A Widow, A Pot Of Oil And God

A Widow, A Pot Of Oil, And God

2 Kings 4:1-4:7

A guy was on the side of the road hitchhiking on a very dark night and in the middle of a storm. The night was rolling on and no car went by. The storm was so strong he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him.

Suddenly he saw a car coming toward him and stop.

Without thinking about it, the guy got into the back seat, closed the door and then realized there was nobody behind the wheel! The car started slowly; the guy looked at the road and saw a curve coming his way. Scared, he started to pray begging for his life. He hadn't come out of shock, when

just before he hit the curve, a hand appeared through the window and moved the wheel. The guy, paralyzed in terror, watched how the hand appeared every time right before a curve.

Gathering his strength, the guy finally jumped out of the car and ran to the nearest town. Wet and in shock, he went to a restaurant and started telling everybody about the horrible experience he went through.

A silence enveloped everybody when they realized the guy was serious.

About half an hour later, two guys walked in the same restaurant. They looked around for a table when one said to the other,

"Look John, that's the dummy who got in the car when we were pushing it."

Introduction:

All of us have faced some hard times financially and spiritually. There are times when the cupboard is bare and the bank accounts are empty and the creditors are screaming for payment and there seems to be nowhere to turn but to God for help. We are like the woman in this story. We are destitute of the things we need and we have no visible means to get what we need from anywhere but God.

According to Jewish history this widow was the wife of Obadiah, who had hid the prophets by fifty in a cave in the times of Ahab. Ahab and Jezebel had persecuted and attempted to kill every true prophet or teacher of the Law of Moses.

…saying, thy servant my husband is dead…

…and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord…

Her husband was well known to the prophet, and known to be a good man, one of the 7000 who bowed not the knee to Baal. Because of the faithfulness of her husband she went to Elisha for help.

This was not a man who had squandered his income. He had done his best to supply the needs of his family and support the work of the ministry. In fact, it was his commitment to the work of the Lord that played a large part in the debt that he owed after his death."

* In the days of Elijah and Elisha in Israel, the principle prophets of God gathered about them a group of God’s workers called "the sons of the prophets." …and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen…

This widow’s husband, Obadiah, had taken his own money and spent it in the support of the prophets of God that had gone into hiding in a cave to escape the sword of King Ahab.

His commitment reminds us of the stories of those who hid and fed the Jews during Hitler’s occupation of Europe and the operation of the death camps. Those who did so had to do it at their own peril and at their own expense.

Obadiah had supported 50 prophets for a long time, buying food and drink for them all. It is no surprise then that he had accumulated such a large debt.

To most of us this scenario seems somewhat unfair. God’s man, doing God’s work, taking care of God’s people, doesn’t get any help from God and then it’s his own family that suffers in the end. What injustice is that in the eyes of man?

* One of these "sons of the prophets" died leaving debts and the creditor harassed the widow,

seeking to sell her two sons as bondservants to pay the debt.

* The thrilling story of how God heard the cry of this poor widow is a blessing to our lives!

* Note with me a few things in this message this Morning!

I. GOD CAN ALWAYS OPEN A WAY FOR HIS CHILDREN IN TROUBLE!

this "son of the prophets" died in debt - v.1

A. He brought heartache to his wife & almost brought slavery to his sons by having debts unpaid.

1. The widow was heartbroken! --She grieved over her dead

husband, she grieved over the unpaid debts

2. And she was nearly frantic that the pitiless creditor was about