Don't give up

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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