The Blessing That Was Found In A Pot Of Oil

2nd Kings 4:1-7

Topic: The blessiing that was found in a pot of oil

In 2nd Kings 4:1-7, we read about a poor widow mother who was once married to a prophet, who was one of the sons, or one of the associates, or one of the servants of Elisha the prophet, who was known to be a mighty prophet of God. This prophet, whom this poor widow mother was once married to, was known to be a prophet who feared the Lord God Almighty. But the scriptures tells us in 2nd Kings 4:1 that as time went on, this prophet had died. He was known to be a faithful associate or a servant to the prophet Elisha, but yet he died. He was a prophet who surely feared the Lord, but yet he died. He had a good reputation among the other prophets that was prophesying to during the same time he was prophesying, but yet he died anyway.

You know there are some preachers who preach and teach if one fears the Lord and lives right, they will not face any type of difficulties in your life. But yet in these passage of scriptures, we read about a prophet who was a man who feared God, a man who was a good husband to his wife, a good father to his children, a man with a good reputation in the community that he lived in, but yet he had suddenly died. And there is a lesson that we can learn right here. And the lesson is that no matter how well you may try to live, no matter how good your reputation, we all have to face death one way or the other. Just as we were born in to this world, we all certainly will die and leave this world some day for the scriptures says in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed to all men to die once, but after this the judgment.“

And when this prophet had died, he left his beautiful wife to become a widow with two sons to raise and take care of. Not only did the prophet leave his wife a widow and two sons to raise and to take care of by herself, but he also left her with a loss of income that was coming into the household because when her husband the prophet was alive, he was considered the sole bread winner for the family, and he was bringing in the money that was flowing into their bank account. But when he died, the cash flow was cut short, and eventually all the money that they may have been saved up for a rainy day had dried up, which also caused this poor woman to become behind on some unpaid bills that needed to be paid off immediately. And because there were some unpaid bills that needed to be paid off by this poor woman who was now made a widow by her deceased husband, the creditor threatened to take her sons captive and to sell them into slavery if she did not pay the bills that was left behind by her deceased husband.

Now notice something here. As long as this woman’s husband the prophet was alive, the creditor did not bother the family because it was obvious that this deceased prophet was taking care of business. But when the word got out that the prophet had died, and now his wife was now in charge in paying the bills, and the money flow sort had dried up because of the death of her husband, that is when you hear about the creditor threatened to take the two sons into slavery if this woman did not pay up his money. And notice that the creditor did not even try to be sympathetic to this woman’s plight. They did not care if she had lost her husband to death. They did not care if this woman was poor now because the loss of income by her husband death. They just wanted her money, and because she did not have any money to pay this creditor in these passage of scriptures, he threatened to take her two sons captive, and make slaves out of them as a penalty for not paying her bills on time. And there is a lesson we can learn right here. It seems like when things are going well and smoothly, that is just when the Devil will try to pop up and wreck havoc in your life; because as long as this woman’s husband was alive, everything was ok. But when he had died, that when all hell broke lose in this woman’s life, and that is when she found her self backed up against the wall. But if you ever find yourself backed up against the wall because of tough situation, just know this one thing, that there is still hope for you. No matter how tough things look right now, just know that God is able to straighten out the situation because there is nothing too hard for God.