WHEN RESOURCES ARE GONE (2 KINGS 4:1-7)

 

WHEN RESOURCES ARE GONE

BIBLE PASSAGE: 2 KINGS 4:1-7

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://tonyEveansSermon/ http://www.sermonnotebook.org/

 

JULY 24, 2022

MEMORY VERSE

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

MATTHEW 6:33

 

INTRODUCTION:

Long time ago, during devotions, I asked a young people what's her greatest fear and she was replied that losing their family’s resources is one of her greatest fears. Honestly that’s true, right? What if your business collapse? What if you’re fired from work? What if your properties are gone? What if your health declines and you can’t work anymore? What if the breadwinner in the family is gone? There are many “ifs” and these make us worry. I remember the year when our father died, he was the breadwinner in the family. I couldn’t imagine the life we’re going to face – financial dilemma but God made a way we didn’t expect.

In our passage, there was despair in the family. In verse 1 the word “cried” means “to moan; to weep uncontrollably; to shriek out of grief.” This word identifies the sound of a broken heart. This woman comes to the man of God at the lowest moment of her life. She is in desperate state. There was death in the family – She was married to one of the “sons of the prophets”. These were the men who were in training under Elisha to be the prophets and preachers in Israel. Her husband, her friend, her provider, her protector, had been taken away from here in death. She is broken because a loved one has been taken away. Do you have the same situation as hers? There was debt in the family – Since her husband is dead she cannot pay her bills. As a result, her creditors are coming to take her sons away as slaves so they can work off the debt. This was allowed under the Jewish Law, Lev. 25:39.

“And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:”

Losing her husband and now she is about to lose her sons as well. She is over her head in debt and she doesn’t see how she can make it. Have you experienced the same way?

We may not have the same and exact situation as the widow woman but like her, we also have financial dilemma. In this kind of situation, we easily get irritated and angry. WHEN RESOURCES ARE GONE, LET’S…

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  RECOGNIZE IT’S NOT JUST A FINANCIAL ISSUE; IT’S A SPIRITUAL ISSUE.

Have we been in debt? The Bible says in Proverbs 22:7, “… the borrower is servant to the lender. Imagine a single parent who cannot pay her bills especially today the consumed per kilowatt is higher nowadays. I know every one of us can relate to this. Now her sons needed to work for the debt. They would live in debt. I don’t know if you’ll agree but living in debt is outside God’s will.

The widow woman in great desperation went to prophet Elisha for help. Why she didn’t go to a bank or any establishment that caters money?  There are some issues in our lives that we need to look at and most of the times there are spiritual problems God wants us to consider. During your spiritual meditation, ask God for wisdom to open your minds.  When will we consider a problem a trial or discipline by God? If you are faithful in every aspect of your spiritual life and then problem comes, then that’s a trial. But what if that’s not the case? What if there’s aspect of our spiritual life that we miss?

I know most of us here in Sunday School already knew about the debt that we have. Why we reached to that point? Aside from wrong decisions, I had not been faithful in my giving. Because of too much debt, it’s hard to give your tithes faithfully and also offerings. Then I had failed to pay the house rental in full then after months, it accumulated to 20k or more. Imagine that and a lot more problems came; it all piled up. We moved to a small house to lessen the expenses. To the worst, not just thousands and at the end it’s almost a million because of the business we entered to. That’s the end of the rope; we cannot hold this anymore. We prayed so hard and asked God for wisdom and thank God for the wisdom. I promised to give what I owed to the Lord and gave us the wisdom for the right decisions. Some told me to continue and fight but I said “No, I’ll stop at this point.” Some said, “That’s not good, you don’t have the resources to pay, and they will sue us.” But I said, “Let it be” but at the back of my mind God would be at our side just follow even it is hard. To make it short, we are still paying the debt but thank God for the deliverance from slavery of debt; God continues providing the payment. So you see with our experience, some problems come in connection with our spiritual condition.

 

In Luke 16:10 – 11 says,

¹⁰ He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. ¹¹ If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

¹⁰ Ang mapagkakatiwalaan sa maliit na bagay ay mapagkakatiwalaan din sa malaking bagay; ang mandaraya sa maliit na bagay ay mandaraya rin sa malaking bagay. ¹¹ Kaya kung hindi kayo mapagkakatiwalaan sa mga kayamanan ng mundong ito, sino ang magtitiwala sa inyo ng tunay na kayamanan?

 

May these verses remind us of our spiritual condition and let us desire to be faithful in least things so that we can be trusted in many things.

 

The widow woman is in the right decision to ask prophet’s help and didn’t go to someone else. Most of the times, Christians go to their friends, lender or anyone before going directly to God in prayer. Also, God uses pastors to remind and guide us. Whether we accept it or not sometimes we think that talking and asking pastor’s counsel is not the best way. We ignore that there are spiritual implications we need to think about. We always say “these are only trials” but unknowingly, God wants to correct something in us or warn us. 

 

2.  ESTABLISH AS GOD AS YOUR SOURCE

Sometimes God takes the source we trusted so that we can realize that God is the ultimate source we need. Like the widow woman, the source was her husband. In their culture, women on that time stayed in houses to take care of everything. I don’t know how you can relate to this but honestly that is a great desperation. Imagine your resources are gone. You can no longer pay your bills. Thank God if we have members of the family who supported us but remember GOD is the ultimate source. He can reverse everything you have right now.

When the widow woman was asked by Elisha in verse 2, “What hast thou in the house?” She replied she had not anything in the house. Sometimes we see what we don’t have or focusing on the things we don’t have. And also, sometimes we have blessings but it doesn’t reflect on our countenance and words. We always say, “This is only what we have” and in food “Ito lang ulam namin eh.” This happens right? That’s why I correct myself too.

At the end of verse 2 she said she had a “pot of oil.” Elisha is not the “Genie” who gave your wish to be granted on that moment. She was given instructions what to do and she responded and followed. When the pots were all filled up the oil stopped. Then she needed to sell those pots of oil. It means she needed to work. What personal lesson we can learn from this? If all the family members have no work and you pray for blessings to come on your doorstep, what do you think is the problem? God wants us to work and He’ll guide and give us energy to work (Deu. 8:18)

But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

As a proof that we are seriously believing that God is our source, let’s give our tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:10). The tenth of what we receive is not ours it’s for God. Malachi firmly states that we rob God every time we take what is supposed to Him. Let’s think, who will bless a thief? If we rob God, how can He bless us? Psalms 50 says,

¹⁴ Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: ¹⁵ And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

This verse reminds us to pay our vow and then call upon Him. He won’t hear us if we keep on robbing Him. In 2 Corinthians 8:3 and 5, like we always hear about Macedonians, they gave beyond their power. How can they do that? First, they gave their own selves to the Lord. Giving is an expression on what you feel about God. We also hear from our pastors and preachers that money is the indicator of our spiritual condition.

CONCLUSION:

The woman and her sons filled one vessel after another until every vessel they had borrowed was full. She began that day with nothing, she ended it with everything! That is what our God can do.

“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” (Leviticus 4:7)

One of the lessons we can learn from this story is that God will do exactly what He has promised to do. Elisha promised that the Lord would fill the vessels, v. 4, and He did! It’s the Lesson of God’s provisions. He will keep all of His promises to you too! Not a single word in a single promise will fall to the ground unfulfilled! God will do everything He had promised to do. He meant everything He said! He will do everything He has promised.

Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Tagalog:  Hindi nagbabago at hindi nagsisinungaling ang Diyos tungkol sa dalawang bagay na ito: ang kanyang pangako at sumpa. Kaya't tayong nakatagpo ng kanyang kalinga ay panatag ang loob na umaasa sa mga pangako niya.

 

 Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

 

The oil flowed until the vessels ran out. When the day was done, every vessel was filled to the full. There was no limit on the amount of oil. The only limit was on the number of vessels. God’s provision knew no limits in the widow’s case, and it knows no limits in your case! God is able to meet every need, move every mountain, and solve every problem. His provision is limited by nothing but our faith. God stands ready to give all that you make room for in your life, no more and no less! We need to be faithful because He is faithful. I remember the chorus of the song of the choir “WHAT A FATIHFUL GOD HAVE I!” Amen! Let’s also remember the verse in Matthew 6:33.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Sometimes or most of the times, Christians only see the last part of this verse “…and all these things shall be added unto you.” We always quote without realizing the first part which is seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness… We quote even we evidently see with our eyes how unfaithful we are in small things like going to church, like giving your P10 as your tithes. So, you see, the Bible already indicates how to be blessed and how things would be added unto us. IT’S NOW OUR DECISION.