2 Kings 4:1-7 (NASB)
1 Now a 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 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, borrow containers 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 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.”
Since it is Mother’s Day, I thought it only fitting to write a sermon about a mother from the Bible. We don’t know the name of this woman, she is described only as “a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets.” We also know from the text that she was a widow and had two sons. Before we dive into her story, let’s look at the context of this passage.
The “sons of the prophets” were members of a prophetic order or guild. This term occurs eleven times in the Bible, but only in the books of 1 and 2 Kings. It’s the official name for the people in the group and not a description of a family relationship. By being called “son” it is a designation that they are being led by a master. An example of this is found in 2 Kings 2:3 which says, “Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel went out to Elisha and said to him, ‘Are you aware that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I am aware; say nothing about it.’” (R. B. Y. Scott, The Relevance of the Prophets. 1942.)
So evidently, this woman’s husband had been one of these “sons of the prophets” and his master had been Elisha. That is why she calls out to Elisha for help. She says to him, “Your servant my 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.” She is desperate for help. As Elisha was her husband’s master, she is hoping that he will step in to help her. I think the fact that she also reminds Elisha that her husband “feared the Lord” is proof she knows that by going to Elisha, she is actually seeking help from the Lord.
Our society needs mothers who look for help from the Lord. Yet, how many mothers do not bother to do so? Whether it’s for financial help, like this widow in this text, or help in raising their children or help for their marriage, I am afraid that even many Christian mothers do not seek help from the Lord. Instead, they seek help from the world. The amount of financial gurus, parenting experts, seminars and books on all forms of self-help are endless. There is “help” and advice being given all day long. It is wise to seek help from other people, for by learning from others we can grow and expand our knowledge, but we must be careful that the help we are receiving is coming from the Lord. Is it wise to seek advice from unbelievers? As Isaiah 8:19 asks, “When they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should a people not consult their God? Should they consult the dead in behalf of the living?” In the same way, we should ask ourselves, should we consult unbelievers to help us? Amongst all the voices that are offering advice, we should not neglect to consult our living God and, at the very least, we should consult with those who know God and are following Him. For only there we will find real help. Ultimately, we should look to God for help, just as the widow in this story did.
This woman sought help from Elisha because, as a widow, it was left up to her to care for her two sons. The text doesn’t tell us how long ago her husband had died, but she knew she had to do something or her sons would be taken away from her. She was in debt and it was about to enslave her family.
Debt is a real problem in our world. I think debt is a factor of poverty. Debt also limits what we can do for God. Not that long ago, a Bible college student who was about to graduate asked me for advice. I thought a minute and then told her: Don’t go into debt, for debt will limit your ability to say yes to whatever God asks you to do. She told me that no one had ever told her that before and that she had always thought debt was completely okay. Most Americans think like that young woman. It’s part of the American way to rack up credit card debt, borrowing more and more money to buy whatever we want. Interest payments on debt are a typical, acceptable thing. I was blessed to be raised by parents who think the opposite. My dad always told me to only buy what I could afford to pay off immediately, and only use credit cards so my credit rating goes up, paying it off before I have to pay interest on it. I have lived by that mantra and it has served me well.
A youth pastor also gave me that same advice after I graduated from high school. I was talking with him about my future plans and he warned me about taking on college debt. He told me if I did, then I could potentially limit what God wanted me to do. He told me the example of his sister-in-law, who went to college and took out student loans. She wanted to be a missionary. She was unable to become a missionary, though, for now she had to get a paying job in order to pay off her student loans. If she hadn’t taken on that debt, she would have been free to apply for positions in missionary organizations. When God called me to go to Bible College, I said yes to God, but I also told Him that if He wanted me to go, He would need to provide for me so that I didn’t go into debt. I graduated five years later, having witnessed miracle after miracle of God providing for my school bills each month. Dept limits our ability to say yes to God, for we become enslaved to paying it off.
The widow in this story in 2 Kings, her debt was going to literally enslave her children. In her desperation, she seeks help from God. She does not sit idly by and watch her children be taken away. She is proactive and seeks help. Elisha, God’s prophet, asks her a simple question, “what do you have in the house?” She says, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” She tells Elisha that she has nothing. Nothing, except a jar of oil. This reminds me of the time when the crowds were listening to Jesus and it had gotten late and the disciples realized that nobody had anything to eat. They wanted to send the crowd away, but Jesus told them to give them something to eat. Matthew 14:17 says, “They said to Him, ‘We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish.’” They had nothing except some bread and fish. If you know the rest of the story, you know Jesus performed a miracle and multiplied the bread and fish and they ended up with so much food they had leftovers.
When we are faced with the problems of life, we might feel the same way; that we have nothing to work with. When we go to God and ask Him to help us solve our problems, I think many times He asks us that same question: what do you have? We are probably apt to say, “I have nothing.” But what do you have? You must have something. Do you have your health? Do you have a sharp mind? Do you have a unique talent? We all have something. Even if that something seems tiny and insignificant, we have something. The answer to our problems is not found in what we have, the answer is found when we give what we have to God. He works with what we have. In His hands, He can transform what appears to be nothing into something that is more than enough. The important thing to realize is: we must give Him what we have so He can transform it into something more.
This mother in this story, she was willing to give up the only thing she had. In fact, it was everything she had. It was not much, but still, it was everything she had. She was willing to surrender it to Elisha, for when he asked her what she had, she didn’t know why he was asking. She could have held that information back, thinking she needed to hold on to the one thing she had left. Since Elisha was speaking for God, you could say she gave God everything she had. She was willing to place everything she had in God’s hands.
As soon as she mentions the oil, then as verses 3 and 4 tell us, Elisha tells her, “Go, borrow containers elsewhere for yourself, empty containers from all your neighbors—do not get too few. 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.” Elisha instructs her to gather more jars. She now has a decision to make. Will she obey this prophet who is speaking for God? Or will she leave in despair or argue that it won’t work? She obeys his instructions. Verses 5 and 6 of the text tell us, “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. When the containers were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another container.’ But he said to her, ‘There are no more containers.’ Then the oil stopped.”
I want to point out that the text does not tell us she and her sons went to their neighbors to gather jars. The text tells us that Elisha told her to go and ask her neighbors for vessels, but the text doesn’t tell us she did. To be fair, it also doesn’t tell us she didn’t. I think we should consider both possibilities, though. We assume she went to her neighbors. But the text doesn’t say that, it says, “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.” Wouldn’t it say, so she left him and she went to her neighbors or she sent her sons to gather vessels from the neighbors or something like that? It is reasonable that she had other empty jars or containers in her house. The text simply says her sons brought her containers and then there were no more. When she told her son to bring her another, he said, “There are no more containers.” What if they didn’t bother to go to the neighbors and get more containers? I think if that is what happened, then this story perfectly illustrates human nature. If that family didn’t go and find every single container that all their neighbors might have so they could get more oil, don’t you just want to ask what’s wrong with them? How lazy do you have to be to not get more containers?
Maybe she and her sons went and collected many more jars from their neighbors. We should also consider she followed the instructions and they gathered every single empty container they could. But what if they didn’t? Whether or not this family went to their neighbors, I’m afraid that many of us are guilty of doing the same. How many blessings from God are just sitting out there, uncollected, because we are too lazy to go and get them?
For what would have happened if she had gathered even more jars? She would have had even more oil. It makes me wonder if we limit God’s provision in our lives because of our lack of faith. I’m not talking about “name it and claim” it theology. I’m taking about real life, practical faith. Do we limit God’s provision because we hesitate to trust Him? Do we let fear keep us from trying ideas? Do we let doubt keep us from applying for better jobs? Or do we trust God enough to take risks and step out in faith? Do we surrender what we have to Him and let Him transform it into something more? Or do we hold on to what we have, afraid to trust Him?
Like this mother, are we willing to give God everything we have? Some reasons we might struggle to do so, is if we doubt God’s love for us or if we doubt God’s ability to help us. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us that we can cast all our anxieties on God because He cares for us. God loves us, and He wants us to understand how much He loves us, so that we trust Him enough to give Him our problems. If we doubt God’s love for us, it makes it so much harder for us to trust Him. If we doubt God’s ability to provide for us, it also makes it hard for us to trust Him. In the book of Hebrews, we are given example after example of people who trusted God. They took Him at His word. They obeyed God and they saw His provision. God has given us so many examples of testimonies of people who, by faith, trusted and obeyed Him. We are given the Bible so we can learn by the examples of all the people in it. This goes back to the point I was trying to make earlier: we need to seek help from God and from His people when we have problems. For if we go to the world for help, what can they really do to help us? Any solutions they give are temporary and not lasting. We must look to God and His word, and to fellow believers, to give us the encouragement we need to place ourselves in God’s hands and obey what He tells us to do.
As we grow in our knowledge of God, we come to understand the immeasurability of His resources. There is no problem that God cannot solve. Nothing is too big for Him to handle. He could provide a solution to every problem or need that we have instantaneously if He wanted to. Yet, God desires that we have relationship with Him. He wants us to partner with Him. He could have provided for the woman and her sons without their help. Instead, He wanted their participation. He wanted them to have faith. If everything was solved or provided for instantaneously, it would not require faith.
God is our provider, but that doesn’t mean we can just sit back and do nothing. First, we need to be willing to surrender everything to God. We must give Him what we have, which in reality means we must offer Him our complete selves. Second, He requires us to work, too. We are to be diligent in doing whatever He asks of us. In this example from this mother’s life, God used the limited resources she had and blessed it, multiplying what she gave to Him. And His provision was equal to the amount of work she did.
She is a perfect example of what it means to live by faith. As Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.” James 2:17 (ESV) states, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” In other words, faith that does not prove itself by actions is not faith. Faith requires action.
This widowed mother stands as a good example for all of us, for we see that she went directly to the source of real help; she sought help from God. She gave everything she had to God for His use. God used what she had. Then she acted in faith. By faith, she obeyed what Elisha told her to do. Because of that faith, God provided for her and her faith produced faith in her sons. Through her leading and example, they too got involved in obeying God.
This Mother’s Day, if you are a mother or father, know that when you live by faith, you are producing faith in your children. If you invite them into the process, they will see your example and they will imitate what you do. Particularly if they are included in what you do to live out your faith.
If you don’t have children, please pray for the mothers you know to live by faith. Prayer is the most important tool we possess. And if you are given the opportunity to offer advice to a mother in need, please be sure the advice you offer is from scripture, encouraging her to trust God and act in faith.
When we have problems, let us go to Godly sources for help. What the world offers us as advice is far short of the real help that only God can offer us. Let us seek counsel and help through Him. When we give all that we have to God, He will come through for us. The miracles we read about in the Bible, they are not just things that happened once upon a time. They are available to us today through faith in Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Just as this story shows us the rewards of trusting in God, we, too, can turn to Him for help. He is, after all, Jehovah Jira, God our provider. Let us be people who model this faith for others. Whether they are our own children or new believers in Christ, let us live in such a way that our lives become a witness of what it means to follow Jesus, trusting in Him and living by faith.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us. Help us to understand how much You love us so we can trust You. Please fill us with faith, and please help us to seek Your council first. Please speak to us through Your word and Your Holy Spirit so we can know how to best follow You. This Mother’s Day we pray for mothers everywhere that they will be filled with faith in You. Help them to go to You for help and guidance so they will be blessed, and so they can lead their children to trust You, too. We love You and in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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