2 Kings 4:1-7
A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “ There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

This happened during the time Elisha was prophet. Elisha had just taken over the work of Elijah. This was one of the many stories recorded of the work of Elisha. A certain woman was a wife of one of the sons of the prophets (disciples of the prophets/trained by the prophets). Her husband had died. Not only that, they were laden with debts and creditors were after them. She sought help from Elisha who gave her some instructions. She followed it and her problem was resolved.

Have we considered if the woman truly had faith, and that’s why she came to Elisha? Was the grace she received purely on account of the environment she was in? Have we considered why Elisha gave her such instructions?

This incident will be discussed from these few angles.

1. Did the widow truly have faith?

Let us first consider whether this widow had faith. She came to plead with Elisha, so obviously she had faith. But what degree was her faith? If we were put in this situation, would we have done the same? Seeking Elisha would be like seeking God since Elisha was a prophet of God. When we come to seek God for help, do we come in the same faith as this widow?

Consider her situation. Firstly, her husband was one of the sons/disciples of the prophets. If her husband was meant to be a prophet, why would be meet with such a fate? What kind of prophet was he? Was he like a hireling just to make a living? Did he oppress the people? Was he a false prophet?

The Bible records clearly in v1 that the widow said to Elisha, “You know your servant feared the Lord.” Why would a God fearing prophet meet with such death? His death would’ve been a great death to her. She would’ve witnessed how faithful her husband was and yet God didn’t help him.

Also, if he was indeed a prophet, why was there no one amongst the people who respected him? This is evidenced by how the creditors came after them. It’s only right to return borrowed money of course. But the way the creditors wanted to take his children away! The way the creditors treated the family of a prophet was very bad. Further, no one reached out to help them settle their debt. Lastly, they were so poor they only had a jar of oil at home.

They were a household that feared God but the man of the house died, they were in debt where they creditors threatened to take the children away, and they were so poor.

We often seek God when we meet with some problem. But the situation the woman was in was where every single part was negative. When in such a dire situation, would we still seek God?

Truly, this widow was one of faith. Even in such a circumstance, she decided to seek help from God through Elisha. Often we would’ve just given up in such a situation. “God doesn’t help me. Not just now, but for so many times. My family has plunged into such a tragedy! It’s not that God isn’t capable, He has no love! He doesn’t care if I die or live. So why should I worship Him??”

In such difficult times, we might have such negative thoughts. But we must read the Bible carefully. Even though the widow was so poor, she still knew and believed in God. She also knew what it meant to continue to fear God. She did not curse God at this time.

In times of tribulation, we also ought to believe in God.

1 Pet 5:7
“cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you”
We cast all our cares not just because He’s able, but because He cares for us. When we’re praying in tears to God, we must remember this verse. God invites us to cast all our cares on Him.

We might do this. We do believe but there’s still some unbelief in us. That’s because when we reach out to God, we expect instantaneous help. He should’ve helped even before the problem came. “God should’ve blessed me and that means I shouldn’t have met with problem!” But that’s not how it is.

The verse says “cast your cares upon Him” which shows the fact that we do have cares. It’s not that God will take away our cares but He will help us with the cares we have.

The speaker lives with his brother and wife. When they went out, he had to take care of their 2 year old and 2 month old. He could still manage the 2 year old by playing ‘wheels on the bus’ videos. But he had no idea what to do with the 2 month old. He had no idea why the 2 month old was crying. In one hand he was holding the crying 2 month old, the other hand he was trying to handle the 2 year old who was climbing all over him. He had no idea what to do so he could only rely on God. He played a hymn “Jesus loves me” and thankfully the 2 month old stopped crying and fell asleep. When the speaker told this to his brother, he said the baby sleeps to any music. So the speaker tested it and it wasn’t the case. He concluded at that time it was God who helped him. It also triggered another thought. In that situation God helped him instantly. But in other things he prayed and fasted for weeks but there was no answer from God. He wondered if the content of his prayer was wrong. Couldn’t be the case because he was praying for the will of God to be done which can’t be wrong in direction. This happens perhaps because God has already extended His help but we have not seen it yet, or the time has not come yet for it to come to pass. It could be that God has already answered our prayers but we need the faith to wait for it to come to pass.

Eccl 3:11
“He has made everything beautiful in its time” In the time of God, He can and will make everything beautiful. The only question is whether now is the time. If we continue to have faith and hold on to it, when the time comes, God will bring it to pass. We might say, “God can you at least give me some little response so at least I know?”

The second part of the verse says, “Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
This is what God wants us to accomplish. God may not let us know. Because we do not know what will happen, that’s how we truly can have faith.

So if we read this verse in totality, we know that in any situation, this is exactly how we can hold on. Whatever God wants to do us not exactly what we know. But we know in His time, He’ll make all things beautiful. Then in whatever situation we’re put in, we’re able to bring forth our faith and rely on Him.

This widow was in such a dire circumstances akin to God having forsaken the entire family, still came to seek God. This is faith we should have.

We turn back to 2 Kings 4 and consider the second thing.

2. What kind of grace did God bestow on the widow?

v7 The first help God rendered to her was something most urgent - paying off her debt. It wasn’t just that, it was also saving her sons who would’ve been used as collateral. Otherwise she would’ve lost not only her husband but also her sons. She would become a widow of widows. We see how God rendered help immediately to help her in this. But was this the only grace?

The last part of v7 says “you and your sons live on the rest”. Was it just a by-the-way saying by Elisha? In v3 we know that Elisha had this intention all along - that there’d be more beyond what they had to pay for their debts to help them to get along with their lives. The grace intended wasn’t just to resolve the problem at present but also the future. We are unsure how many months and years this would help, but at the very least we know she was truly helped. The help would likely have been sufficient to support them till they were able to be independent.

As Christians, especially in this current situation, because of this pandemic, some might face some risk in our jobs. If it’s just for a month, perhaps we can still tide forever. But frankly speaking, we are unsure how many months it’ll be. No matter how much savings we have, we may have depleted half of it. Apart from tightening our belts and not spending excessively, restraining ourselves, not eating in restaurants and cooking more meals, in reality, we may face some difficulties in our lives. But let us not be overly worried. The Lord’s Prayer tells us “give us this day our daily bread”. Recall how the Lord rained manna for the Israelites daily. God will give us enough food for everyday at the very least. Just like how God provided they basic necessities for the widow at this point in the story. As long as we believe in and rely on God, He will help us. But we must be clear that God will give us things that we need, and not what we want. For example when the Israelites in the wilderness craved for meat, God gave it to them but punished them for the wrong attitude. However God didn’t punish them for the things they needed. He didn’t punishment that came along with manna. In this situation, let’s not be overly worried and rely on God.

Why did God specially look after this family and provided for them? Likely because they were a prophet’s family. Because he feared God, God looked after and respected them. If we despise God, God will despise us. If we esteem God, God will esteem us too.

The family seemed forsaken by God. But in actuality, God took care of them, because they feared God.

If we fear God, do not be worried. In our time of need, God will help us.

Full time workers in church (not just preachers but also clerks) will be taken care of. We need more full time workers. Who would’ve thought the virus would’ve caused us to be unable to come to church to worship? We likely thought it would’ve been due to a great tribulation. Now that we cannot come and physically gather in the church compound, what do we do with the physical services we used to do? What we can do now to allow the church to continue to operate are people to deliver services. This doesn’t mean other work is not important but what’s most important is being able to continue delivering the teachings of God to the members. 20 years from now, the youngest preacher would’ve gone into old age. Who will succeed this work? Who can continue to encourage members on the pulpit and lead the members in their faith?

Some consider too much how the salary of a preacher is not so much, a preacher’s livelihood is not comfortable, the pressure a preacher faces is also great. The speaker doesn’t want to lie about this. But also trust God will take care of you. Just like how God took care of the widow. In 20 years time, who will lead the church if this situation happens again?

3. Why did Elisha give the widow instructions to pour out oil on her own?

Let us consider further why Elisha wanted the widow to pour out the oil on her own? Why didn’t Elisha use a different approach? He could’ve turned stone into gold and pay off her debt. He told her to gather pots and closed the doors when pouring out the oil from her small jar. Consider what was going through their heads when they were told to gather vessels from all around. They just believed oil would fill all of them. Going through this process in itself was necessary for them to build up their faith. We see they were in such a dire situation and that they really needed God. Through this approach of oil pouring, they were able to personally experience the grace and gift of God. This enabled them to know for sure that the God of their father was true.

In this simple story, there was so many layers of grace and help God gave to them. If we were to reflect this upon our own lives, God has also been helping us through many different layers. In every layer of help God has given us, most importantly, He has been helping our faith. Always reflect upon the aspect of how God is trying to build up on our faith when we go through something.