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Faith and miracles
Last week we studied about the importance of listening to the
voice of God, and moving towards His will. We learned
that when we are willing to listen and do His will, we
will receive the blessings that He has stored for us.
We learned that we must trust Him in all things, and
that we must not allow our faith to falter or fail. But
the sad reality is that the faith of many believers does
falter, and sadly enough, does fail on many occasions.
The main reason for this is that many believers do not
trust God completely. Many believers are not convinced
that God can, and will resolve any situation in their
favor. In other words, many believers doubt that God is
attentive to their needs. The problem is that the end
result of this doubtful attitude is always the same.
The end result is that once a difficult situation
arises, or when confronted with a problem, the faith of
the person will fail, and that person will be blinded to
the blessings of God. Let’s now turn to
2 Kings Chapter 4:1-7 to
learn the message that God has for us today.
2 Kings 4:1-7
- 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.2And 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
any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 3Then
he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy
neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4And
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. 5So she went from him, and shut the
door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels
to her; and she poured out. 6And 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. 7Then
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.
Now, this first verse sets the tone to our story. I say that
it sets the tone because it clearly lets us know the
state of mind of this woman. Look carefully at her
words; she said “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.” If we were to just read this, we would
probably miss the pain and suffering reflected in her
statement. But when we take the time to analyze her
statement, we quickly realize that she was desperate.
The reason for this desperation was because her husband
had died. This perhaps does not have the same meaning
today as it did back then. Now, let me stop here and
clarify something, I do not want to be misunderstood. I
am not saying that the death of a spouse is not
important; the death of a spouse will always cause
sorrow. What I am saying is that in our days, it is
much easier for the surviving spouse to continue living
without much difficulty. But this was not the case back
then. In those times the husband was the principal
provider for the family. Therefore, the death of her
husband meant that she and her family would now find
themselves alone; they would now have to fend for
themselves. But as if that alone was not enough, we see
that the creditor was coming to take away her only two
means of support. She said “the creditor is come to
take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.” But what
does this mean? In order to comprehend this we need to
understand the way things worked back then.
Back in that time, very much like today, people did not have
the money to pay for certain things; therefore, people
would buy on credit. But unlike today that when we are
not able to make a payment all we do is pay interest
charges, in those days, those who could not pay the
creditor, the creditor could legally take possession of
their sons and make them slaves. So let’s imagine this
woman's pain, her husband, the provider, died. Her sons
were about to be turned into slaves to pay the families
debts. She was in a state of panic, her world was
crumbling. Everything that she had was shattering to
pieces. Now I ask; how many of us have been through a
similar situation? How many of us are suffering or going
through very difficult times? Desperate and suffering
because we are faced with problems or situations that
seem impossible to defeat. When we read between the
lines, we quickly see that the way she was speaking to
Elisha reflects that her faith in God was slaking; by
the tone of her conversation we quickly note that her
faith in God was weak. I am sure that she, as well as
many people today when faced with similar situations,
was asking herself, how can all of this be? She was
saying my husband was a man of God, he was a good
husband, he was a good father, and how could God just
take him away like this? Her faith was defeated. She was
doubtful, of God, she was desperate and in a state of
panic, and look at how the prophet answered her.
"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 any thing in the house, save a pot of
oil." I am sure that this was not what she wanted to
hear. I am sure that the first part of his response was
something that left her a little shocked. I am sure
that to this woman the first part of Elisha's answer
must have seemed uncaring and cold; it was almost like
what many say today when we tell them about a particular
situation and they say, that's your problem. But in
Elisha's answer what we truly find is that he knew that
this woman's faith had been defeated. He knew this and
that is why he said "What shall I do for thee?"
In other words, he wanted her to realize that her answer
did not lie in the hands of a man, her answer laid in
the hands of God. Elisha knew that there was nothing he
could do, and he wanted to have her regain her focus in
God. If we analyze this situation, we will quickly
realize that there are many today that are just like
this woman. There are many today that depend on the
help of men to relieve their suffering. There are many
today who look to men for answers, when in all actuality
they should be looking to the Lord. Just like in the
case of this woman, their faith has failed them. But
like I said, Elisha wanted her to regain her focus on
God. Elisha knew that only God could take away her
pain; let’s continue to analyze the scripture so that
you see what I am talking about.
When we read this verse again we see that she answered him by
saying "Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the
house, save a pot of oil." Can you see her defeated
attitude? She said she had nothing! But in reality this
was not the case, she had a pot of oil. Tell the
brother next to you, she had a pot of oil. And, what is
a pot of oil? Simply put, a pot of oil is a blessing
from God. Brethren all that we have and posses are
blessings from God. But the problem is that on many
occasions we do not know how to appreciate everything
that God gives us; we do not appreciate or value what we
have. But we must remember that God does not want us to
take anything for granted; that which you might think
insignificant or take for granted may be a great
blessing from the Lord, as was the case with this simple
pot of oil. Look at what happened next.
"Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy
neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few."
Here we see that Elisha again did something that
probably perplexed this woman; Elisha asked her to
borrow pots from her neighbors. I say that this is
something that left her perplexed because this woman was
already in debt. This woman was about to loose her two
sons into slavery because she could not pay her
creditors, but now Elisha was apparently asking her to
borrow more. Elisha was apparently asking her to become
deeper in debt. Let us look at this carefully because
at first glance this does not appear to make any sense.
But when we meditate in his request we realize that
Elisha was not telling her to go to the creditors to
borrow more, he did not tell her to get deeper in debt,
what he told her to do was to look around herself, and
to use the resources that God had provided. He did not
tell her to borrow from the creditors, he told her to
borrow from those that could help her without interest.
The problem was that she was so afflicted that she could
not see all of the riches that surrounded her; riches
that God had provided her. What am I talking about? The
same as us today, she had neighbors and family that
would help her. In a time of need, a good friend or a
loving family member is much more important and valuable
than all the riches in the world. But, when our faith
fails us and we succumb to the difficulty, the devil
will blind us to this fact. The devil will sneak into
our life to do his evil deed.
The devil wants to afflict us, he wants to sour our life, he
wants to defeat us and destroy our faith. He wants us
to think that God does not care about our problems and
our difficulties; he wants us to think that we are
alone, but of course none of this is true. The Lord
tells us in John 16:33 "These
things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world."
God will never abandon us and God will never ignore our
problems or difficulties, that is, as long as we
continue to have faith, as long as our faith does not
falter. But our adversary is very potent, and he knows
that if he divides us from our faith, then he has won
the battle. It is very important for us to realize that
if we allow ourselves to be divided from God's
resources, then the battle will have been lost. Satan
knows very well that saying "divide and conquer." We can
not allow him to divide us from our God. Continuing
with our study we see that Elisha said "borrow not a
few." This little statement lets us know that God
knew exactly how many pots she would need. God knew
exactly who she would be able to turn to in this hour of
need. Now look at the instructions that she received.
"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." "Shut the door upon thee and upon thy
sons." Close the door behind you. Tell the brother
next to you, close the door behind you. This woman went
door to door seeking help from her neighbors. Can you
imagine all of the things that she probably heard? I am
talking about things like, I am so sorry to hear about
your husband’s death; something that would only make her
vividly recount the entire memory. I am talking about
things like, please come in and sit down and let me know
how you are doing; something that would make her focus
on the preoccupations she had. These are questions that
she probably heard, and are questions that only served
to augment her anguish. In many occasions, people, while
attempting to comfort a person do more harm than good. I
say that people do more harm than good because often
times, although very well intended, all that many do is
force people to relive their moments of torment or
anguish.
In all reality, this woman did not know what was going to
happen, but she was employing the little faith that she
had to do as the prophet had told her. Elisha had
planted the seed of faith, and it was growing. But the
devil, our adversary was trying to destroy that seed
before it could grow roots. The devils was trying to
destroy that seed before it could grow roots because he
knows that if he can do it at that stage, then he has
very little to worry about. He knows that it is easier
to destroy a seed, than it is to try to uproot a tree
that has deep and strong roots. "Shut the door upon
thee and upon thy sons,” Elisha was telling her to
close the door behind all of her problems. Elisha was
telling her to close the door to all afflictions.
Elisha was telling her to close the door behind all
thoughts or doubts. Elisha was telling her to close the
door to the world and to enter in communion with God.
Tell the brother next to you, close the door behind you.
We have to close the door to the devil, and enter in
communion with God. When we close the door to the devil
and enter in communion with God, we will see the
impossible become a reality. When we close the door to
the devil and enter in communion the God, we will see
miracles in our life. Remember that there is nothing
impossible for God. Look at what happened next.
"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. 6And 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.” What happened here? She
closed the door. Tell the brother next to you, she
closed the door. She closed the door and her faith was
restored. This is something that we all need to seek;
we need to seek that our faith be fortified and that our
faith be restored. We need to seek this because as the
word tells us in Hebrews 11:6
"But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
And what is faith? The definition is found in
Hebrews 11:1 when we read
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.” Now you must examine
yourself and ask, how has my faith been affected by the
circumstances that surround me? You must ask yourself,
has my faith been affected so that I can no longer see
the hand of God in my life? These are two very tough
questions, and they are questions that only you can
answer. This woman's faith had truly been impacted; the
situations and circumstances that surrounded her had
taken their toll, but when her faith was restored a
miracle happened.
Look carefully at what happened, the word tells us "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. 6And 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." When we started she said she had nothing,
she saw herself helpless. When we started she only had
a simple pot of oil. But as we see, from a single pot
of oil, she filled many. She filled vessels and vessels
of oil, she continued filling them all until there were
none left. How many can say praise God? Just dare to
imagine this, from one simple pot of oil, she filled
numerous empty vessels. This is exactly what happens
when we follow what God tells us. This is exactly what
happens when we close the door to the world, and open
our hearts to God. God will fill our needs, and God
will provide for us at all times. This is exactly what
happens when we close the door to the world and trust
God; God will manifest himself and His glory and power
will conquer our anguish and difficulties. Look
carefully at what happened next and you will be able to
see that what I tell you is the truth.
"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." She came to Elisha, and she
testified as to what God had done, she told him how God
had glorified himself in her life. This is something
that we must all learn to do; we must testify of His
glory; we must testify of His power; we must testify of
His mercy; we must testify of His grace. Upon hearing
her testimony we find that Elisha told her to go to the
market, and to sell the oil to pay her creditors. But
there is something here that is of the utmost
importance. Brethren God had provided for this woman.
God glorified himself in such a way that this woman
would no longer have anything to worry about. God had
provided in such a way that she would not only be able
to pay off her creditors, she has enough left over for
her and her sons to live from the profits. This is what
happens when we are attentive and obedient to the word
of God. God will provide us with an abundant life.
Look at how our Lord tells us in
John 10:10 when we read "The thief cometh not,
but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come
that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly." The devil will come and try to
steal the blessings that God has given you. The devil
will try to blind you to the resources that God has
placed around you. The devil will try to separate you
from the love of God, but remember that he has no power
to do this. The word tells us in
James 4:7 "Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you." God provides us the strength
and authority to defeat our enemy. God provides for His
faithful children, but the key word here if faithful.
That is why I say that we must all seek that our faith
be strengthened, and seek that our faith be restored.
In
conclusion.
The Lord tells us in Luke 17:6
"...If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye
might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by
the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should
obey you." Now, many people look at this and take it
literally, and think who would want to move a mountain?
But, what is a mountain? To the woman in our story the
mountains in her life were quite a few. She had no
money, her husband and sole provider had died, the
creditors were about to enslave her two sons, and more
than likely she would wind up in the streets homeless.
She was standing in front of these mountains that seemed
impassable. Now I ask you, what mountains are you
facing? Are you standing in front of a mountain that
seems impassable? Are you standing in front of a
mountain that appears unmovable? Are you just standing
there completely helpless not knowing what to do? If
that is the case remember that Elisha was not the one
that solved the problems that this woman faced. Elisha
was but a vessel that God used to restore this woman’s
faith. Elisha was but an instrument that God used to
bring His word to this woman. As I said last week, we
must be attentive to the word of God, but must of all we
must be willing to move or act upon it at all times.
This woman heard and acted, and as a reward God provided
for all of her needs, immediate and future. I say now,
look deep inside you and ask, how strong is my faith?
If after examining yourself you find that your faith is
not as strong as you would like it to be. If after
examining yourself you find that you doubt him in
difficult situations, then I say unto you, close the
door to the world and enter into communion with God.
Seek His face through prayer, and ask him to fertilize
that seed of faith.
© Jose R. Hernandez |
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