Text: 2 Kings 4:1-7 KJV
Rev. Patrick P. N. Wleh, Missionary/Senior Pastor
Bethel Full Gospel Ministries International International
Silverton, Spar complex, Pretoria South Africa
+27723491514
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 the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt 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, who 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 children of the rest. (2 Kings 4:1-7 KJV)
I like many others have read and meditated on this passage of scripture for a very long time, maybe years. The woman in this story was broke, I mean very broke, at her end, and was about to lose her two sons to slavery. I want to say many of us are at our own near tipping point even now.
There few points to consider here:
- Humility
- Obedience
- Faith
She was humble enough to go to the man of God and state her cause. When we are proud we do not receive from God. Some people are going through what they are going through because they are not humble enough to come to the person who can help. They feel too big. This woman was not like that she came to the man of God in humility.
She was obedient enough to do what the man of God told her to do. Go and get empty vessels from the neighbors. Though it may not have made sense to her, but she obeyed. Many people in church will always question whatever the pastor says. Disobedient will rob you of receiving from God. She could have refused and say it made no sense to go and get empty vessels, but she obeyed.
She demonstrated faith. The man of God told her go into the room and lock the door behind you and your sons and begin to pour the oil into the vessels. She could also have said it made no sense. So many vessels and a small jar of oil? But she exercised faith and began pouring the oil into the vessels. Without faith the Bible says we cannot please God. Faith in God, and His word will settle every issue for us.
The woman went to Elijah, the prophet of the time, and asked what shall I do? Elijah did not answer her but rather asked her a question in response, a profound question.
The question was “What do you have in the house?”
This woman replied like anyone of us would do. She replied, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” (The miracle is in what you have and not what you do not have. God wants to work with what you have).
Her response is so interesting because we see here that she very well contradicts herself. She says she has “nothing,” but she also says she has “a jar of oil.” (BUT)
How often do we say the same thing? Well, I know I sometimes do. Interestingly, she referred to her one jar of oil as nothing.
How often do we have nothing left but God, only to say we have nothing left, when we can say, “But God!”?
Look at Elijah’s next command to her, it is completely confounding and beyond any human wisdom. He tells her to go and gather vessels, empty vessels, and gather not just few but as many as she can get.
Typically, when we have a need, we are looking for something of power and worth. We would likely be looking to find full vessels. But God knew where true worth awaited; empty vessels not full vessels of the world’s worth, but empty enough to receive all that the Kingdom had to offer.
Notice the oil did not cease as they were told by Elijah. The woman and her sons brought all the empty vessels back into the room and poured into them from their one jar of oil. It says the oil did not cease- it would not stop- until there were no more empty vessels.
We typically want to be seen as full, and we are looking for answers that are full, but emptiness here was the key, and indeed emptiness is the key. I Remembered being asked by my mother or father similar question, “what do you have in your hand?”
The truth is God can do more with our “Nothing” then we can with the world’s everything, and all He asks for are empty vessels. Will you allow yourself to be one?
To be empty is not a posture of poverty but of childlike belief, childlike faith. Many of us have grown up once more since being born again and have forgotten to let the child inside of us continue to live. The Lord sees that child who still lives somewhere deep within you and is calling such a hope forward now. A child can rejoice in their utter dependence on Father God because they trust in who they know more than what they know.
Mature childlike posture causes the Kingdom to flow very naturally, here on earth as it is in Heaven. The disciples in Mark 10:14 saw the children as a distraction, but Jesus saw them as a revelation. Childlike belief is like its own language, a secret code that unlocks what has already been freely given, like a messy sandbox few of us adults will ever enter for the foolish mess, and therefore miss out on the treasure buried beneath.
When we live childlike lives, our lives become a revelation of the Father. I can’t sit back and wait, but I can’t bring about the breakthrough through striving or perfection either. If you are battling something, anything, or in need of breakthrough, you may be exactly who and what the Lord is looking for. Your emptiness brings you that much closer to the simple, childlike nature that Jesus Himself said represents the Kingdom. The emptiness and dependence you feel right now in your circumstances maybe the very thing that qualifies you for His grace to be proven sufficient, His strength to be made perfect, and the power of Christ to rest upon your life.
There is a childlike hope in you, no matter how “grown-up” you may be. That child sees the only remaining jar of oil and recognizes the opportunity at hand. That child sees the empty vessels not as lack but as space to be filled with a power greater than their own. What do you have in your hands? Because God has you in His!