2 Kings 4 (Part 1) Bible Study (Elisha and the Widow's Oil) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Meet me in second Kings chapter four. And before we unwrap this thrilling chapter together, I wanna briefly mention something in light of last week's study. Before 1868, the Moabite people were referenced through one main credible source, the bible. Apart from the Bible, there was no credible source to give any idea about who the Moabite people were even if they existed. But something happened a few hundred years ago.

Again, as I mentioned, in 1868, there was a discovery that was made by Frederick Klein who was a missionary in The Middle East. He was traveling through Jordan and in one particular place, Deban, Jordan, he discovered what we know today to be the Moabite stone. The Moabite stone is currently held in the Louvre Museum in France. There are many replicas out there, but I bring this to your attention in light of our study of second Kings because what they found on this four foot stone were 34 lines inscriptions that were very similar to ancient Hebrew. And the data found on that artifact is amazing.

First of all, it was an inscription that was authored by Mesha, king of Moab. Does that name sound familiar to you? It should. Just in case it doesn't, go to second Kings chapter three. Let's jog our memory here.

Look at verse four. Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep reader and he laid, or excuse me, he had to deliver to the king of Israel a 100,000 lambs and the wool of a 100,000 rams. So Mesha, king of Israel, is identified on this slab, but more than that, he describes how Chemosh, which is the god of the Moabites, and his name also is found in the scriptures, was angry with the Moabites, and so he allowed, check this out, the people of Israel to subjugate them. So you have the nation of Israel found on this slab. Moreover, you have Yahweh, the God of Israel mentioned on this stone.

And later you read how Mesha describes human sacrifices, which is something that the Moabites practiced and how at some point, Hamash was pleased to give the people of Moab liberty. Moreover, you have many cities mentioned in and on this stone, cities that we find in our bibles as well. Do you know when this stone is believed to have been created? August. And so I bring that to your attention to excite your faith, that there are external things that corroborate the bible, that support the bible, archaeology and history.

King Omri, we studied him many weeks ago, was also found on the Moabite stone. And so before we even begin this chapter, let me remind you that what you are holding in your hands is real. It's history. It's fact. It's not fables.

It's not fairy tale. Real events. Real people. A real god. Let's come to second Kings chapter four now with that being mentioned.

If you're interested to review that more, all you have to do is Google it, and I'm sure that it will excite you. We now resume the ministry, or at least our close examination of the ministry of Elisha as the record of miracles connected to him continues to increase in this chapter. There are several supernatural episodes that are found in this section, but this evening, we are gonna take up our time to focus just on the first one. The first one is found here in the first seven verses of second Kings chapter four. I want us to read it together then collectively contemplate on the life altering treasures that it holds.

Are you ready with me? Second Kings chapter four beginning in verse one. Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. And Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you?

Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said, your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said, go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels, and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.

So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons, and as she poured, they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, bring me another vessel. And he said to her, there is not another. Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.

Lord, we really desperately, genuinely ask for your help. To go through these texts apart from the power and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit is foolish, and we will not be fools tonight. We ask for your grace to be poured out on every mind, every heart, so that we may benefit and experience all that you have to say through these verses. We trust you, and we give you glory in advance for how this will impact us. Give us ears to hear what the spirit has to say to this church.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It's very tempting to go straight to this miracle and try to unpack the message behind it. But when reading this the other night, I could not help but be gripped by the characters that are involved in this story. I wonder if you were moved by them as well.

I wanna highlight them to you briefly. The first is the mention of a deceased husband who is identified as one of the sons of the prophets. The second being a widow. A widow who was approaching this man of God known as Elisha with a predicament. And lastly, Elisha, who seems to be the main character of this section of second Kings.

Elisha, who was again approached with this need and how he responds to it. I truly believe that each of these individuals offer something to us if we are willing to not rush and just patiently meditate to see how what is included and connected to them can indeed sanctify us. So I want us to do that. I want us with the first two verses look at each of these individuals separately and see what we can draw from what the scriptures provide us concerning them. Let's deal with this man, this unnamed husband who is also a father, who's also enrolled in the sons of the prophets.

I want you to look at verse one, and I want to ask you, and you are free to answer, if there's anything that stands out to you about this man whom this destitute widow speaks of. Anything stands out to you from verse one? I'm doing this because I want us to train to how to get revelation from the Bible. And it takes careful reading, meditation, and asking questions if we're gonna get any answers. Anything stands out to you.

Yes. He was a servant that feared the Lord. Very important. Absolutely. Anything else?

Your servant. He says your servant. Rishi says your servant. The widow says to Elisha, he was your servant. Good.

Anything else? I get it. There's not much to work with. Right? But I believe there's at least three things that we can learn from this individual.

Three things. At least three things. The first thing is this. This man, whoever he was, he served the Lord. He served the Lord.

As we just heard, this widow speaks to Elisha and identifies him as your servant. So evidently, Elisha knew who this man was, had a relationship with him. And that seems obvious because the narrator tells us that he was one of the sons of the prophets. Now we learned not too long ago who the sons of the prophets were. They were a school, a band of men who were committed to exercising and growing in their gifting, but also the study of God's word.

And Elijah, for the longest time, was the overseer of these prophets until Elisha took his place as their leader. So we know that Elisha knew who this man was. This woman is reminding Elisha of that fact. But what blesses me about this man, that we don't know his name, we're not given reasons for his death. I'm stirred.

I'm stirred because he was somebody who chose to serve the living God in an age where the general population was apostate. You gotta remember the setting. This is in Israel. There was only a remnant of true prophets. And the prophets of Yahweh paid a high price not too long ago.

Right? Many of them were slaughtered under the administration of Jezebel. And yet you have this man who was willing to give his life over to full time ministry when there wasn't much reward with it. When the culture generally bow down to false blasphemous gods, and at any second, persecution could break out against the true servants of God, and yet he he still chooses to set himself apart to honor the true and living God. And so we see here that he was willing to serve under circumstances in an environment that was not favorable.

That says something about this servant, Which brings us to our next point. He was not just a servant of the Lord. He was a servant, as our sister mentioned, who did what? He feared the Lord. Look at that phrase again.

And you know that your servant feared the Lord. The words of this wise widow remind us that we should not assume that just because somebody's a dedicated student of God's word or a full time servant in his kingdom that he or she fears God. There's a distinction being made here. Is there not? Yes.

He is your servant, but let me also add this. There's a quality about his service, about his devotion to the Lord. He feared the Lord. It's possible for somebody to be active in the things of God, to be knowledgeable in the things of God, and yet be void of the fear of God. We're actually being plagued with that kind of Christianity today.

Not so with this man. And we've discussed much about the fear of the Lord in this church, rightfully so. But let me bring up one important attribute that this fear produces in a Christian. We find it in I mean there's many places to go but this is what was on my heart. We find it in Jehoshaphat's instructions to the judges that he would raise up in Judah.

In second Chronicles 19, you can turn there if you'd like, but I'm gonna just quote it to you. In second Chronicles nineteen seven, he gives these men instructions and notice what he says in this powerful verse. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do. For there is no injustice with the Lord our God or partiality or taking bribes.

Did you catch it? Observe how being careful what you do is closely associated with the fear of the Lord being upon someone. When a person fears God, they go from being careless to being careful. Careful with their words, mindful of their actions, cautious how they interact with the opposite sex, Vigilant of his whereabouts. Joyfully attentive about his testimony before any audience he finds himself standing before.

Leading and dealing with an awareness of God's presence at all times even if he is all by himself. Let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do. People, even professing Christians, who don't fear God, they don't they don't care what they say, what language they use, how they refer to God, how they represent God. That's not that's not there.

But when a person has this fear on their lives, they are indeed very aware. And this is not being legalistic, it's not being about somber, it's not being overly introspective, it's none of that. It's it's a way of life that springs from a heart that is absolutely and profoundly longing to please his or her god. That's what it's motivated by. A fierce love that walks step by step, conscious of their god and wanting to do everything that ultimately pleases him.

So we can imagine then that though we don't know much about this man, the fact that he feared the Lord says so much about him. Says so much about him. He was the real deal. It must have been a painful thing for those who knew him to know that he had passed on into glory. So number one, we know that this man served the Lord.

More than that, we know that he feared the Lord. Let me add this. We also know that he suffered. He suffered for the Lord. In what ways did he suffer?

What's the obvious way? He died. He died. That's the first thing. He died.

We're not told how he died. Was he sick? Was it sudden? Was he the victim of collateral damage? Was he subject to the folly of someone else?

We don't know, but what we can say with confidence is that this is a reminder to all of us that fearing the Lord does not exempt us from painful interruptions in life. Here's another hint. That just because someone is suffering even to the point of an untimely death does not necessarily mean that such a person lacked the fear of the Lord or is not a true servant of God. We have a tendency to equate suffering exclusively with sin. That is not always the case as we see here.

This was a man who served God. This is a man who feared God. This is a man who was taken supposedly early. And just like Elijah's departure into glory, we may not understand the ways of God, especially with his graduations of some of his servants into glory, but we have to trust him. Is there anything else to add about this man's suffering as he served the Lord besides the fact that he died?

Say it again. Death. Yes. Besides death? No.

Death. Debt. Okay. Good. So what happens when you stand up here?

Sometimes you can't make out the words. Yes. Not just death, but debt. Now we are not certain if this debt accumulated while this man was alive or if it began after he died. But we can say this, that he was not a wealthy man.

He did not leave a generous inheritance behind for his family. So now his family is suffering, suffering greatly. So again, let me go back to that point. This man chose to serve the Lord when there wasn't much pay, when there wasn't much reward or assistance. Remember, the the land, though this was the nation of Israel, was generally pagan.

And we've seen in our past studies how true prophets of law were not treated the best. And I think that reflects even here with this man's financial situation. It gets even more heartbreaking. Right? Because look at verse two again.

And when Elisha asks her, what do you have in your home? The only thing that she can claim to her name is what? A jar of oil. Now here's what's interesting. And pastor Benedict can confirm this.

When you look at the Hebrew word for jar, it's only found here in the Hebrew scriptures, and it actually describes a flask. So we're not we're not talking about a bucket here. We're talking about a little pouch of oil. This is probably what prophets would carry with them when they were sent to anoint a king or another prophet. We're talking about a little pouch of oil.

If that's not difficult enough, we read of this creditor threatening this family. In what way? She says my two children are gonna become slaves. What's wrong with this scenario? Only until you understand the law of Moses will this make sense.

Because there is a law that was given by God for those who have incurred debt and how they should deal with that debt and how the lender should treat such people who were in debt. So turn with me to Leviticus for you to see with your own eyes. Leviticus chapter 25 beginning in verse 39. God gave instructions about those who owed money to another and could not repay. Here's the law.

Leviticus chapter twenty five thirty nine to 40. If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave. He shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. So knowing this now with this in view, what's wrong with the picture in second Kings chapter four?

This creditor was ready to take the sons to make them what? Hired workers? Slaves. Slaves. So what's this law about?

Really, it's about those who could not, for whatever reason, pay back what they borrowed. And if that was the case, they had to be employed. They had to be employed and they had to cover their debts before they were set free or until the year of jubilee came around, whichever came first. But the instruction here for those who did lend money was that they could not treat these individuals as degraded or permanent slaves. They were to be treated with dignity and honor.

And when it was time for them to go, they had to let them go. And so we these we see this creditor who's now threatening to not just take one son, both sons, and leave this widow all by herself. So what I know about this creditor is that he was not a man who feared God. He did not honor the law of God nor did he honor this situation with the simple fact that this family had a father, had a husband who was a prophet. He was a servant of the Lord.

He could care less. It's true today. It was true back then that servants of God don't often receive honor as they should. Respect as they should. You and I should prepare for that if we're gonna serve God.

And the way to endure that kind of treatment is to keep your eyes on a heavenly reward. Keep your eyes on the judgment seat of Christ. Keep your eyes on Jesus giving you the final praise and blessing. So we learned a lot about this man, but let me move on now to this widow. Going back to verse one and connecting it to verse two, let me ask this question again.

Is there anything that stands out to you about this woman? Anything. Put yourself in her shoes. What temptations would there be? What risk would there be for someone's faith if the more one of their most prized possessions was taken from them?

Any idea? You know what stands out to me about this woman? She wasn't bitter. She wasn't bitter against her husband. She wasn't resentful towards God.

How do I know that? Because look how highly she speaks of her husband. And she is willing to still inquire of the Lord. That's not the case for many people. It's not hard to imagine how some in her situation would approach the situation differently.

Coming to Elisha and saying, your servant your servant is now dead. He's not here. He's died. And look at what serving God gets you, Elisha. How does God do this?

We're talking about a remnant of prophets left in Israel and God chooses to take one of them early. Why doesn't he take one of the wicked prophets instead? That sounds exaggerated? No, it doesn't. That's very possible.

Nothing of the sort with this one. Though it doesn't say it explicitly, I believe with all my heart that it wasn't just her husband who feared the Lord, this woman feared the Lord as well. Not just a woman who was free from bitterness, but there's something else that she possessed. What was it? Somebody said it?

Humility? Sure. Humility expressed how? Faith. She knew where to run to in her time of great distress, in this tragedy, in this calamity, in this situation that would change the trajectory of her life.

She went to the mouthpiece of God, namely Elisha who represented God. So this woman believed God and I have no doubt that she had a grasp on the law of God. But I wonder if she had her mind. I wonder if she understood and applied a particular law that speaks to her situation. Go to Exodus twenty two twenty two.

It's an easy reference and notice what God says about widows. Exodus 22 verse 22 to 23. She would have had access to this. She would have understood this. She probably might have memorized this.

You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. Look what it says next. If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. I wonder if she's acting upon that promise. She's being mistreated.

She's being abused. She's surrounded by people who don't honor God's law. So she goes to a man who does honor God and she is crying out believing what? That God's going to hear. Isn't that what we're told in second Kings chapter four verse one?

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha. She believes God's gonna hear her. She might have not understood why God allowed things to happen the way they happened, but she still believed God was good. God was still for her. Oh, this this woman is remarkable.

So we learned something from this unnamed deceased husband. We learned something from this widow. We still have one more character. We haven't passed verse one and two yet, but it's okay. There's no rush.

Right? Look at Elisha in verse two. Let me ask you the same question again. What stands out to you about Elisha in this particular case? Look at how he responds to her.

That will be your clue. And Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house? Read carefully. Read slowly.

Anything stands out to you about that? Let me put it this way, is he apathetic? Is he reluctant to help this woman? No. You sense urgency, don't you?

Read it again. There's desperation in his voice. What shall I do for you? Tell me what have you in the house? So I see something about this prophet in light of what we just learned in the previous chapter that he was somebody who was willing and eager to help a single woman in private, not just kings on a national stage.

What what did we end with last week? That Elisha was the vessel God used to deliver armies from a foreign enemy, potentially defeating them. And the same man who was willing to help kings was also willing to help one that was easily overlooked. You know, we have this notion, if our service to God is not public, if it doesn't reach out or contribute to the masses, then it's not powerful or meaningful. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Elisha did not dismiss the importance of representing God before armies, but he also was willing to come to the aid of somebody who was hurting, ignored, hidden, Maybe even despised? I just wanna pause here and actually exhort you and ask you a few questions. Are you only willing to exercise your gifts with the knowledge that it will be honored or recognized somehow? Are there people in your church that you may be looking over, looking past, dismissing because they don't have status, they can't return aid to you in any way. If so, crucify that concept quickly and be willing to go out of your way for those who are often overlooked.

Let me ask you another question. I've asked this question many times in our study of the Old Testament. Let's see who remembers. Who is the first person in the scriptures where the title man of God was given to? Good.

Moses in Deuteronomy. It's the first time the title man of God appears and is attributed to a particular individual. Now, what you're gonna discover in the next few chapters of our study from four onward is that this title man of God is given to Elisha many times, and here's what's even more exciting. There is no other named individual in the Bible where the title man of God is given to more than Elisha. Now why do I bring that up?

Because that reference is granted in this context. Look at verse seven once more. She came and told the man of God, and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest. So this title man of God is applied to Elisha in the context of him willing to serve a hurting family. What's your idea of a man of God?

Somebody who preaches before thousands, who travels and does conferences? You know how the bible describes a man of God? Somebody who is willing to come to the aid of a widow who could not afford her next set of groceries. That's a man of God according to the scriptures. That's a woman of God according to the scriptures.

It's not about grandeur. It's not about platform. It's not about likes. It's not about follows. We need to rediscover the beauty of serving people even when nobody knows about it.

He was a man of God. Let's continue. Let's reread verse three. So Elisha asked, he inquires, and he learns that her resources are very scarce, so he gives her now divine guidance in verse three. Then he said, go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels, and not too few.

Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels, and when one is full, set it aside. Anything stands out to you about these instructions? I mean, I'm not looking for insight. Let's actually just break down these instructions. What was she to do?

She was to borrow vessels. They were supposed to be empty. And there's a very important point, they were not supposed to be few. As many as she can get. K?

Seems straightforward. But put yourself in her shoes again and imagine what it would feel like to hear those words in light of the predicament that she's in. What is the main problem at hand here? What's the issue that they're trying to solve? We said it earlier, starts with the letter d.

Debt. Okay? Her problem was that whether her husband or her after husband died, borrowed money and could not pay it back. And imagine how you go to this man of God for some help, and the first instruction he gives you to relieving you of this debt is what? Go borrow.

It's like, I actually that was that's what got me in trouble to begin with. Now you're telling me to borrow more. This is not a lesson that permits those who are in debt to incur more debt. It's actually a lesson about how sometimes the commands of God are counterintuitive or at least they seem counterintuitive. So what do we learn from here?

That God is to be trusted at all times in all things especially when your obedience involves people who may not understand why you are doing what you are doing. Wasn't that what was about to happen? Because Elisha tells her, yeah, go borrow vessels from where? The nearest Home Depot? All your neighbors.

Not just a couple, not just a few. Go to all your neighbors. Can you imagine going to every house on your street and around the block, having a reputation of being in debt, borrowing and not giving back to ask people if you can borrow some of their possessions? So this was a call to great trust and faith and humility. You can imagine the potential questions that these neighbors would ask.

You can imagine the potential fear of being rejected by some of these neighbors, but it didn't matter. And this is a reminder that when we obey God, we cannot allow what people might say to us, about us, doubt us, question your motives. All of that has to be dismissed. If God said it, you do it. And don't try to have everybody understand why you're doing what you are doing.

Many people have been called into the ministry for example and they don't get the support of their family. They don't people don't understand. That's okay. And not just ministry for anything. Some Some people don't understand why you're forgiving somebody who doesn't deserve forgiveness.

You obey God. Doesn't matter what your neighbors say. Some people don't understand why you come to church. Okay. Sunday yeah.

Friday? Who goes to bible study on Friday night? Well, they don't understand it. It's okay. You go to bible study.

That's what your heart's desire is and that's what you believe God is calling you to. So she was to obey despite misunderstandings, questions about her motives or doubts with her intentions. But there's one more thing about these instructions. It was the last part about it. Not that she was just supposed to go to all her neighbors, get empty vessels, but what?

Not too few of them. Get as many as you can. So I'm imagining here that Elisha is expecting her and her sons to get more than just a couple of jars and pots each. I'm thinking they have to fill their living room, their bedrooms, the garage, if there was a garage. So you know what that would require?

Hard work, knocking on doors, gathering vessels, going back home, dropping off the vessels, going back to get more from that one house and then go to the next house. I don't know how long this took, but I find it amazing that when God was ready to provide for this woman, he called her to participate in the process. We saw this back in second Kings three with the three kings and their armies that God was gonna meet their need but he also asked them to do something in the process. And it's no different with this widow. Why?

Because the same rule applies to all. And what is that law? That if you wanna see God move, guess what? You must be willing to move. God's power is designed to work alongside with our participation.

So listen, whenever there's a crisis, whenever there's a tragedy, whenever there's a great need, you have to be willing to pray. You have to be willing to praise. You have to be willing to plan. You have to be willing to seek. You have to be willing to send.

You must be willing to receive. As you wait on the Lord to come through and do what only he can do, I actually wanna challenge you to look at most miracles in the bibles and realize that even in the New Testament with Jesus, he calls for the participation of those involved in the need that they are seeking him for. And we see it here. She was working and God was gonna come and work for her. Let's read verse five.

So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons and as she poured, they brought the vessels to her. So an undisclosed period of time passes and this woman and her sons, they felt as though they had gathered enough vessels. And their obedience continues to shine in this text because they honor the latter portion of Elisha's instructions, which were what? Look back at verse four. It wasn't just to gather them into gather many of them, but to go and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels.

And when one is full, set it aside. Is there any idea why God wanted this to be a private matter? We're not explicitly told but let me give you one major reason. I think it was to protect her. Was she vulnerable?

Very vulnerable. Were there vultures around her? Yeah. We got a hint of it with this creditor willing to take advantage of her. So I believe in part the reason why this was supposed to be done with closed curtains and a closed door was so that, she wouldn't be taken advantage of as she was receiving from the riches of heaven.

But besides that, we may not be getting a full explanation. There is one undeniable observation about the fascinating ways of God in this situation. Here it is. He does miracles behind closed doors. I love to hear what God is doing in people that I know through them, for them.

It moves me. When I get a text or I meet somebody after the service or an email or even when I watch something on YouTube and I hear how somebody came to Christ or how somebody experienced a miracle, it always moves me. But when studying the Bible, especially with miracles like this, I am encouraged and called to be stirred about what God is doing without me knowing. In other words, he's always moving. I just like to envision it.

Here you have a woman with her sons and they have a pouch of oil and they have these empty jars surrounding, they can't even move an inch. And they're just squeezing this oil out. I mean, that's work in itself. Right? And then once one jar came to the brim with rich oil Listen, I believe God provided the riches of oil.

Just like when Jesus provided the best wine in Cana. This wasn't cheap oil. This was the good stuff. And so she pours this out and then one son moves in, another one brings an empty vessel. And all of that was taking place while the neighbor is cutting his grass.

While the others are doing dishes, nobody knew about it except for this small family and the prophet who gave them the instructions. And with this exciting thought comes another observation. While these instructions were unique to a particular individual, the idea of God doing something special in seclusion is not uncommon for you and I. You know, you might be sitting here thinking, I would love to see God do something spectacular like that in my life and I'm here to tell you though, this is again a unique instance. You have a similar invitation.

Say, what are you talking about? I'm talking about what Jesus said about you and the privacy of your own home. My mind went to Matthew six six. But when you pray, what are you supposed to do? Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

There are many things to take about from Jesus' words here. One of the things is that when the Lord sees you and I willing to set time apart, to leave distractions and agendas at the door, and give him your full attention, he will reward you. Let that be one of the incentives to get you planning and disciplined for that time with the Lord. He will reward that. It moves the father to see his child, stepping into that bedroom, closing the door, stepping into that car with nobody else, with no podcast playing, and talking to him.

He will reward you. He will pour something into your life. Can I tell you one of the rewards? I can say with great confidence and with complete boasting in the Lord that one of the rewards of that in my life is that he has kept my heart soft toward him. And he has opened my eyes to treasures in his word.

And he has helped me solve situations where I almost felt like Daniel in Daniel chapter two, where revelation came in an emergency. Hasn't happened much, but when it happened, it's enough to mark you forever. There are rewards that await us with our faith in private. If your only interaction with the Lord is public, you're missing out on many rewards, many rewards. But take this truth from Matthew six six and believe that every time you go in there, something is happening whether you realize it or not.

Famously, somebody once said that prayers may not always change things that you're praying for, but it's definitely changing you. That's what you can always come out with. There might be delay. There might be immediate answers or solutions or provisions, but one thing is for certain, you getting before the presence of God will not leave you the same. You may not notice it.

Just like Solomon's temple, when they built it, they did not hear the sound of hammers clinging against stones. It may not be immediately perceived, but you can believe Matthew six six. He will reward you. So here's this woman with her two sons in the privacy of their home, ready to experience a miracle. And I'd like to believe that whenever I get before God, that privilege in itself is a miracle.

I have an audience with the resurrected ascended Jesus Christ of Nazareth. If you want one thought that can recalibrate you while you're trying to pray but you're thinking about your laundry, pause and remember that you are speaking to Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died on the cross for your sins, who existed and walked on this earth, who conquered death, who one day is coming back, but also in the meantime promise, if you ask in my name, I'll answer it. That kind of revelation will make you less anxious about your homework that day and give some quality time before God. Let's continue in these final verses. Verse six.

When the vessels were full, she said to her son, bring me another vessel. And he said to her, there is not another. Then the oil stopped flowing. Oh, there's so much to say about this verse, but I wanna connect it with verse seven. Let me stop here and ask this.

Imagine now in your excitement I mean, you don't mind. You are ready to lose your sons to be slaves, and here you are pouring out of this pouch oil, and you're not even looking, you're just mesmerized by this miracle. And you ask for another vessel and your son says there's no more, and you look and you see the glistening golden oil all around you. What thoughts would come to mind if you knew that in if I can use this language, if you won the lottery? What what would happen?

What plans? What dreams? What relief? What excitement? What what would happen to you?

Where would you go? Who would you call? What would be your next move? This woman is remarkable. You're saying why?

Look what she does in verse seven. She came and told the man of God. In other words, she was such a careful listener. When Elisha told her, go to all your neighbors, ask for empty vessels, don't get too few of them, and then go into the privacy of your home and pour into it. When it's full, you'll get another one.

Fill it up. She understood that there was no instructions after that. And so what does she do? She goes to the man of God who initially helped her and asked for further guidance. But here's the picture.

It's very easy to cry out to God in your want. It's not common to cry out to God when you got it. It's very easy to cry out to God when you're experiencing a season of poverty. It's less common to come before God as she does before Elisha in your plenty. And this is why she's so inspiring because she's now asking, what do I do with all of this?

So here you are, you've been asking God for a house and he gave you the house. Now has your praying stopped? Here you are asking God for a spouse and he in his goodness provides a spouse. Have you stopped crying out to him? Here you are asking God for a job and he provided you that job.

Are you as eager and desperate to get before him when you were looking for something that would help you and sustain you and provide for you? This woman asks. She receives, but she doesn't stop asking and seeking her God. She's just as eager to know what to do in her prosperity as she was in her poverty. Unfortunately, that is not the case with many.

They get drunk almost with the excitement of even blessings. You remember how many lepers were healed by Jesus in the gospel of Luke? 10 of them? How many came back and gave thanks to him? Consider that ratio.

Make it a conviction early on that you will not just be intense in your prayers, but you'll be just as intense with your praise. Not just in your supplication, but in your thanksgiving. Not just when you need something, but, oh, come to God with whatever he has granted you. Say, now what, Lord? Where do you want me to go from here?

What do you want me to do with this? You've given it to me. You gave me this kid these kids. You gave me these blessings. What do you want from me, Lord, now?

Aren't you moved by this woman? I'm moved by this woman. I'm moved by something else as we close in a moment here. Notice the instructions that Elisha gives her. Go sell the oil and pay your debts.

That's a good principle. If you and I are in debt, it should be our duty as men and women of character, followers of Jesus Christ. Romans thirteen eight says, no owe no one anything. So seek to deal with those debts as your duty. But notice what he says next.

Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest. Connect this with her faithfulness and her obedience to the initial instructions. What if she had only taken a few vessels? Let's just imagine. What if she only had half a roomful because she was getting tired or she's like, I don't wanna do this anymore.

She might have been able to cover her debts, but she might have lost the overflow. It's one thing to be safe from debt, but if you don't have anything to help you and sustain you moving forward, then you can return back into debt. But she obeyed God to the extent that she was able not just to escape this predicament but stay out of it. What's the lesson here? The lesson is the importance about full obedience.

Some people are satisfied with partial surrender to the Lord. Oh, yes. They're out there. Where they reflect and they look at their lives and they they comfort and soothe their conscious because they say, well, I'm obeying the Lord here, here, here. I know I'm not obeying the Lord here, but at least I'm doing something.

You might feel like you are gaining something from such a mindset, but understand that you are robbing yourself of the full reward of obedience when there is not full obedience. Can I ask you something in closing? Is there any area in your life that you are aware of where you have not surrendered to the Lord, but you're comfortable because you're doing this and you're trusting him here and you're obeying that part, you're missing out. You may not see it now, but just like this woman, you may realize it down the road, and I don't want you to realize it in that way. I want you to realize it in the positive that this is what obedience and complete surrender has brought me to.

Is there anything? Any area that's been nagging your conscience? Seek to obey him fully. That is the only way to know complete blessing. More can be said, but let's close our bibles and now turn to the Lord in prayer.

Lord, we thank you that there is indeed a message behind every miracle recorded in your word. And at this time, Lord, we pause to reflect on these things, and we ask that you would make them real to us. Show us where they apply and help us conform ourselves to complete obedience. Make us true men and women of God. Help us get a right understanding of what that means and how to live that out.

Lord, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who paid all our debt. And even in this miracle do we have a vignette of the gospel. Where under the law, we are in trouble but you come and you rescue us from it. Lord, we pray that tonight you would receive our praise, our honor, our thanksgiving because your word is alive. And every week you never fail to speak to us.

Thank you oh Lord that history cannot but confirm that what we have before us is the truth. Thank you that we are in the truth. Now Lord help us live it. Help us discover more of it. Help us to enjoy it, to herald it, to declare it without shame.

Help us to obey it when our neighbors may not understand it. Help us trust oh god that you will honor us. Help us rediscover the joys of the secret place. Closing that door, meeting with you, and believing that there's a reward that awaits us. Lord, we honor you tonight.

We give you all the glory and all the praise. And we ask and pray for these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If the praise team can come up, please.

I wanna invite you to just take your time to seek the Lord this evening. And this is the purpose of these Bible studies, not just to accumulate knowledge and interesting connections in the Bible, but for the word to connect with your heart ultimately. If you need to take some time before we even play, if we can just get even just a minute of gentle music to just focus our own hearts before the Lord, and then we'll stand and sing and give him praise, can we do that? Don't distract anybody to your left, to your right. Just meet with your God and we will close soon.