bible reading and giving to God are an overflow of a deep communion with God, then they are a real blessing.
For the raising of the child, the ministry of life was needed. A ministry of a living mouth to a dead mouth, a living eye to a dead eye, a living hand to a dead hand, and so on, was a must. Gehazi did not have overflowing inward life, and so he had nothing to offer. He could make noise, but he lacked the communion with God that makes prayer to God possible.
Elisha was alive and he was flowing with life. He could pray to God because he was in communion with God. Consequently, he was able to pray, impart life to the dead boy, and see him come to life.
Are you in vital fellowship with God? Is there any barrier between Him and you? If there is, then all you are doing: singing, praying, fasting, giving to God, preaching the gospel and the like, are acts of falsehood. You are wasting your time. Stop them. Stop all of them and remove the barrier that stands between you and God, then you will be restored into fellowship with God, and only then will your activities make sense.
Amen.