2 Kings 4:1-17 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 2 Kings 4:1-17. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
2 Kings 4:1-7 (NIV)
1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.
4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
On verses 1-7: Here we read a story of how God miraculously provided for a widow and her two sons. There are so many lessons we can learn from this passage, including that:
1. God is full of compassion. He has a heart for widows, the fatherless and the poor.
2. God will fill as much room as you give Him. Remember that oil is also often a symbol for the Holy Spirit. Also notice that the oil stopped flowing the moment they ran out of jars, or ran out of room. What can we learn from this? God wants to fill you with His Holy Spirit. The question is: how much room from your life will give Him to fill? Just as Elisha told the widow to ask her neighbours for empty jars and “don’t ask for just a few” (v2), let’s go out of our way to make room for the Holy Spirit. Let’s be generous with the time and space we give Him, for that’s when the Holy Spirit can really fill our lives.
3. Trust God, take Him at His Word and He will provide for your needs. In providing this miracle, God was saving this family and in particular the widow’s sons from being taken as slaves. Likewise, when we could not repay the debt we owed, when we were destined to be taken away as captives to sin, going from sons to slaves, God sent His Son Jesus to pay our debt so that we could go free.
4. God started with what the widow had: a little oil (v2). Similarly, when God wants to do a great thing with your life, He starts with what you have. So don’t focus on what you don’t have and take for granted what you do have. Believe that God can take what you have – as little as it may seem – and do something with it that is beyond what you could do or imagine yourself.
2 Kings 4:8-17 (NIV)
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat.
9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God.
10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there.
12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him.
13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?'” She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.”
15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway.
16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she objected. “Don’t mislead your servant, O man of God!”
17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
On verses 8-17: In the previous 7 verses, Elisha served a poor widow with two sons. Here Elisha interacts with the other end of the spectrum: a rich married woman who apparently was barren. This rich woman and her husband had a heart to serve God and serve Elisha, opening up their home to feed meals to Elisha, and eventually creating a room for him on their roof. In return, Elisha asks what he can do for this woman. The woman is polite and says she does not lack a thing. But upon learning that she and her husband had no son, and thus no heir to whom they could pass on their wealth, Elisha declares, “About this next year you will hold a son in your arms” (v16). The woman replies, “No, my lord. Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant” (v16) suggesting that deep down this woman longed for a son but didn’t think it was possible. True to His Word, God gives this woman a son.
What can we learn from this? God has a heart to bless those who are generous, who use what they have to advance God’s kingdom and to help God’s servants. You can never outgive God.
Holy Spirit, help me to make room for You today, knowing that You will fill as much room as I give You. Lord, may I take You at Your Word today. May I be generous with what I have, knowing that You will provide for all my needs. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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