JUST KEEP POURING
2 Kings 4:1-7
NASB 4 Now a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servantmy husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”
2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, [a]borrow containers [b]elsewhere for yourself, empty containers from all your neighbors—do not get too few. 4 Then you shall come in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour into all these containers; and you shall set aside what is full.”
5 So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they began bringing the containers to her, and she poured the oil.
6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” But he said to her, “There [c]are no more containers.” Then the oil stopped.
7 So she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”
This passage tells us about a poor, widowed woman who reached her limit.
- She was on the verge of losing her two sons, and in her pain and her poverty, she did the only thing that she knew she could do…SHE TURNED TO THE LORD.
- And in doing that, God blessed her in an incredible way!
This passage also tells us of a glorious truth that we need to remind ourselves of every day.
- GOD HAS A PLAN FOR OUR PROBLEM!
- Just as God took care of this widow, He will do the same for you and me.
- Even when we have reached our limit, in Christ, there is help and there is hope.
Here are 3 points that we can learn from these verses:
#1) GOD KNOWS OUR PROBLEMS (v.1)
A. God knew there was DESPAIR (hopelessness) in her family.
B. God knew there was DEATH in her family.
C. God knew there was DEBT in her family.
D. God also knew that there was DEVOTION in her family.
REALITY CHECK: At some point, every person in this room is going to arrive to face a hardship or low point in their life.
Job 14:1 NASB
“Man, who is born of woman, Is [a]short-lived and full of turmoil.
John 16:33 NLT
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Proverbs 15:3 NLT
The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.
2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV
The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.”
He sees everything you are facing! Not a single thing is hidden from His view! And He does care!
Hebrews 4:15 NIV
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
1 Peter 5:7 ESV
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
He cares about what you are facing more than you will ever know.
- Therefore, no matter what you are called on to face in this life, learn to turn to the Lord first for the help you need. He cares! He is able! He will work in your need!
- While our problems may appear to be unbearable and impossible in our eyes, we must remember that GOD KNOWS OUR PROBLEMS and we just need to RECOGNIZE GOD’S OPPORTUNITIES IN DISGUISE!
#2) GOD RELEASES OUR POTENTIAL (v. 2-5a)
A. God releases our potential by EMPTYING OUR FAITH! (v. 2a)
- The Lord erased the widow’s faith by having Elisha ask her two questions:
- What do you need?
- What do you have?
With these two questions, this woman was made to see the size of her need and the smallness of her own resources.
B. Secondly, God releases our potential by EXPANDING OUR FAITH! (2b-5)
- He expands our faith PERSONALLY. (2b)
Jeremiah 33:3 ESV
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Matthew 7:11 ESV
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Philippians 4:19 ESV
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:25-34 ESV
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
- He expands our faith PUBLICALLY. (v.3)
The widow is told to go to all her neighbors and borrow all the empty vessels that she can get her hands on. That is a strange command! I wonder how she explained this to her neighbors. Did she say…
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
2 Corinthians 3:1-3 ESV
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our[a] hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.[b]
- He expands our faith PRIVATELY. (v.4-5a)
#3) GOD GIVES OUR PROVISION (V. 5b-7)
A. The Lesson of God’s Provision (v. 5)
Hebrews 6:18 ESV
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
Matthew 24:35 ESV
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Psalm 138:2 ESV
I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
B. The Limit of God’s Provision (v. 6)
Ephesians 3:20 ESV
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Jeremiah 32:17 ESV
Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
Jeremiah 32:27 ESV
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
Genesis 18:14 ESV
Is anything too hard[a] for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
C. The Largeness of God’s Provision (v. 7)
When the day was done, there was enough oil in those borrowed vessels to settle her debts, meet her needs and supply her dependents!
Allow Him to meet your needs. Bring Him your vessels and watch Him fill them all!
CONCLUSION – JUST KEEP POURING
God fills empty vessels. If a vessel is already filled, God waits until it’s emptied. We cannot be full of God if we are overloaded with the world and full of ourselves.
2 Cor 4:7 “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”