Miracle of the Widow's Pot of Oil

Introduction to 2 Kings Chapter 4: Elisha's Private Ministry

0:06 In the process of studying the biblical materials which set forth the facts concerning the life and ministry of the prophet Elisha, we have arrived at 2 Kings chapter 4, 2 Kings chapter 4.

0:29 Now as we come to this chapter, it may help us to understand that there is very little reason to regard chapter 4 as a record of events which has any real chronological significance. That is, what we are reading in chapter 4 of 2 Kings is not an account that follows as someone's journal might, in which you find the events of January followed by the events of February and March. But rather, it appears...

1:05 Both from the internal and external evidence, that what we have in chapter 4 is a collection of incidents from various segments in the life of Elisha, and the organizing principle is not chronology or time, but rather a fundamental theme. You will remember that the preceding chapter found the prophet of God on a battlefield amidst four nations, the League of Israel, Judah, Egypt, and the United States. And in chapter 4, we find the prophet not on the great battlefields in the company of kings and armies, but we find him moving amongst very humble individuals or groups of individuals in a very private and intimate situation. Then in chapter 5, we see him in a missionary situation as he becomes, as it were, a missionary to the Syrian nation through this incident of the healing of Naaman, the Syrian leper. And then once again, we find him amongst the masses, amongst the nations in chapter 6. And so there seems to be a concern of the author under the direction of the Holy Spirit

2:25 to give us, as it were, by way of contrast, a picture of the life of the man of God in these private incidents. Now, before we examine...

Dominant Characteristics of Chapter 4: God's Tender Concern and Elisha's Character

2:35 Before we examine the first miracle in the chapter, that which pertains to a destitute widow, I want to say just two things by way of general introduction to the chapter as a whole, or perhaps more accurately, just underscore two factors which seem to characterize this entire chapter. I hope that many of you read that chapter, and the moment I mention these things, I am sure, or at least I would like to believe, that you will find an answer of consistency and content in your own mind and heart. Now, the first dominant characteristic of this chapter, and I've already alluded to it, is that it brings us into a very personal and intimate context. From the awesome display of the Lord's power and majesty and sovereignty on a battlefield in the midst of these great nations, in this chapter we find the tender, fatherly concern of Jehovah for seemingly insignificant people. We find the Jehovah who works mightily on the battlefield before the armies of the nations is the same Jehovah who works in the privacy of closed doors in the house of a destitute widow. The same Jehovah of the mighty battlefields of chapter 3 is the Jehovah who opens the barren womb of a destitute widow. The same Jehovah who opens the barren womb of a destitute widow.

4:05 The same Jehovah who opens the barren womb of a destitute widow. The same Jehovah who opens the barren womb of a destitute widow. The same Jehovah who opens the barren womb of a destitute widow. The same Jehovah who opens the barren womb of a destitute widow.

4:05 The same Jehovah who opens the barren womb of a destitute widow. of a great woman, and then looks with compassion upon her when she loses that son by death. The Jehovah of concern with the mighty nations is the Jehovah who beholds a group of young preacher boys who've got belly aches because they ate some bad food, and he comes to their aid. And the whole theme of this entire chapter is something of that concern of Jehovah for his people, giving us, as it were, an index of what God was doing all during these periods of tremendous spiritual decadence and declension, when it seemed that true religion had died in the nation of Israel as a whole. And yet had not God said, I have left me seven thousand that have not bowed the knee, to bear the burden of the world, and to bear the burden of the world, and to bear the burden of the world, and to bear the burden of the world, and to bear the burden of the world, well, what did God do for that godly remnant in the midst of all the decadence and apostasy? Well, we have a clue in this chapter. Certainly this does not exhaust the activity of Jehovah on behalf of his people in difficult times, but it becomes an index of what God does for his people in such times.

5:19 Edersheim, the very perceptive commentator on the Old Testament scriptures, says, the deepest lesson which... the life and ministry of Elisha were intended to teach was to set forth as against the dark background of coming judgment upon Israel's apostasy, the tender care and sufficient provision, the ever-present help which the Lord would extend to his own servants and to his own people.

5:50 And I think that may help you in your reading of the chapter to read it with that perspective in mind, and it will be... a wonderful, moving display of the tenderness of God towards his people.

6:04 And then the second dominant characteristic of the chapter is its richness of biographical detail with respect to the prophet himself. What was this man Elisha like as a man? Well, you see, in the preceding chapter, we see something of his boldness, but apart from that, there is very little that gives us, as it were, the inside track on what he was as a man. But perhaps more than any other chapter in which there is recorded for us in Scripture something of the life and ministry of Elisha, it is this chapter that is rich in this biographical detail.

6:45 From the position of the confidant of kings and the leader of armies in chapter 3, here we see the mighty man of God, an approachable, compassionate friend, of a destitute widow. We see him as the gracious guest and appreciative recipient of the kindness of a worthy woman and her household. We see him as the sensitive, selfless servant in this woman's crisis when her son is taken away by death. We see him as the praying, pleading, agonizing intercessor, as by his prayers this boy is returned to life again.

7:27 Well, there are many other biographical details in this chapter. I mention only a few to buttress the assertion I have made that one of the unique motifs of this chapter is this richness of biographical detail. But you say, Pastor, why should that be of concern to us? In what way can that be of help to us?

7:50 Well, according to Ephesians chapter 1, God has saved his people that they should be to the praise of the glory of his grace. And surely much is in this chapter which should cause us to magnify the grace of God for the grace that we see worked in this man, Elisha. Furthermore, in the matter of pursuing a life of godliness, as in so many other areas, one picture is worth a thousand words. What does it mean to be godly?

8:24 What does it mean to be holy? Well, we can turn to the precepts of God for a delineation of specific duties with respect to holiness. But it's a wonderful thing to have all of that fleshed out in a real live human being made of the same stuff of which we are made. And as the word of God says concerning Elijah, he was a man of like passions.

8:50 So the word of God by inference certainly says of Elisha, he also, was a man of like passions. What is practical godliness in operation? What is practical godliness in terms of interpersonal relationships? What is practical godliness in the face of deep need?

9:12 What is practical godliness in the face of human grief? Well, in this chapter, you see, we have a wonderful display of practical godliness enfleshed in the real live circumstances of the life, and ministry of the prophet Elisha. And therefore, we have an example to the extent that Elisha followed Christ, we are to follow him. But best of all, realizing that it was the spirit of Christ in Elisha producing these characteristics, we should see beyond Elisha to the one who is perfect in compassion, perfect in love, perfect in the prevailing efficacy of his intercession, perfect in sympathy. And we should see beyond Elisha to that one whom he mirrored in a very vivid way, but albeit in a very imperfect way, and have our appreciation of our perfect Savior deepened as we pursue this study. Well, so much for that broad overview of the chapter. Now let us come and address ourselves to the first incident of the chapter, the incident bounded by verses 1 through 7.

The Widow's Desperate Plight (2 Kings 4:1)

10:29 2 Kings chapter 3 of chapter 4 verses 1 through 7. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fear Jehovah, and the creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen, that is, to be slaves. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house?

11:07 And she said, Thy handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot, better translated, save a little flask of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels borrow not a few, and thou shalt go in and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, and they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel, and he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God, and he said, Go, sell the oil and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest.

12:19 Now as we come to this fascinating record of Jehovah's tender concern and provision for a destitute widow, we must, if we are to, understand the message of the passage, first of all come to grips with the facts as they are given to us. And so I would encourage you to follow with me as first of all we consider the facts of this narrative, and the first set of facts have to do with this woman's desperate plight. And verse 1 is a condensed account of that plight as it is outlined for us in her own plaintive cry, uttered in the ears of the prophet. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead. And the first dimension of this woman's plight was the heartbreak of widowhood. And I would speak very tenderly tonight because I know that sitting in this very congregation, there are some who could expound this part of her plight far better than I.

13:38 There are sitting here tonight some who have felt the heartbreak and who live with the heartbreak of widowhood. This woman saw her husband breathe his last breath. She felt that immediate stab of pain when the hopelessness and the helplessness swept over her, that he's dead and he's gone. She passed through that stage of numbness.

14:08 And then as all the nerve endings of the soul, as it were, were quickened to life again, she experienced the sleepless nights, the uncontrollable sobbing, the weeping, the pain. And then she had begun to learn what it was to live with that horror of emptiness, at times not even thinking, calling out to her husband, only to have the silence mocker that he was dead, he was gone, no longer to feel the warmth of his embrace, no longer to have his stabilizing influence in the home. And in particular, with boys that seemed to be old enough to fulfill a task, probably at least pre-teens or teenage boys when they most need a father, this dear woman knew something of the heartbreak of widowhood. But her desperate plight is intensified by the hardship and the humility of poverty. Look at the language of the text. She says, The creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen.

15:23 And when the prophet asked her, What do you have in the house? The question seems to point in the direction, Do you have any marketable commodities that may help in this present plight? She says, Nothing of that nature but a little flask of oil. That was all.

15:40 She knew something of the hardship and the humiliation of poverty. For some reason the household was in debt. Since the dead husband feared God, it does not appear that this indebtedness was the result of sin and an irresponsible squandering of her possessions. As a poor preacher, apparently, he had no retirement fund, no pension, nothing to leave her.

16:09 There was no social security system, which with all of its problems still does, at the present hour, help provide for widows. And this is no justification of the system. I'm simply stating a fact. But here is a woman who must put her feet on the floor in the morning and face not only the renewed heartbreak of her widowhood, but the hardship and the humiliation of poverty, knowing at any time, at any moment, the creditors may come and take away her sons.

16:45 And so we add then to her plight, or the text does, the heartbreak of widowhood, the hardship and humility of poverty, and then the horror of impending slavery. Now this creditor, who was a fellow Israelite, was doing something which the law of Moses allowed. In Leviticus chapter 25, and some of you perhaps wonder why we read through these Old Testament laws. Well, you see, the Bible is a self-interpreting book, and we need one portion to be the key to open up another.

17:21 And in Leviticus chapter 25 and verses 39 and 40, God had said, And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not make him serve as a bondservant, as a hired servant, and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, he shall serve with thee unto the year of Jubilee. And so this dear woman is facing the horror of having her sons being sold as payment of these debts, and then, however much time would elapse between that point and the next year of Jubilee, she would not have them there in her own home as her own sons. These boys were a comfort to her. They seemed to be obedient, affectionate, sympathetic, and even believing sons, for they did not mock at the proposition and commands of the prophet, which were ridiculous according to the flesh. So there is every indication that something of her husband's godliness had, by the grace of God, been implanted in these boys. And so she faces not only the horror of natural affection, but the horror of losing that spiritual affinity.

18:37 These were two of the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and that little church in that house was about to be split up. Now that's the woman's plight as it is set before us in this portion of the Word of God. And yet the most amazing thing is that held in the vice-like grip of this multiplicity of desperate problems, there is no indication that she despaired, that she cursed God, that she turned to Baal or to the prophets of Baal. Rather, she turns to Jehovah's representative in Israel, and in so doing, she is turning to Jehovah himself. And in crying to the prophet, she is making known that her hope in the midst of this terrible situation, her hope is yet in Jehovah. She is turning to the God of Israel. Well, so much for what the text tells us of this poor woman's plight.

The Prophet's Response: Questions and Commands (2 Kings 4:2-4)

19:42 Now notice in verses two to four the prophet's response to her plight. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil.

20:02 And he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. And thou shalt go in and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out unto all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. Well, the prophet's response to her plight has two segments. First of all, the questions that he asks and then the commands that he gives.

20:32 Notice. Two questions. The first one, What shall I do for thee? And it seems to be that the prophet is making a disclaimer of any hope residing in himself.

20:50 It appears, and this can't be substantiated, the language of the text is ambiguous enough that the real significance of the question comes out in terms of the emphasis that you give to the words. And if the prophet did indeed say, What shall I do for thee? He would be saying, Now, woman, your husband was one of the sons of the prophets. And as one of the sons of the prophets, I spent much time with him, he with me.

21:19 You know the lifestyle that we prophets live. What in the world can I do for you? Your husband died poor. I'm in the same class with him.

21:27 What shall I do for thee? There is no hope in me. He died a poverty-stricken prophet. I'm in the same category.

21:35 When I go, I'll leave nothing but my mantle in my shoes, my sandals. And so immediately as the woman cries to him, he turns away all of her hope from him. If there was any strand of superstition that Elisha's power lay in himself and not in his God, he immediately turns all of that aside. What shall I do for thee?

22:01 His first question then is a disclaimer of any hope in himself. And then the second question is an inquiry concerning any available means by which she may yet come to her own aid. Tell me, what hast thou in the house? You see, the prophet of God is concerned to use every legitimate means at his and her disposal, for it would be tempting God to expect a miracle if the means of her deliverance were already provided by God.

22:34 Now it's much more spiritual on the surface to expect God to circumvent the secondary means. But it's not spiritual in any way but on the surface. It is truly spiritual to acknowledge that when God has put the means at our disposal to accomplish a God-given end or to meet a need that comes to us in the will of God, that it is nothing less than tempting God. To expect the Lord to provide in another way when the means is there or are there at our disposal.

23:14 And so from the disclaimer that would put her confidence in himself, he makes an inquiry that will certify that it is not tempting God to expect a miracle in this situation. Well, from the questions he then goes on and gives a series of commands. And what strange commands. When she says, there is nothing in the house save a little vial of oil.

23:41 And those who know the Hebrew language all agree in their commentaries that the word used here for pot of oil is the word that refers to a little flask, the kind that was used to keep not the common oil with which they cooked and baked which would be in a larger vessel, but the kind in which a woman would keep her perfumed oil that was used for anointing and for cosmetic reasons. So she was really down almost to the last drop even though the product was not named Maxwell. She didn't have much. She said, this is all I have.

24:16 Well, the moment she says that he gives this series of strange commands. The first one, go borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. What a strange command. Go get all the empty jugs and pots you can lay your hands on.

24:42 And may I say by way of inference it shows that borrowing in itself is not a sin. There are some of you that go beyond the word of God in this and you've tried to bind the consciences of some of your brothers and sisters and I've had to unbind their consciences. Borrowing is not in itself a sin whether it's vessels or money. Jesus said, give to him that asks of thee and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.

25:05 Jesus would never command us to sin. So take all your objections and bury them in the face of the word of God. And don't go binding anyone else's conscience. Shame on some of you.

25:16 I've had to undo consciences that some of you have bound. Now it is wrong to incur unjust debts and to borrow with no foreseeable means of repayment. That's a form of thievery. But borrowing in itself is not a sin.

25:33 The man of God as Jehovah's representative says, borrow all the vessels you can from your neighbors. And the second command, verse 4. And thou shalt go in and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons. Borrow vessels, gather them all together, then get in completely secluded quarters you and your sons.

25:59 And now he really gets ridiculous. And pour out into all those vessels. Elisha, are you hard of hearing? She said when you asked her, what have you got in your house?

26:17 A little. And now you're telling her, get all the vessels from your neighbors and from that little flask, pour into all of them? That's exactly what he told her to do. Exactly what he told her to do.

26:39 And then when he says, when you're done, set them to one side. When they are full. And implied in that is a promise that they're going to be full. You see, the command was couched in such a way that implicit in that command was a promise of nothing less than a creative miracle.

The Widow's Immediate and Complete Obedience (2 Kings 4:5-6)

27:02 Well, there's the commands. Now then, we come as we look through the narrative from the woman's plight, the prophet's response to her plight, verses 2 to 4. Now the widow's obedience, verses 5 and 6. And it came to pass, I'm sorry, so she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons and they brought the vessels to her and she poured out.

27:32 Well, the first thing we notice about the widow's obedience is that it was immediate. No sooner had the prophet's words fallen upon her ears than the text says, so she went from him. She didn't stand there and debate with him. She didn't stand there and ask for further explanation.

27:53 She didn't stand there and ask for a more explicit promise and say, now Elisha, it appears to me that if you tell me to do thus and thus, that means that perhaps... No, no.

28:03 She got the message. She didn't wait for any further revelation. So she went out from him. Her obedience was immediate and then secondly, her obedience was complete in every single detail.

28:17 She went with the vessels. She went in with her sons. She shut the door and then I want you to use your imagination. Someone asked me last week, what's sanctified imagination?

28:28 Well, when I use the term, I simply mean using your imagination in a manner that is sanctified instead of daydreaming or fantasizing in a way that is sinful. Try to relive that situation. Get the picture. With the prophet's words ringing in her conscience, ringing in her consciousness and her feet following every single pattern of those words, she's now alone.

28:49 No one there but her two sons, a room full of pots and vessels and a little flask of oil. Can you feel something of the electricity of the situation? And the boys are standing there holding their breath. They've brought a vessel over.

29:05 She takes her little flask and with trembling hands she holds it up and as she begins to tip the mouth the mouth of that little flask into the large mouth of a large one, everything is breathless and she begins to tip it out and at the point where she knows what she had in there was fully exhausted, she's about to tip it back, but lo and behold, the oil keeps coming, coming, coming, coming, coming, until the eyes of the boys begin to get wider and wider and wider and wider and her own get wide until it's just about brim full. She says, boys, bring another vessel. And so they take that one away, put another one there, she holds it and it keeps coming and coming and coming and they go through this process until all the vessels are filled and she's so taken up as she's caught up in the midst of a miracle of creation, she's filling up this vessel, apparently doesn't even have time to see where the empty ones and the full ones are and she says, son, son, bring me another one, bring me another one. And just as it comes right up to the brim, the son says, but mom, there is no other. And all of a sudden, it stops. She looks and there she's back to her little flask of oil because she's got a room full, full of vessels, full of oil.

30:25 Now isn't that exactly what the text says? Look at it. So she went from him, shut the door upon her and upon her sons. They brought the vessels to her.

30:39 She poured out and it came to pass when the vessels were full that she said to her son, bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is no other. There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.

30:54 I have not read in anything except the wide eyes that isn't there in the text and the trembling hands and a few other little incidences. But these are human beings. And I pity the person who reads his Bible as though he's reading the account of ghosts or somebody doing these things. You have felt if you had been that son, knowing that any day, any hour, the creditor could come and take you into slavery.

The Ultimate Result: Debt Paid and Provision Made (2 Kings 4:7)

31:22 And now you're standing there watching a creative miracle that is going to be the means of you being able to stay with that beloved mother and in that home with so many precious memories. Well finally in the narrative we have the ultimate result. The widow's plight, the prophet's response to her plight, the widow's obedience and now in verse 7 the ultimate result. Then she came and told the man of God and he said, Go, sell the oil and pay thy debt and live thou and thy sons upon the rest.

32:06 Now it's very interesting. The first thing he told her to do, pay your debt. Turn that oil into hard cash but don't regard any of that cash as your own upon which anyone else has a legitimate claim. She was to pay her debt first.

32:27 And that again is a biblical concept. The same passage that teaches us that borrowing is not sin teaches us that nothing is ours to do with what we choose until we have paid our legitimate debts. And then he tells her to live on that along with her sons. And again I like to use my imagination.

32:53 Can you imagine what it would have been like after she'd been to the local bazaar or wherever it was that they sold their goods and she's got her purse full of coins and now she's making her way to the creditor's house and she starts up his walk and he looks out the door and he says, Ah, she's coming now. She's going to plead but I'll put on my hardest heart. I'm going to get those boys. I can really use them.

33:18 And he looks again and says, She doesn't look like the woman who's coming on a sad errand. Why, she's tripping up that walk like a little schoolgirl. What in the world's gotten into her? And she comes up to the door and she knocks on the door and her creditor comes and says, Yes, Mrs. So-and-so, you've come to tell me. Oh, no, no, no, no. I have an entirely different message. And she pulls out her bag of coins and with perhaps a little bit of cheekiness she counts out the ones that he has coming to him and she says, Here you are.

33:49 And she leaps in his car and turns on her heel. What joy there must have been the boys go out that afternoon to play a little ball and someone says, What in the world are you doing out playing ball? You could be taken. Oh, sir, no slavery for us.

34:03 What happened? And they tell the story. They go to school the next day. They tell the story.

34:08 The dear woman and all of her associates to whom she has unburdened her heart perhaps a hundred times the first day and the second day until in that entire village it is known that behind closed doors the God who spoke in Genesis 1 and said, Let there be light is the God who in that room said, Let there be oil and there was oil at the word of the living God. Oh, what a thrilling thing to see the mighty God ministering to the need of his servant. Well, that's the narrative and in itself it's a thrilling narrative. But now it's not there just to thrill us.

Lesson 1: God Vindicates His Name in Desperate Circumstances

34:50 It's there to teach us. In the time that remains tonight having looked at the facts of the narrative I want to direct your attention to the great lessons of the narrative or if you like the message of the miracle. And first of all I want you to consider with me the message in that immediate historical context I've been trying to cultivate in you as a people a mentality in handling the Old Testament scriptures. Before you go looking for lessons for yourself in the context of where you live ask the question what was God saying to his own people in that situation at that time?

35:31 Now remember the great controversy still rages. Who is God? Baal or Jehovah? Baal worship is still rife in the land.

35:42 There are still many priests of Baal. And there you have Jehoram and others like him whose hearts are at least partially wedded to the worship of idols and the great controversy goes on. And in that historical context you see what God is doing? Baal was supposedly the God of productivity.

35:59 When you wanted good crops and you wanted material prosperity then you prayed to Baal. You did those things that would please Baal. What a wonderful testimony of the mighty power of God. Though a private miracle performed behind closed doors there's no indication that Elijah was not a prophet.

36:11 He was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet who was a prophet truth, Jehovah. He is the God. Baal is a nothing. Let Baal do a creative miracle. Let Baal take

37:05 a little flask of oil and fill a multitude of vessels full of oil. And so through the prophet Elisha, though ministering to a desperate widow, ministering to her in great compassion, God was vindicating his name in the midst of his people. And that is the great message of the miracle in its immediate historical setting. But thank God the message has a broader significance to the people of God in every age and in every situation. And I want to direct your attention to three aspects of that abiding message of this miracle. The first one is this. The narrative vividly portrays the fact that God often brings his people into desperate circumstances in order to give them singular manifestations of his power and his faithfulness.

38:10 God often brings his people into desperate circumstances in order to give them singular manifestations of his power and his faithfulness. power and his faithfulness. In this instance, as painful as was the funeral, as painful as were the pangs of loneliness, as painful as was the humiliation and the tragedy of poverty and impending slavery, this woman would never have witnessed this creative miracle with her eyes if she had not been brought to the point of desperation. God brought her, as it were, to the very brink of being utterly shattered. Why? Not because he delights to afflict, but he delights to give his people discoveries of his grace and of his mercy that will overwhelm them with the proof of his faithfulness and of his love.

39:21 Do we not see this again and again in the Scriptures? It was the combined pressure of her desperate circumstances which drove her out of herself to seek help in Jehovah in the person of Jehovah's representative. This is the same God who backed his ancient people to the Red Sea, the armies of Egypt coming towards them, mountains to the left and the right, until the situation looked utterly hopeless. Amen.

39:51 God says, all right, now it's time for me to show you what I do in hopeless situations. And with his finger he splits the sea and parts the waters and says, get over there, folks. And as they're just about over on the other side and see the armies coming with their chariots and their instruments of war, and they are once again in a desperate plight, God says, hey, waters, time to get rid of this crowd. And the entire army is drowned in the Red Sea.

40:21 This is the God who brought that family in Bethany to the point of desperation. Send a message to Jesus. Lazarus is sick. Oh, if only he'd been here, he could have done something. But he's dead now. So dead that he's stinking. The situation is desperate.

40:46 And Jesus says, no, it's perfectly suited for me to manifest my power. And you see, that's the way God deals with his people again. And again and again in the Old and the New Testaments and in the history of the church, this is why the scripture says, my brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into many kinds of trials, knowing that the trial of your faith worketh patience. And some of us, because we've been so influenced by the hedonistic, not heathen, hedon, H-E-D-O-N, hedonistic philosophy of our age, that says the beginning, middle, and end of life is to have immediate pleasure. We've been so brainwashed by that that every time God begins to set us up for a situation in which he'll manifest his power, we get whimpering and complaining and so swallowed up in unbelief that we are unfit to perceive what God is doing. Now it's time some of us grew up. I don't often scold you, but I'm scolding some of you today. You've been under too rich a ministry that points you to the

42:04 absolute sovereignty of God and the infinite, unchanging love of God to go on grumbling and grousing and complaining every time God begins to put the screws on you. Now stop it. It's dishonoring to God. It brought fiery serpents on the children of Israel. Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the serpents. Isn't it interesting when Paul would talk about what it is to be a good witness? He says, do all things without what? Murmurings and complainings, that ye may be blameless and harmless sons of God without rebuke. You say, oh, I want to be a witness. Then God

42:51 begins to put the screws on you and you start hollering and complaining. Now it's time some of you stop that. You've had enough of it. Now be done with it. Take a lesson from this woman. There's no indication that she was complaining against Jehovah. She faced her desperate situation realistically, but she went to the right place. She didn't sit around crying in her beer. She didn't sit around drowning her sorrows in the soap operas. She didn't sit around wasting hours a day on the telephone telling all her sisters in Israel what a miserable lot she had. She gathered up her spiritual energies and cried to the man of God and presented her case. It's a wonderful lesson. God often brings his people into desperate circumstances in

43:51 order to give them singular manifestations of his love, his power, and of his faithfulness. And so what seemed to be desperate ended up in a most wonderful way to be a display of all these attributes of God. I speak to some of you who are literal widows, who feel that ache, that pain. who may feel the financial pressure and crunch, others of you in great physical straits and necessities.

44:27 Oh, dear people of God, may we grow up into Christ and no longer feel that if only we could get away from these pressures, we'd sprout wings and really soar spiritually. No, you wouldn't.

44:42 God knows better than you the circumstances in which you can grow and it's losing business fighting God's providence. Ain't nobody tried it yet and won.

Lesson 2: God Provides in His Own Way and Time

44:57 May God help us to learn that lesson. But there is a second lesson in this passage and it is this. The incident underscores the fact that the Lord provides for His people's needs in His own way and in His own time. You see, the God who holds the hearts of all men in His hand could have turned that creditor's heart to have compassion on that poor widow, couldn't He?

45:27 So instead of saying, look, I've got a legal right to take your sons, God could have turned His heart so that He would have said, look, dear woman, I have a legal right to take your sons, but my wife may be in that position someday and as I hope someone would show compassion to her, I'll show compassion. If God can take the heart of a heathen king named Cyrus and make him faithful, favorably disposed to the people of God, couldn't God have taken the heart of this Israelite? But He didn't do it. He let him, as it were, go for every last bit of this pound of flesh.

46:06 The God who did the created miracle and made that oil to continue to multiply and multiply, could He not have raised that prophet husband from the dead? Could He not have healed his liver or his pancreas or his heart and, cleared out his blood vessels or whatever caused his heart attack or his death? Couldn't God have done that? Yes, He could have.

46:31 But you see, God whose heart was set upon, on the one hand, taking that servant home to Himself and to higher service, and on the other hand, the heart set upon meeting the needs of that widow, God had His own time and His own way in which He purposed to meet her need. And often, you see, with respect to time, and method, we can write over the top of it, Isaiah 55, verses 8 and 9. My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are My ways your ways.

47:09 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so are My thoughts above your thoughts, and My ways above your ways.

47:20 We say, but God has said, in Philippians 4.19, My God! God shall supply all you need. That's right.

47:29 But does he say when you think he ought to supply it, and in the manner in which you think he ought to? I don't read that in my Bible. There are times my carnal itch wants to write it in.

47:43 Didn't the Lord say in Matthew 6, 33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. Yes, but did he say when and how? Now, and I tell you, dear people, this has been the sheet anchor in this extended trial in conjunction with our building program. If there is one thing, there have not, there has been more than one, but if there was one thing above all others that has kept me from despair and utter discouragement and wanting to say, Oh, forget the whole thing and just go ahead and go out in a traveling ministry and don't be bothered with all this problem.

48:20 Well, if there's one thing that's kept me among many, it's been this very principle. The Lord. The Lord has his own time and his own way to meet our need. Now, looking back afterwards, suppose you met this woman right after she'd come back with her little bag of coins and had paid off the creditors and she's coming down the street and you say, Oh, Mrs. So-and-so, you look so happy today.

48:43 And she tells you her story. Suppose you were to ask her, say, Mrs. So-and-so, looking back now, would you have changed any of the circumstances? What do you think she would say?

48:53 She'd say, No. I see how wise God was, not only to meet my need, the needs of my son, but to think that to the end of my days, I will be able to say to everyone that I meet, Baal is not God. Jehovah is God. And God had a right to set a circumstance of getting glory to himself that had to involve the death of her husband and this desperate plight.

49:23 Well, I'm confident. That a day is coming with regard to this whole building situation, no matter what the ultimate issue is, some of us will look back and we'll smile and we'll say, Oh, how wise, how good, how gracious of God. His timing was perfect and his method was perfect.

49:49 Now, it's the men and women of faith who say it now. It's the men and women of sight who say it later.

49:55 Which are you? We walk by faith. We walk by sight.

50:03 May we learn the lesson that this woman learned. May we learn it with regard not only to our building program, but with regard to some of those needs. Some of you have great physical and emotional needs. And you're praying, Oh, God, meet those needs, not selfishly.

50:20 I want to serve you. I want to be strong. Lord, I just want strength, mental, physical, emotional, to be your handmaiden, to be your servant. Lord, give it to me now.

50:32 And it seems so. Slow in coming. Oh, dear child of God, remember, God has his own time and his own way to meet those needs. And programmed into the timing and the method is his ultimate glory and your highest good.

50:52 Now, you've got to believe that. If you don't believe that, you question the love and the wisdom of God. That's serious business, isn't it? Huh?

Lesson 3: The Value of True Faith in Crisis

51:01 Oh, may we not question his love, nor his wisdom, nor his love of God. And then finally, the third great lesson that I see in this incident that spans the ages is this. The incident vividly displays the fact that it is a wonderful thing to be a true follower of Jehovah in the midst of life's crises. It is a wonderful thing to be a true follower of Jehovah in the midst of life's crises.

51:37 Contrast this woman's actions in a crisis with that half-baked character Jehoram in the previous chapter.

51:47 You remember when his back got to the wall, his guilty conscience began to go to work on him. And his first words are recorded in 2 Kings 3 and verse 10. And the king of Israel said, Alas, for the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. Later on, when he's in the presence of Elisha, and Elisha says, Hey, hotshot, go call on your mama's gods.

52:15 What are you doing with me? You playing games with me? You think I'm some kind of a magician? Go ahead, go seek out your Baal gods.

52:24 And he said the same thing. He says, no, they won't help me in this situation. God's brought us out here, and he's going to zap us.

52:32 You see, his half-baked religion was a terrible companion in the midst of a crisis. But this woman in the midst of her crisis, she can come to the prophet. And I want you to look now. There are several of the words we haven't examined yet, and this is the point that we're going to examine them.

52:47 When she makes her plea, and this was a master stroke of divine argument, notice what she says. She cries unto the prophet Elisha, saying, Thy servant, my husband, is dead. Now, in a general sense, all of the sons of the prophets were the servants, servant of the head of the prophet. You remember after the mantle fell upon him, as recorded in chapter 2, and those 50 sons of the prophets saw him take the mantle and strike the waters, and they scatter, and he comes over the other side.

53:25 It says, they knelt down before him. They acknowledged that he was their master in the sense that he was their God-appointed leader. It could well be that she uses the term thy servant, my husband, is dead in that general sense, or it could be that he actually occupied a place of more intimate relationship with Elisha. You remember later on we find Gehazi, his servant.

53:54 Could it be that this man was actually his personal, excuse me, servant for a while? It could well be. There's nothing in the language to preclude it, though the language itself does not definitely affirm it. But one thing is clear.

54:09 As she comes, before the prophet she says, thy servant, my husband, is dead. And furthermore, she says, thou knowest, thy servant did fear the Lord.

54:25 And it's evident that she wasn't trying to coast in on her hubby's religion, because the very fact that she has come to the man of God in her plight is an expression of her own living faith. Furthermore, when the man of God gives her directions, she obeys them implicitly. Furthermore, she does so expectantly. She is an obedient, believing, and furthermore, a very ethically sensitive woman.

54:56 She doesn't argue with the prophet. She pays her debts. There is every indication in the immediate context that this woman was a true believer. She was one who had been born of the Spirit, who had the law, the law written upon her heart as a true Israelite, one of the 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.

55:18 And in her desperate crisis,

55:22 true religion did her well. It's a wonderful thing to have true and vital working piety in the midst of life's crises. And my friend, listen to me. The scripture says, man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly out of his heart.

55:43 as the sparks fly out of his heart. as the sparks fly out of his heart. as the sparks fly out of his heart. as the sparks fly out of his heart.

55:45 as the sparks fly out of his heart. as the sparks fly out of his heart. as the sparks fly out of his heart. as the sparks fly out of his heart.

55:46 And though there are a few exceptions, and Psalm 73 seems to focus upon those few exceptions, for the most part, all of us, saved or unsaved, young or old, will have a lot of crises in life.

56:06 And I believe, talking as one who's going down the other side of the hill now, if I live out my three score and ten, plus my bonus ten, I'm still going down the other side of the hill. Five steps down.

56:21 And I would say, if true religion offered no more consolation than that which it offers in the crises of life, it is worth all of its pains.

56:35 And yet wonder of wonders to have all of this now. And the best is yet to come. Oh, if I may speak from my heart to some of you who are not in Christ, young and old alike, all listen to me tonight. What a day!

56:51 What a day! What a day! What a day! What are you going to do when God starts putting the screws on you?

56:57 When God starts tightening down the cinches on you? When death and financial loss and heartbreak and frustration and all the other problems of life begin to pinch you?

57:16 What have you got for a companion?

57:20 Nothing but a guilty conscience that all is not well between you and God. My friend, I don't care what you get as a so-called side benefit in terms of your guilty conscience. I wouldn't have it in all its so-called benefits for all the wealth in the world.

57:47 It's a wonderful thing in the midst of life's crises to be able to do what the writer to Hebrews says we ought to do. Not run to an Elisha, but to a greater than Elisha. And the scripture says, let us come, boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let us come with boldness, we read in chapter 10, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

58:20 What a privilege! The crises that come as a parent, the crises that come as one seeking to live responsibly in an irresponsible, in mixable, in messed up age. Where would we go if we could not go to Jehovah Jesus and know that we had a standing before him that gave us the right to call upon his name? There are times when you who are unconverted are the objects of some of our very serious warnings and admonitions.

58:59 Tonight I would seek to catch you with honey. My friend, be honest. It's a pretty empty life without a vital knowledge of in relationship to the God who made you. Come on, be honest now, isn't it?

59:16 When all your fun is over and all that you pursue to attempt somehow to find a little sweetness when it's all over. Come on now, be honest. It's pretty empty business. You see, this woman, even at the point of death, even at the point of her greatest desperation, the day before she reaches the prophet, she must pillow her head that night wondering, is this the last night that I'll go in and pull the covers up over my son and run my hand through their hair?

59:52 Is this the last night that I'll know what it is to have this home united in spite of the loss of husband and father in the midst of all of the shame and grief of her poverty, and her plight? It must have been a wonderful thing to pillow her head and say, Jehovah is God and I will not serve Baal. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Oh, may God teach us that lesson and give us the living faith of living and vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ that in our day of abounding Baal worship, we may be like this, and when God allows us to pass through circumstances that may even make us a song in the mouths of our neighbors. Can't you imagine what the neighbors might have said? Ah, look at that. Preacher's wife talks about the Jehovah God of Israel and her husband is a sidekick of Elisha and he's supposed to be the great Baal who meets the needs.

60:59 Look at her. She's got to send her kids into slavery. She ain't got no money. God doesn't treat her too well.

61:05 That hurts.

61:07 But she was willing to rest her case with God.

61:12 Willing to rest her case with God. May the Lord teach us from this portion of His Word these great lessons. Let me run them by you quickly now. There is the great lesson to Israel in that immediate context.

61:28 It was the reaffirmation of the Jehovah ship of Jehovah in the midst of Baal worship. But then there is that abiding lesson to each one of us. God often brings His people into desperate circumstances in order to give them singular manifestations of His love, His power, and His faithfulness. Furthermore, the Lord provides for His people in His own way and in His own time.

61:58 And thirdly, it's a wonderful thing to be a true follower of Jehovah in the midst of life's crisis. Thank God for a book that speaks to us where we live. And gives us light upon the pathway of life that we may live to His praise and find joy in the Holy Ghost as we do. Let us pray.

Prayer of Application and Admonition

62:25 Our Heavenly Father,

62:39 we are again gripped with a sense of how impoverished is human language to express the gratitude we feel you would ever reveal yourself in your holy name. In your holy word.

63:01 We thank you for this narrative. We thank you for its simple and yet profound lessons. We thank you above all that it shows us the kind of God you are. We thank you that your heart was large to that woman.

63:19 And though it pained you to bring her to that point of great desperation, we know that ultimately your love was manifested to her and we bless you that you are the God who does the same to your people in every age. We praise you. We worship you. Forgive us.

63:40 Forgive us for our petulance. Forgive us for our brattishness when we've sat in the corner and sulked when you didn't order the household the way we wanted it to be ordered. Lord, we're ashamed. We're ashamed.

63:55 Forgive us. Cleanse us. And oh, may we be able by your grace, like this dear woman and like Job and like many others to say though you slay us, yet will we trust you. Help us, oh God.

64:12 May this word find lodgment in every heart. We pray particularly for those who have no vital and saving relationship to you through your dear Son. Lord, may they reflect upon what they've heard tonight. May their hearts face honestly the emptiness, the hollowness, the despairingness of life apart from you.

64:36 Give them a felt fear of what it would be to face eternity without you. Cricken in them a desire to seek your mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your presence with us. We thank you for the Church of Christ.

64:55 We thank you for the Holy Spirit. We thank you for all of your gifts to us. Now may your blessing rest upon us as we leave this place. Help us in the coming week to be monuments of true and vital godliness.

65:12 Hear our prayer. Receive our praises as we come in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.