Why do you ask for something? I’m assuming to receive exactly what you ask for. If I were to ask you for $20, my hopes would be that you would give me $20. Apparently, I have a need for exactly $20 and that is why I asked you for that exact amount. I need $20, I ask for $20. But what if I were to instead ask you for “some money?” Big difference. You could give me only $1 thinking I only wanted to buy a Coke. Or you could give me $150, thinking I needed to pay my electric bill. You see, the difference is in the asking. But in latter example, there is risk involved. What if I leave the door open too wide and I don’t get exactly what I need?
Today in 2 Kings chapter 4 we see Elisha getting busy. He has a double portion of the Spirit that Elijah possessed, the mantle of God upon his shoulders, and a heart that is sold out to Almighty God and His work. Folks, that is a powerful combination. And as we see, the miracles flow at the hands of one that believes. In this chapter alone we see 5 miracles of God. The multiplying oil, the miraculous birth, the miraculous resurrection, the safety of the stew and the bountiful bread. For our study today, we’ll focus on the miracle of the multiplying oil.
A prophet of God has died, leaving his widow and two children behind to deal with the debt and the creditors. In this era, debt was no small foe. If you couldn’t pay, your life would be enslaved. Since the widow could not pay in full, she and her two children were to become slaves, working until the debt was paid. Folks, this is not part of the lesson, but I can’t hold my tongue when it comes to debt. Although you’ll be hard pressed to find the simple statement that debt is a sin in the Bible, God never speaks favorably of debt in His Word. Debt has all of the characteristics of sin. It steals joy. It robs us of freedom. It takes our peace. Its cost is much greater than its reward. Margie and I were riddled with debt and we got rid of it over 15 years ago. All of it. No mortgage, no car loans, no credit cards, no school loans, none of it. The day we became debt free was nothing short of a miracle to us. The freedom, the peace and the joy was unbridled. And folks, it was in that moment that God called and because of being debt free, we were able to answer His call. And to this day, being debt free, highly mobile, and ready to serve, allows us to follow God wherever He leads. If you’ve got debt today, dump it. Treat it like sin in your life and get rid of it immediately. Get yourself on a written monthly budget and pay it off like your pants are on fire. Refuse to do the debt dance that the world tells you is OK and normal. Instead start managing money God’s way. We see in our study today that the problem started with debt.
The widow cries out to Elisha for help. And Elisha asks her a simple question, what do you have? She has only a small jar of oil. Now here is where the execution of the miracle teaches us greatly. Elisha tells here to go about and collect all the large empty vessels she can get her hands on. Go to the neighbors, go the store, go to the market. Beg or borrow, but get all you can. There are a few invaluable points about receiving the blessings of God planted in the text right before us. Let’s harvest.
1) God will not always make sense in answering your request. I’m sure the woman thought that Elijah would simply whip out his wallet and give her the cash she needed. Wouldn’t that have been much easier and made the most common sense? But instead this mighty prophet of God tells her to go all over town on a scavenger hunt for all the empty vessels she could find. I’m sure she looked at him in this moment like he had two heads. But folks, she believed. She didn’t understand how, but she knew in her heart that God would do mighty things. What a great definition of faith.
2) You must receive the blessing. No one else can do it for you. Elisha could have gone and collected the vessels, but God knows that we must get busy in faith and obedience to fully reap the blessing He has for us in His blessings. She could have just sat and had a pity party. Her and her two kids were about to become slaves to her debtor, that could easily be considered a good enough reason to have one. But she asked of God, listened to God, and then got busy in faith. God had her do the work, to learn the lesson, that was in the blessing.
3) God will bless to the level your faith is ready to receive. Elisha, in a cryptic little hint told her, “don’t gather just a few jars.” You see, God did not put a limit on His blessing in this miracle. But in the moment, the woman was blinded only by her current needs. She only needed enough to pay off her debt and stay out of slavery. She did not fully grasp the abundant unlimited blessings of God. And I don't think we do either. We ask God for His blessings and then in our finite thinking, we limit God. In our thinking we limit the very God that brought the entire universe into existence with only a few words. We’re not told how many vessels she gathered; I wonder. Did she only go up and down her own street? Did she go over to the next street too? Did she scour all over the entire town? You see, God intended to fill up every single jar she collected, the question was, how much did her faith drive her to keep on collecting?
This is a huge point for us today. We need $20 and we ask God for $20. We have a simple problem and therefore we pose a simple solution. But God wants so much more for us. His answer to our problem is always worlds beyond what we can possibly imagine. We ask for $20 as God is sitting on Fort Knox. We ask for a little joy as God is sitting on the Rocky Mountains of Joy. All that is required of us, is that in great faith, we ask fully knowing who is doing the giving. “We make our blessings little because our faith is little.” (Charles Spurgeon)
4) God’s blessings go into specific containers. We see here God filling sanctified (set aside for God’s use) vessels. We see in a similar miracle by Elijah, God filling another sanctified container with oil. We see in Jesus’ first miracle, that he turned water into wine and filled sanctified vessels. Folks, today are you a sanctified vessel of Jesus Christ? Do you simply know about Jesus or do you know Jesus? You see, there is a big difference. I know about Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, but I don’t know either of them. Simply knowing about Jesus and who He is isn’t enough. You must know Him personally. You must know Him as Lord, Savior and Messiah of your life. Call out to Jesus Christ today and ask Him to save you from the sin in your life. We all sin and make a mess of things, only Jesus can straighten out the knot that we all make of our lives. And as you ask Him from the depths of your heart, He is faithful to save. And as you do, a miracle occurs. The Holy Spirit of God moves into your heart and you become His. He will guide you, steer you, and lead you. He will empower you, equip you, and train you. All so that He can use you.
You will become a sanctified vessel of Jesus Christ and then…He will fill you to overflowing. Every day, he will fill you through time spent studying His Holy Word. He will fill you through prayer to Him. He will refill you as you serve Him through serving others. He will renew and refill you through blessed fellowship with other sanctified believers. And folks, in the beauty of God, He will not stop at one jar. He will not cease at one big jug. He will keep on filling as many containers as you can bring.
Today, as you cry out for the blessings of God, don’t limit God. Don’t think that our God can only fill a few jars. For He already knows what you need, and he intends to go far beyond that.
Praise God for His rich and abundant blessings upon His children.
Comments