There’s disappointment. There’s discouragement, and then there’s hopelessness. If you’ve ever really known hopelessness, then you know the difference. It’s that point when you feel you truly have nothing to look forward to but more despair and defeat. You just don’t believe the sun will rise again. Such was the case of two widows who learned a wonderful truth about God.
The first widow, along with her son, was confronted with starvation and was preparing their final meal when the prophet Elijah came to her. The second widow, deeply in debt and preparing to see her two sons taken into indentured service by her creditor, went to Elisha in desperation. In both situations
• The women learned that God is the God of the Impossible.
He will help you if you will first...
I. Look at what you have to offer.
So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
When God is going to do a miracle, He first wants us to offer what we have. God can create something out of nothing, but He first wants us to see what He has given us, and He wants us to offer it to him. It might be something tangible, like the flour and oil or the jar of oil. Or it might be even more personal . . . like ourselves. No matter how bad things may seem, there’s always something we can offer to God.
Neither widow had wealth or assets. Notice what they say:
Widow # 1: “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
Widow # 2: “The creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves...Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
Both situations seemed hopeless. They didn’t have much, but they still had something. God wanted them to surrender everything; to take the focus off of themselves and focus on the Lord.
II. There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. – Clare Boothe Luce
2 Corinthians 9:7 - 8 says, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
To give grudgingly, or out of a sense of obligation, is to miss God’s blessings.
III. Be willing to trust God and do whatever he asks.
Can you imagine going to a widow, a single parent raising her infant son alone, and asking her for the last bit of food in the house - - knowing that both she and her child were themselves hungry, and starving to death? Can you imagine the struggles that this woman went through?
The question is, “Was she going to obey?”
God told Elijah in verse 1, “I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” Personally, I’ve reread that passage several times, and it sure doesn’t sound like she was expecting him. Just how God spoke to her, it doesn’t say, but she did obey him.
• It’s not a matter of understanding; it’s a matter of obedience.
The Lord doesn’t always let us in on what He’s doing. In his book, “I Was Once Blind But Now I Squint,” Kent Crockett wrote, “Trust fills the gap when we don’t understand. We must give the Father the benefit of the doubt.”
Proverbs 3:5 - 6 instructs us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
That reminds me of the farmer that decided to buy a chain saw. A logging foreman sold him one that he guaranteed would cut down 15 trees in a single day. A week later, a very unhappy farmer came back to report that the power saw must be faulty - it averaged only 3 trees a day. The foreman grabbed the saw, pulled the cord, and immediately the saw growled loudly with power. “Hey” demanded the startled farmer, “what’s that noise?”
I wonder if we’re kinda like that farmer. We just don’t get it. Sometimes we just can’t see how faith works. When God asks us to act with faith, we change the rules to suit our own understanding. Then we can’t understand it when there’s no miracle. All we can say is, “Hey what’s that noise?” We can’t see God’s miracles because all we trust is our own understanding rather than the goodness and power of God.
Often, we pray for the situation to change. We wanted God to solve our problem, but we’re not willing to do as God says. We’re not willing to let God be God. We must first make sure that He fits into our own understanding.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “I fully trust that God will not give me more than I can bear. I just wish he wouldn’t trust me so much.”
Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”
IV. Understand that little is much when God is in it.
Psalms 46 reminds us, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.”
“What do you have...?” – Whatever it is, it will be enough for God!
That “handful of flour and a little oil in a jar” was not used up, neither did it run dry until the drought ended. And the other widow’s jar of oil filled every empty vessel that she was able to get her hands on. Truly, “Little is much when God is in it.” When one gives his little, God multiplies it.
• Moses’ rod became the “rod of God”.
• 5 loaves and 2 fish fed 5000
• A rock in the wilderness satisfied the thirst of a nation
In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “... if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
V. God will bless you proportionately to the degree you empty yourself to Him.
Note the widow with two sons. The oil didn’t stop flowing until there were NO MORE EMPTY JARS!
A martial arts student was meeting with his master and teacher at a table, having tea. The student said to his master, "I’ve learned all you have to teach me about defending myself. I now want to learn one thing more. Please teach me about the ways of God." The master took the teakettle and starting pouring the student’s cup full of tea. Soon the cup was full and began to spill over onto the saucer. But the master continued to pour the tea until it spilled over the saucer and then onto the floor.
The student finally said, "Stop, stop, the tea is spilling over. The cup can’t take any more." The master replied, "You are so full of yourself that there is no room in your life for God. You think your way is God’s way. It is not possible for you to learn the ways of God until you learn to empty yourself." Are you empty enough? Or do you think you already have the answers? Do you believe that, just because you’ve had a few worldly successes, it means that God agrees with you? If so, then maybe you need to empty your cup.
God stops blessing a church when the church stops bringing Him its empty jars. Have we stopped growing because we haven’t gone to our neighbors and brought their empty jars to be filled? God’s supply of oil is only limited by our willingness to bring to Him our empty jars! He can only fill us to the extent that we are willing to empty ourselves.
VI. Realize you cannot out give God.
The widow went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and Elijah and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord from Elijah. The scripture doesn’t say that the jar of meal and the cruse of oil were always full to the brim and overflowing, but it always contained what they needed.
You cannot out give God. God’s shovel is bigger than yours or mine. Luke 6:38 says, “Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
E. L. Kraft, head of the Kraft Cheese Corp., had given approximately 25% of his enormous income to Christian causes for many years. He said, “The only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord.”
While Paul was in prison, the Philippian followers gave generously to Paul to help him, and he assured them that, because of their generosity, God wouldn’t allow them to suffer undue need. In chapter 4 of his letter, he told them, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)
Trust God in whatever you ask or whatever He offers, and don’t lean on your own understanding . . . or you’ll probably miss out. God’s promise lies in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
PLEASE JOIN WITH ME IN PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we desire to do what is right according to your holy Word, but we also admit that we trust too much in our worldly possessions. Help us, we pray, to give all our trust to you only. Grant us the conviction and courage to give everything to you so that we may receive the full riches of your blessings. This we pray in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
