Don't
give up
Lesson text: 2 Kings 4:1-7
Do you ever feel trapped? Have you ever
felt like you were at the end of your life? What do you do when you reach that
point? The realist would say, “Just hang on.” The pessimist would say, “You
might as well give up; it’s only going to get worse.” The optimist might say,
“Just try another way and keep going on.” Each of those has its merits but, in
reality, what can you do?
Some are in that very place today! You are at the point of given
up. Not know what to do.
What do you do when you are facing problems with your children
that you cannot solve?
What do you do when your marriage is on the rocks and the
crashing waves of hopelessness are unrelenting?
What do you do when there are problems at work and it seems that
there is no way out?
What do you do when you have too much days left and your salary
is finished?
What do you do when you have followed a loved one’s body to the
graveyard and you cannot escape the loneliness, the grief and the pain?
What do you do when your heart is broken, your dreams are
shattered and your hopes have been dashed to bits on the cruel rocks of
reality?
What do you do when you are walking through a spiritual
wasteland and there seems to be no way out?
I don’t have the answer I believe you not
either but the Lord has the answers to all those questions. Let go to the
scripture 2 king 4:1-7.
I. V. 1
GOD KNOWS OUR PROBLEMS
A. There Was Despair In Her Family – This woman comes to the
man of God at the lowest moment of her life. She is in desperate straits!
B. There Was Death In Her Family – Her husband, her lover,
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.
C. There Was Debt In Her 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.
D. There Was Devotion In Her Family – In spite of all her
problems, she is still held firm in the grip of faith! She needs help, but she
does not turn to her family or her friends. She does not try to find someone to
loan her more money. In her desperation she turns to the man of God for help.
Lessons
There will come a day when you will reach the end of your
rope. Some have already been through it and can testify about it. Others are
there right now and are looking for some help. Others will arrive there
someday. We will all have our days of trouble and trial, Job 14:1;
John 16:33.
When you reach that point, the world, the flesh and the devil
are all going to tell you that God doesn’t see and that He doesn’t care. The
fact is, He does see, Pro. 15:3; says 3 The eyes of the Lord
are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
Remember Heb. 4:15; 15 For we do not have a high priest who
is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.
I want us to know that our problems, while they may
appear to be insurmountable in our eyes, are really just God’s opportunities in
disguise. Therefore, no matter what you are called on to face in this life,
learn to turn to the Lord first for the help you need. He cares! He is able! He
will work in your need!
V: 2-4 GOD RELEASES OUR
POTENTIAL
A. v. 2a How God Erases Our Faith – The Lord erased
the widow’s faith through two questions asked by Elisha. 1. What do you need?
2. What do you have? By those two questions, this woman was made to see the
size of her need and the smallness of her own resources. She needed everything
and she had very little. She needed much, but she could not possibly meet her own
needs.
B. v. 2b-5 How God Expands Our Faith – After God
erased her faith in herself and her own abilities, He began the process of
expanding her faith in the power of the Lord to meet her need. Again, He does
the same thing in our life.
1. v. 2b He Expands Our Faith Personally – Elisha’s
second question: “What hast thou in the house?” was designed to teach this
widow that it may not have looked like she had much, but in reality, she
already had everything she needed to obtain what she wanted. She couldn’t see
it, but God had already given her the very thing He would use to meet her need.
2. v. 3 He Expands Our Faith Publically – The widow
is told to go to all her neighbors and borrow all the empty vessels that she
can get her hands on. That is a strange command! How do you suppose she
explained this to her neighbors?
3. v. 4-5 He Expands Our Faith Privately – Faith
moved in that widow’s heart. She obeyed the Lord; she borrowed the vessels and
she and her sons shut themselves up in the house and trusted God to do what He
had promised to do.
When the Lord shuts us up in a place of total dependence, His
people will see Him come through for them time after time. This was Elijah’s
experience, 1 Kings 17. This was Daniel’s experience, Dan. 6. This was
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s experience, Dan. 3. This was the widow of
Zarephath’s experience, 1 Kings 18. This was the experience of the 5,000 who
were fed with the loaves and fishes, John 6. This was the experience of the
disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee, Mark 6.
v. 5-7
GOD GIVES OUR PROVISION
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.
A. v. 5 The Lesson Of God’s Provision – One of the
lessons we can learn from this episode 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!
B. v. 6 The Limit Of God’s Provision – 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 amount 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!
If we can trust Him to take care of us and if we can get
our vessels under the flow of His oil, there is nothing He can’t do,
Eph. 3:20; Jer. 32:17; 27; Gen. 18:14.
C. v. 7 The Largeness Of God’s Provision – When the
day was done, there was enough oil in those borrowed vessels to settle her
debts, meet her desires and supply her dependents! God’s supply was far more
than sufficient! That is the kind of ability our Father possesses. He is able
to do more than you can imagine, if you give Him the opportunity! Get your
vessels to Him and watch Him fill them all.
Are you at the end of your rope today? I
just want you to know that He careth for you! Bring your vessels; let Him amaze
you with what He can do with your situation.
DEACON YINKA ANIBABA
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