The woman who built a stranger a room

There’s a moment most of us recognise.

Someone needs a hand, and your first instinct is yes, of course. Then reality kicks in. The schedule is full. The budget is tight. The spare room is full of boxes. And suddenly cheerful generosity feels a lot harder than it sounded.

I’ve been there. I suspect you have too.

This week I’ve been spending time with a woman in the Bible known simply as the Shunammite woman. We meet her in 2 Kings 4, and she does something that stopped me in my tracks.

She notices a prophet named Elisha passing through her town regularly. He doesn’t ask her for anything. But she sees a need - and she acts. She goes to her husband and says: let’s build him a room. A proper one. A bed, a table, a chair, a lamp. A place he can always come back to.

This isn’t a kind gesture. It’s a renovation project.

And here’s what struck me about her: the blessing comes after the sacrifice. She doesn’t give because she expects something in return. She gives because she saw a need and made room. God honoured that - and eventually gave her a child she’d long given up hoping for.

Henri Nouwen wrote that hospitality is “the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend.” Free space doesn’t appear by accident. Someone has to build it.

Maybe today, that someone is you.

I explore this fully in today’s devotional - including three things the Shunammite woman did that most of us find difficult, and one small step you can take this week. It’s about five minutes. You can watch it here:

Grace and peace, Rob

Read this week’s devotionals here - https://open.substack.com/pub/battledrilldevotional/p/what-if-generosity-isnt-about-money?r=643q6o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true