2nd Kings 4:1-7
Topic: The blessiing that was found in a pot of oil
In 2nd Kings 4:1-7, we read about a poor widow mother who was once married to a prophet, who was one of the sons, or one of the associates, or one of the servants of Elisha the prophet, who was known to be a mighty prophet of God. This prophet, whom this poor widow mother was once married to, was known to be a prophet who feared the Lord God Almighty. But the scriptures tells us in 2nd Kings 4:1 that as time went on, this prophet had died. He was known to be a faithful associate or a servant to the prophet Elisha, but yet he died. He was a prophet who surely feared the Lord, but yet he died. He had a good reputation among the other prophets that was prophesying to during the same time he was prophesying, but yet he died anyway.
You know there are some preachers who preach and teach if one fears the Lord and lives right, they will not face any type of difficulties in your life. But yet in these passage of scriptures, we read about a prophet who was a man who feared God, a man who was a good husband to his wife, a good father to his children, a man with a good reputation in the community that he lived in, but yet he had suddenly died. And there is a lesson that we can learn right here. And the lesson is that no matter how well you may try to live, no matter how good your reputation, we all have to face death one way or the other. Just as we were born in to this world, we all certainly will die and leave this world some day for the scriptures says in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed to all men to die once, but after this the judgment.“
And when this prophet had died, he left his beautiful wife to become a widow with two sons to raise and take care of. Not only did the prophet leave his wife a widow and two sons to raise and to take care of by herself, but he also left her with a loss of income that was coming into the household because when her husband the prophet was alive, he was considered the sole bread winner for the family, and he was bringing in the money that was flowing into their bank account. But when he died, the cash flow was cut short, and eventually all the money that they may have been saved up for a rainy day had dried up, which also caused this poor woman to become behind on some unpaid bills that needed to be paid off immediately. And because there were some unpaid bills that needed to be paid off by this poor woman who was now made a widow by her deceased husband, the creditor threatened to take her sons captive and to sell them into slavery if she did not pay the bills that was left behind by her deceased husband.
Now notice something here. As long as this woman’s husband the prophet was alive, the creditor did not bother the family because it was obvious that this deceased prophet was taking care of business. But when the word got out that the prophet had died, and now his wife was now in charge in paying the bills, and the money flow sort had dried up because of the death of her husband, that is when you hear about the creditor threatened to take the two sons into slavery if this woman did not pay up his money. And notice that the creditor did not even try to be sympathetic to this woman’s plight. They did not care if she had lost her husband to death. They did not care if this woman was poor now because the loss of income by her husband death. They just wanted her money, and because she did not have any money to pay this creditor in these passage of scriptures, he threatened to take her two sons captive, and make slaves out of them as a penalty for not paying her bills on time. And there is a lesson we can learn right here. It seems like when things are going well and smoothly, that is just when the Devil will try to pop up and wreck havoc in your life; because as long as this woman’s husband was alive, everything was ok. But when he had died, that when all hell broke lose in this woman’s life, and that is when she found her self backed up against the wall. But if you ever find yourself backed up against the wall because of tough situation, just know this one thing, that there is still hope for you. No matter how tough things look right now, just know that God is able to straighten out the situation because there is nothing too hard for God.
But notice what this mother had did when she found herself backed up against the wall. But first, let’s talk about what she didn’t do when she found herself backed up against the wall. When she got the news that the creditor was coming to take her two boys away and to make them slaves for the non payment on her bills, notice that this woman does not turn to drugs or to alcohol for solace and consolation. Notice that she does not start selling drugs so she could make ends meet. Notice that she did not turn to prostitution, sleeping with every man she could hook up with so she could support herself and her two sons. But rather she goes to the prophet Elisha and said, “Thy servant, my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord; and the creditor is come to take him my two sons to be bondmen.”
Now there is a lesson to be learned right here. Just as this woman found herself going to Elisha the prophet of God to tell him about her adverse situation, we need to go to the Lord in prayer and tell Him about our adverse situation. We need to call on the Lord and tell him all about our troubles, all about our adverse circumstance, especially when we find ourselves backed up against the wall. Psalm 34:6 says, “This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
Now there is reason why this woman went to Elisha the prophet about her dilemma. First of all, we must understand this woman plight in the society that she lived in during her day and time. During her day and time, woman weren’t respected or esteemed like they are today. During her day and time, women were considered as property in the sight of man. The only value that women had in the sight of man during her day and time was they were people to get married to by man, and they were people to have children by because that was the mindset of the men during that day and time when they came across women. The men during that day and time saw women only good to be married to, someone to keep the house clean, someone cook their food, and to have children for them. And if the women had children, they couldn’t drop the children at a Daycare center while they went to work because during that day and time, the mothers were expected to stay at home and to raise the children, while the fathers went out in the field to work.
And what made matters worse for this mother in these passage of scriptures, she couldn’t leave the home to find work because she has two sons she has to raise, and even she could have left the home to find some employment to support herself and her two sons, she would more likely not get hired because of the simple fact that she was a woman during that day and time. And last, but not least, because she was a widow, she did not have anyone to protect her from the creditor who threatened to break up the family if she did not pay the unpaid bills immediately.
But what I like about this mother is that even though she was face with surmountable pressure on her back, on her shoulders, with the creditor breathing down her throat to pay up or her two sons were going to be sold into slavery, she did not give up on her family. She could have threw in the towel, but she did not give up on her family. She could have sent her two sons away to live with other family members or with some friends while she got herself together, but instead she kept them close to her and chose to deal with this situation head on. And if we was to think about it, the reason why some of us are still alive today is because we had mothers that did not give up on us. No matter how tough times were in the home, in the marriage, in their personal life, or whatever, the reason why we are still here today is because our mothers did not give up on us. We may have acted up in school, but thank God our mothers did not give up on us. We may have got arrested for doing something foolishly, but thank God that our mothers did not give up on us. There is a song that says, “My Moma prayed for me. Had me on her mind, and took the time to pray for me. I am so glad that she prayed for me.”
Now the second reason why this mother went to Elisha about her dilemma was because she believed that he had a word from the Lord for her situation. She believed that Elisha had a strong relationship with the Lord, and he would be able to help her with prayer, he would help her with an encouraging word. But most of all, because her deceased husband was a good prophet under the leadership of Elisha, perhaps she thought he could collect an offering from the other fellow prophets to help pay off the creditors who are now threatened to take her two sons and make them slaves as a payment for her unpaid bills. And there is a lesson we can learn right here as well. And the lesson is that when you find yourself backed up against the wall, and you don’t know what to do, you need to go to the Lord in prayer. Not only do you need to go to the Lord in prayer, but you also need to go to church and seek divine direction in His word on how to over that situation that has you backed up against the wall. Notice the woman went to Elisha the prophet, and nobody else. And in today time, when you find yourself in trouble, we need to go to Jesus and nobody else. Buddah can’t help you when you are in trouble. Allah cannot help you when you are in trouble. But Jesus can!!!!!!
Now When the mother came to Elisha about her dilemma, he asked her,“ What shall I for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And the woman told him, I have nothing in my house except a pot of oil.”
Now notice that the woman said she had nothing but a pot of oil in the house. Now it is possible that before her husband had died, this woman had some stuff in her house such as furniture, clothing, silverware, livestock, etc, but had to sell it so she can have some money to pay the creditors their bill. Now since all of her possessions are gone, now she is down to just a pot of oil. And sometimes in life we will find ourselves down to our last dime, down to our last dress or suit, down to our last pair of shoes, down to our last loaf of bread. Yes, this woman had nothing in her house, except a pot of oil. But guess what? Little did this mother know that there was a blessing a blessing in that pot of oil. There was deliverance in that pot of oil. There was some provision in that pot of oil. The mother did not see it, but Elisha did. And you know, sometimes we over look things that look so insignificant in our sight but usually that is when God is at his best when he takes that thing that look insignificant, and use it for our good. Let’s continue with this word and I will show you what I mean......
And upon hearing what the woman had said, he tells her to “Go and borrow some vessels from her neighbors, even the empty vessels; borrow not a few.” That means she was to borrow as many vessels that she could borrow. After she was to get all the vessels she could find and borrow, then she was to go into her house with her two sons, shut the door and pour oil into all the vessels up to the brim and set aside those vessels that was full. And the scripture says that the woman did exactly what the prophet Elisha told her to do in Verse 5.
Now notice something here. Notice that this woman doesn’t question Elisha why she has to borrow vessels from her neighbors for oil to be poured into. Notice that she does not let pride get in the way when she has to ask her neighbors to borrow some empty vessels. She was simply humble and obedient to the instruction that was given to her by Elisha the prophet. And likewise, we too, when faced with a situation that has us backed up against the wall, if we want the Lord to deliver us, we must be humble and obedient to the Word of God. I Peter 5:6 says to “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” And I Samuel 15:22 says that “To obey is better than sacrifice.”
Now notice another thing here. Notice that when this woman goes back to her house with the borrowed vessels, she was to shut the door and work together with her sons filling the borrowed vessels with oil. In other words, she and her sons were to work in secret filling the borrowed vessels with oil. But I believe within all my heart that before they started to pour the oil in the vessels, after they had shut the door behind themselves, I believe the first thing that they had did was pray. I believe that they asked the Lord behind closed doors to bless the oil to fill all the vessels that they had borrowed from their neighbors. And guess what ? Jesus talked about shutting the door behind us when we pray. He said in St. Matthew 6:6 where he says when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou had shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” And sometimes you do have to shut the world out behind you so you won’t have any type of interference, or hinderance in what God wants to do in your life.
But as time came to pass, when all the vessels were full, the mother told her sons to bring another vessel to be filled, but the sons said, there weren’t anymore vessels to be filled, but there were still some more oil left. Now notice something here. Notice the sons were helping their mother out in filling the borrowed vessels with oil. They were being obedient and they were honoring their mother with their assistance in the house. Likewise, we must learn to be obedient and honor our parents as well by helping them around the house. We are obedient and we honor our parents when we obey them. We are obedient and we honor our parents when we wash the dishes, clean up our rooms, vacuum the floors, cut the grass, wash the cars, cook dinner, fold our clothes. We are obedient and we honor our parents when we stay out of trouble at school, do our home work, study for our exams, stay off drugs and alcohol, stay out of gangs, go to church, go to Sunday School, be active in the church activities, etc.
And when she was finishing filling all the vessels with oil, she went and told Elisha what she had done. And then he tells her, “Go and sell the oil, and pay off all your debt, and live thou on the rest of the oil for the rest of your life.” In nutshell, this woman sold the vessels of oil, and was able to pay off all her creditor. Not only that, she had enough oil to live off of for the rest of her life. This is nothing but a miracle from God; for God had multiplied the oil that was in this woman pot, and used the oil to help this woman to pay off her debt, and used the oil to give her something live off on for the rest of her life. This is similar to what Jesus did with the two fish and five loaves of bread. He took the two fish and five loaves of bread and fed 5,000 men, with included the women and children which added up to about 15,000 people. Yes God took a little what the woman had and brought deliverance and a miracle for her family.
Now you may not have a small pot of oil for God to use to bless you, but yet God can still use the little that you have to tremendously bless you. Jesus said if you have faith as the size of a mustard seed, you shall say unto your mountain be removed, and nothing shall be impossible to you. All is need to have God to bless us is our faith in Him believing that He will supply all our needs in riches and in glory in Christ Jesus, and God is able to do all things but fail.But notice that this mother couldn’t just sit down on her faith. She had to get up and do something. The bible says in James 2:17 says that faith without works is dead. You see, if this mother would have just believed in the Lord, and did not do what Elisha had told her to do, did not borrow the vessels, did not poured the oil in the vessels, or did not sell the vessels of oil to her neighbors, she would have still been destitute, still being in trouble with the creditors, and would have lost her sons to slavery because faith without works is dead. There has to be some action behind our faith in the LORD if we want to be blessed.
And because this woman, this poor widow mother had trusted God, because she was humble and obedient to the instruction that the prophet Elisha had given her,
Notice this:
1. At the beginning of this story, this mother was destitute. But at the end of the story, this mother was blessed.
2. At the beginning of this story, this mother was poor. But at the end of the story, this mother was made wealthy and rich.
3. At the beginning of this story, this mother was stressed out. But the end of this story, this mother was at peace with herself.
4. At the beginning of this story, this mother was depressed. But at the end of the story, this mother was rejoicing.
5. At the beginning of this story, this mother was unemployed. But at the end of this story, this woman is now her own CEO of her own oil selling business.
6. At the beginning of this story, this mother wasn‘t able to sing. But at the end of this story, this mother has a song of praise to the Lord.
7. At the beginning of this story, this mother was going through a test. But at the end of the story, this mother had a testimony, and I believe this mother’s testimony would be in a form of a question by saying, “If it had not been for the Lord on my side, where would I be? What God has done for others, He can also do for you. For God has brought from a might long way. I almost gave up, but He kept me, so I wouldn’t let go, and He is worthy of all the praises!!!!!!!!
