Over the past few weeks I have been sharing w/ you some insights from my reading in 1 & 2 Kings. And I would like to take 2 more weeks because there is a theme being presented & expanded on in these 3 chapters of 2 Kings. The backdrop is the ministry of Elisha but the real story is the truth presented about God & His involvement in the lives of His children.
Let’s do a quick review:
• 2 Kings 2:19-22 – The Power of God to Change the Unchangeable.
The people of Jericho faced an impossible situation. The spring produced polluted water thereby making it undrinkable & the land unfruitful. And to make matters worse, there was nothing that could be done to remedy the situation. It was an unchangeable situation.
Yet, some men of the city recognized the authenticity of Elisha as a prophet of God & thereby God’s representative. And so they went to Elisha. In response to their humble req
uest & expectant faith God performed a miracle & changed the unchangeable.
The challenge to us was - are there unchangeable situations, be it a person, situation or whatever – are there any unchangeable situations you are facing? Maybe it has gone on for years & you have resigned yourself to the fact that it or they will never change. If so, I send you to the God who has the power to change the unchangeable.
• 2 Kings 3 – (v.18) “It is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord”
In this 2nd story we have the kings of Israel, Judah & Edom going to war against the king of Moab. They thought they had come up w/ a good military strategy but it turned into a disaster. They found themselves in the middle of the desert w/o any water & facing imminent death. King Jehoshaphat, being the follower of God in the group, asked if they might call for a prophet & so enter the scene Elisha.
Elisha announces that God will do a miracle. He will provide abundant water out in the middle of the desert. They were instructed to dig trenches & in the morning they were filled w/ water. Through Elisha, God also stated he would deliver the Moabites into their hands & then stated that both of these actions were an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord to acc
omplish.
How encouraging that was. The armies were facing an impossible situation. There was nothing they could do to fix it, solve it or change it. They were going to die, but that which was impossible for them to do anything about was an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord to do.
And as we brought out in that message, the miraculous is a very little thing w/ God. We think just the opposite - that it is a very big thing - but the miraculous requires no effort on God’s part. He does not have to go & rest afterwards because He is drained from the effort. It requires no effort. It is an easy thing for Him to do & therefore it is an easy thing for Him to care for you, provide for you, enable you. And whatever situation you are facing today, that is on your heart today – it is an easy thing for the Lord to deal with. He is not baffled, stumped or frustrated. It requires no emergency meeting of the Godhead. He is the God who has the power to change the unchangeable. There is NO situation which requires more effort than any other situation.
But there was a caution in this particular story. As the armies went forth to battle they did not achieve ultimate victory because they diverted their eyes off the Lord & unto a seemingly powerful display by the enemy.
And we can do the same thing. We see the chains that bind a loved one & think their changing is hopeless which leads us to get our eyes off the Lord & his power to change the unchangeable. We see the sickness that doesn’t respond to treatment or worse, completely baffles the doctor and we conclude it is hopeless.
The enemy wants to deceive you into thinking it is hopeless for he knows if he can accomplish that you will get your eyes off the Lord & thus stop believing that this is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord to handle. So let us keep focused on the Lord asking Him to display His mighty power once again in that situation on our hearts showing declaring again that He is the God who can change the unchangeable.
• 2 Kings 4:1-7 – The Great & Faithful Provider
The 3rd story involved a widow w/ 2 sons who was facing her own impossible, unchangeable situation. She had no money, no way to raise any money & yet she owed a debt & therefore her sons were to be taken as slaves to the creditor. Now, granted this was not on the same scale as a massive army facing death out in the desert, but in her mind it was the same. What we learned in this story was that we have an all powerful God, who changes unchangeable situations but not just for kings & governments & important people but also for the “little man”, the insignificant, the ones no one knows about. God delights in showing Himself as the Great & Faithful Provider – yes, for kings but also for nondescript widows. So God took her hopeless & unchangeable situation & performed a miracle by filling all the jars she could collect w/ oil which could then be sold. It was something that was easy in His eyes to
do.
So these 3 themes have been our focus & they’ve all centered on the great ability of our God.
• He is the God who can change that which is unchangeable, be it a person or a situation.
• He is the God who states that it is an easy thing in His eyes to meet whatever your need, your situation is.
• And He is the God who is the Great & Faithful Provider even to nondescript widows.
Now as we come to our story today, 4:8-37, these 3 truths we have just talked about are presented in bright array once again. God enters the picture & shows Himself as the One who changes that which is unchangeable, not just once but twice & that it is an easy thing for Him to do & by doing so proves Himself again as the great & faithful provider. Join me as rejoice in the workings of our God.
2 Kings 4:8 – “prominent woman” - Literally, “a great woman.” The word “great” is sometimes used of wealth, influence or character (1 Sam. 25:2; 2 Sam. 19:32), so it may mean “great in importance, influence and/or character (1 Kings 10:23).
I believe she was a great lady not just from a human point of view but from a spiritual one as well. Notice them w/ me:
#1 – She Was A Great Woman Because She Practiced Hospitality – v.8,10
In Ancient times there were no Holiday Inns. Those who traveled were dependent upon the gracious hospitality of the people in the land, especially the prophets in their itinerant ministries as they traveled about from place to place.
In the NT this is 1 of the signs of maturity, a qualification for elders, & a general responsibility for all believers, especially to fellow believers. And it is mentioned as 1 of the requirements for widows to be placed on the list for support (cf. Matt. 10:40-42; 25:35-40; 1 Tim. 3:2 and 5:10).
This lady was generous & hospitable. She willingly opened her home to the need she saw. Because this became a regular occurrence whenever Elisha passed by, she wanted to go a step further. She asked her husband to build on a room to make life more comfortable for the prophet. She probably recognized his need for rest & quietness & they apparently had the resources to do this.
Here’s a novel thought: whenever people build houses the focus is on what they want, but how many people ever think about adding a room to their plans so that it can be used for ministry & hospitality? That would be different, wouldn’t it?
This lady practiced true hospitality as opposed to mere entertaining & here’s the difference between the 2.
• In entertaining the focus is upon the hosts & their home, the furnishings, décor, etc. which are all designed to impress the guests.
• In hospitality the focus is on the comfort, pleasure, & refreshment of the guest. The design is to bless the guest. See the difference?
#2 – She Was A Great Woman Because She Was A Discerning & Sensitive Woman – v.9-10
This really flows out of hospitality. She was not simply satisfied w/ a place for Elisha to turn in to but knew he needed a private place, a place to pray, meditate, study, refresh himself & be alone w/ God. She was concerned for the details of his needs. That is hard to be tuned into if your focus is on your needs & your wants.
#3 - She Was A Great Woman Because She Was Interested In Promoting the Work of God – v.9
She did what she did for Elisha because she perceived he was a man of God, that is, a prophet teaching the Word & doing the work of God. By her concern & her actions she was promoting God’s work. She took God seriously & got involved w/ God’s work according to her abilities & the opportunities God gave her. You don’t have to be the out-front or up-front person to be involved in God’s work.
#4 – She Was a Great Woman Because She Was Content – v.11-13
On 1 of the times when Elisha stopped as he sat in his room pondering all that this couple had done for him it filled w/ gratitude so that he wanted to bless them in return. So he sends his servant to find out what he could do for them & even offers a few suggestions. He could use his influence to introduce them to the king & to mingle w/ the nobility of the land. Here was her opportunity to have her ministry to the prophet recognized in the leading circles of the country.
Don’t you love her response – v.13b, “I live among my own people.” Thanks, but no thanks. She had no desire for worldly advancement; she was not wanting to climb the social ladder of success. She was content w/ what God had provided her & w/ her place of service & ministry in the community. She was content w/ her home, her position, her friends, & her ministry. What a rare attitude!
Susanna Wesley – “I am content to fill a little space if God be glorified.” As the Scriptures say, “Godliness w/ contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).
She had learned to be content even though there was a secret ache in her soul, that ache being she had no children, she had no son to carry on the family name.
She had learned to be content even though that ache was there. What a lesson for us to learn. May I ask you this morning: do you have any hidden aches in your life? There are the more obvious ones but also less obvious ones. But the truth this lady declares to us is: One can live a life of contentment even though there are hidden aches. If you don’t experience that then what are you declaring to the world about God? God’s presence & power w/in us can transcend those aches of the soul.
But stop & consider Elisha’s offer to her. What can I do to bless you? Now here is Elisha, the prophet of God, the disciple of Elijah. She had heard his stories of the miraculous things God had done through the 2 prophets, impossible things. She had probably heard about Elijah raising the widow of Zarephath’s son back to life. Was it too much to think that this miracle working God could give her a son? He had done it to Sarah, to Rachel, to Samson’s mother & to Hannah. If there was any time to express her hurt & longing this would be the time. And yet all that comes forth is contentment w/ what God had given. See why she was a great lady?
What a brilliant gem for Christ you & I become if we can be content in the midst of such a discontented society, in the midst of a society that complains about everything, in the midst of a life that has been touched by hard things & in the midst of hidden aches in our soul. Brethren, pray for it; fight for it.
Observe in v.14 that Elisha still desires to bless her which I think is a picture of the heart of God. God wants to bless His children, especially those who are content in Him. Through his servant, Gehazi, Elisha’s attention is drawn to the obvious – v.14b –“Truly she has no son & her husband is old.”
And so he calls for her & prophesies, v.16a...
-16b – here you see that ache revealed. This was an issue which she had settled w/ the Lord. She had accepted His answer – have you? Or at least have you chosen to patiently & contentedly wait until He does answer. But this lady had accepted His answer & now it was almost too much to take to have those hopes revived again. But sure enough, God’s word through Elisha proved true & a son was born. God changed that which was unchangeable. This is an entirely different situation from what we saw w/ the water in Jericho or desperate armies in the desert but it makes no difference what the situation is - it is not out of God’s ability to work. He is the God who can change the unchangeable regardless. It makes no difference for it is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord. I wonder how many different kinds of unchangeable situations are represented here in our hearts this morning. Listen - It does not matter how many there are for there is nothing – no category, no case too extreme that is outside His ability to work. Hallelujah! “Father, grant us the faith to believe that & trust You for it.”
#5 - She Was A Great Woman Because She Was A Woman of Great Faith – v.18-25a
She has a son, but a number of years later he becomes sick while working w/ his father. We are not told what the cause of the headache was, but it led to his death in the arms of his mother, but it is here where we see she was a lady of great faith as she takes off for Mt. Carmel & Elisha.
We don’t know all that she was thinking. Did she actually believe God through Elisha would raise her son from the dead? We don’t know. Most likely she had heard Elisha tell of God raising the widow of Zarephath’s son back to life through Elijah’s prayer so that had to provide some hope. I suspect she dared to believe that this did not have to be the end of the matter even though from a human perspective it was. I suspect there was a realization that this was an impossible, unchangeable situation & I must get to God, who was represented in Elisha, his spokesman. Now things are different in the NT. You do not have to come to me to get to God, but let us adopt the same mindset as this lady – if there is to be an answer, a solution to my situation, I must get to God. I must take it to God & lay it at his feet which is exactly what we see her doing.
v.25b-27 - Don’t you love the sensitiveness of Elisha to her grief. Gehazi wanted to push her away but Elisha sees the brokenhearted person & receives her. What a picture of our God. Yes, people will disappoint you, even turn away from you & push you away but God, prophesying about the Messiah, states, “he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” (Is.61:1).
32-37 - And as we conclude the story we see God being God again as He changes that which was unchangeable – be it barrenness or death, He changes that which was unchangeable & as He does it w/ ease, as He demonstrates Himself as the great & faithful provider of all those who trust in Him
Let me conclude this message the same way I concluded the last one: I wonder if God is not trying to drive home a point in these 4 stories. “Come to Me, ask, seek, trust Me for that person, that situation, that need for I am the great & all powerful God & there is so much I want to do in you & for you. Live before Me in reverence & fear & ask for I am the Lord God Almighty, there is nothing to difficult for Me.”
In saying that let me add this additional thought: In some of the impossible situations I face & know of it is not so much a case of I don’t believe God can change the unchangeable but rather whether it is His will to change it. Do you struggle w/ that? But I have come to the place of regardless of whether I know His will or not, I still must come to Him & lay it at His feet & in faith ask. Where else is there to go?
Do you know what is truly praiseworthy about this woman? She was a woman who was committed to the Lord no matter what her situation. We see her serving Him before there was any miracle (before the birth of her son) & bowing before Him after the miracle. Her situation did not cause her to waiver in her relationship w/ the Lord. That’s the way to live – committing my life to Him, resting in His plan for me & living before Him in reverence, trust & contentment no matter what. Come join me in doing that.
He is able, more than able,
To accomplish what concerns me today.
He is able, more than able
To handle anything that comes my way.
He is able, more than able
To do much more than I could ever dream.
He is able, more than able
To make me what He wants me to be.
