{"id":35333,"date":"2025-04-04T22:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=35333"},"modified":"2025-03-25T19:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T02:34:07","slug":"2-kings-4_1-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-kings-4_1-17\/","title":{"rendered":"When You Take God At This Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings 4:1-17 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 4:1-17.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 4:1-7 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The 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\u00a0LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Elisha 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.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then 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.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When 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.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She 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.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-7:\u00a0 Here we read a story of how God miraculously provided for a widow and her two sons.\u00a0 There are so many lessons we can learn from this passage, including that:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0God is full of compassion.<\/strong>\u00a0 He has a heart for widows, the fatherless and the poor.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0God will fill as much room as you give Him.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Remember that oil is also often a symbol for the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Also\u00a0notice that the oil stopped flowing the moment they ran out of jars, or ran out of room.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God wants to fill you with His Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The question is: how much room from your life will give Him to fill?\u00a0 Just as Elisha told the widow to ask her neighbours for empty jars and \u201cdon\u2019t ask for just a few\u201d (v2), let\u2019s go out of our way to make room for the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be generous with the time and space we give Him, for that\u2019s when the Holy Spirit can really fill our lives.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Trust God, take Him at His Word and He will provide for your needs.<\/strong>\u00a0 In providing this miracle, God was saving this family and in particular the widow\u2019s sons from being taken as slaves.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

4. God started with what the widow had: a little oil (v2).\u00a0 Similarly,\u00a0when God wants to do a great thing with your life, He starts with what you have.\u00a0 So don\u2019t focus on what you don\u2019t have and take for granted what you do have.<\/strong>\u00a0 Believe that God can take what you have \u2013 as little as it may seem \u2013 and do something with it that is beyond what you could do or imagine yourself.<\/p>\n

2 Kings 4:8-17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One 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.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Let’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.”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Elisha 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.”
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.”
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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!”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 8-17:\u00a0 In the previous 7 verses, Elisha served a poor widow with two sons.\u00a0 Here Elisha interacts with the other end of the spectrum: a rich married woman who apparently was barren.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In return, Elisha asks what he can do for this woman. The woman is polite and says she does not lack a thing.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 The woman replies, “No, my lord.\u00a0 Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant” (v16) suggesting that deep down this woman longed for a son but didn\u2019t think it was possible.\u00a0 True to His Word, God gives this woman a son.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God has a heart to bless those who are generous, who use what they have to advance God\u2019s kingdom and to help God’s servants.\u00a0\u00a0You can never outgive God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holy Spirit, help me to make room for You today, knowing that You will fill as much room as I give You.\u00a0 Lord, may I take You at Your Word today.\u00a0 May I be generous with what I have, knowing that You will provide for all my needs.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 3:13-27.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n2\u00a0Kings\u00a03:13-14 (NIV)\u00a0
\n13\u00a0Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” “No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the LORD who called us three\u00a0kings\u00a0together to hand us over to Moab.”\u00a0
\n14\u00a0Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a013-14: \u00a0Elisha the prophet is approached by three kings: the idol-worshiping Joram king of Israel, the God-fearing Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom.\u00a0 Together they ask Elisha for guidance on what to do in their fight against the king of Moab.\u00a0 Knowing that Joram was a notorious idol worshiper who consistently disrespected the Lord, Elisha wonders, “Why are you coming to me when you can be consulting your idols?”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35336,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35333\/revisions\/35336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}