The Helper of the Helpless 2 Kings 4:1-7
Hardships in life can influence the way we think. The great Christian scholar C.S.Lewis, who wrote the Narnia stories, was devastated when his wife, Joy, died. He wrote, in his book ‘A Grief Observed’,
“Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. But go to him, when your need is desperate, when all other help is in vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting, and a second bolting, on the inside.”
Fortunately, over time, he came to grips with his grief and came to realise that God not only exists but that he really is all loving, despite allowing us to suffer.
Many of us today have had to face all sorts of wretched problems, debts, deaths, disease and other difficulties.
The Bible is abundantly clear that the Lord really does care for his people. The path to victory, when we are facing such problems is always to keep trusting and obeying our loving heavenly Father. This is what ‘Living by Faith’ means. A poor boy was attending a mission school in Ireland. When asked what he understood by faith he wisely replied,
“It is grasping God with all your heart whatever happens.”
This passage from the Bible tells us of a godly woman for whom everything was going wrong.
“The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.” 2 Kings 4:1-7
What are we meant to learn from this story? One preacher suggested that the empty pots being filled with oil is a picture of God’s people being filled with his Holy Spirit. He explained that elsewhere in the Bible people are compared to vessels and the Holy Spirit is often represented by oil. The preacher went on to suggest that it is when we are empty vessels, when we are empty of self, that the Holy Spirit is then able to fill us completely with himself and so we become useful for him. This idea is very clever and has some truth in it but it is surely not what God wants us primarily to learn from this succinct story. All Christian teachers, whether in pulpits or in home groups, should work out what is the main point of a Bible passage and then make it the main point of their teaching.
The context of this passage is very helpful here. It is the first of five sections, all of which deal with God’s power to overcome desperate problems.
4:1-7 Destitute woman
4:8-37 Death of the Shunammite’s son
4:38-44 Drought and desire for food
5:1-27 Disease of Naaman
6:1-7 Difficult situation of the loss of an axe
The obvious lesson to be learned from this short story, that occurred around 840BC, is that the God of the universe, our God, is the helper of the helpless and the insignificant.
God’s destitute disciple v. 1
This poor woman was in desperate trouble. Her husband had died and, as if her grief were not enough, she was now badly in debt. Her main asset was her two sons, but her creditors were demanding that they are given to them as slaves to pay off debts. These lads would have been the breadwinners for the family, without them she could starve. Can we not empathise with here dire situation?
Her late husband had been a member of the company of prophets and presumably this was how she knew Elisha. He had been faithful to Yahweh and this was at a time when such commitment was costly.
During the time of King Ahab, he and his abhorrent Queen, Jezebel, had exterminated many of the Lord’s prophets – perhaps this woman’s husband had been one of their victims. Obadiah had been the administrator of Ahab’s palace but he was a brave believer. He had told Elijah,
“Haven’t you heard, my Lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord. I hid a hundred of the LORD’s prophets in two caves.” 1 Kings 18:13
When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel he told the massed people of Israel,
“I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left.” 1 Kings 18:22
Jezebel and her husband had used the state’s authority and money to encourage the worship of Baal and Asherah and to eliminate the worship of Yahweh.
Today Christians are still being persecuted in many regions of the world. It is not easy to be an overt Christian in countries such as Afghanistan, North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Eritrea, Nigeria and elsewhere. I will never forget an occasion when I took a group of young doctors and students to take a conference in Kursk, in Russia. We were invited to a large Baptist church in the town which was nearly full. Although there were many older women present, there was a marked lack of older men. I asked one lady the reason for this and she replied,
“In Stalin’s time many of our men were arrested by the secret police and taken away. We never saw them again.”
Life can be tough for anyone, irrespective of how they have lived. A devout Christian woman who has served God sacrificially can suddenly be told that she has inoperable cancer or that her husband has died of a heart attack. The faithful woman in our story is certainly desperate. She cried out to Elisha, Yahweh’s servant. She clings to her Lord in faith - faith shares the problem with the Lord and leaves it there.
This is so different to those who rely on their own idols, today’s idols are still man-made. This is often seen in people who idolise themselves and are self centred. The prophet Jonah quipped just over a century later,
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” Jonah 2:8
This woman just cries out to God, there is nothing else she can do. This is similar to the message Mary and Martha sent to Jesus, they felt helpless.
“Lord, the one you love is sick.” John 11:3
King Jehoshaphat of Judah was another man of faith. He faced an overwhelming combined invasion force and was desperate so he prayed,
“We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12
In this instance the Lord did step in and rescue Jehoshaphat and his people but at other times his salvation is in the next life.
God’s loving involvement v. 2-6
The Lord stepped in to rescue the woman in our story but he does so in a way that is most helpful to her. He starts where she is and asks her to act by faith. She turns to God’s servant for help and he simply says,
“How can I help you?” 2 Kings 4:2
God knows everything but what he wants more than anything is to teach us to trust him. This doesn’t mean that the Lord will always answer the prayers of his people as they would like. Archbishop Ben Quashi of Nigeria has told about the atrocity experienced by a local pastor, James, and his family. Muslim extremists had already killed two of his children and they then attacked his wife. As she lay dying from gunshot and machete wounds she said to her husband,
“Is this the end between us, so we shan’t be together again?”
“Hold on to your faith in Jesus,” James replied, “and we shall meet and never part again.”
Then the pastor heard the cries of his thirteen year old daughter as machete blows cut open her abdomen. The militants screamed at her saying that they were about to kill her,
“. . . then you will see how your Jesus can save you.”
The girl replied,
“Jesus has already saved me and by killing me you will simply be enabling me to be with him.”
God often begins to help us learn to trust him by beginning to help us grasp that on our own we are hopelessly inadequate and helpless. He. The woman in our story had virtually nothing to offer.
God’s deliberate concealment
There is a striking phrase in this story. God, through Elisha says to her,
“Go round and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t just ask for a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all your jars.” 2 Kings 4:4
By asking for the neighbours help she is involving them. Wouldn’t they have asked, “What are the jars for?” Can’t you see them peering out of their windows quizzically? Later she and her sons could tell them of the love of the Lord.
This reminds us that sometimes God’s work is not meant to be the object of public gaze. How different Elisha’s instructions are to those of some modern ‘healing evangelists’ who publicise themselves and so increase their income by using every publicity stunt they can think of. Surely what God would prefer is that those who have been helped, learn to explain the source of their help to others later.
It is so easy for us to promote ourselves by stressing how much God is using us. What he does want is for his people to promote our Saviour, he certainly does not want ungrateful followers. King David learned this balance. In Psalm 40 he starts by emphasising his quiet trust in God,
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” Psalm 40:1-2
But then he goes on to say how he later responded,
“I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly.; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your righteousness and your saving health. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.” Psalm 40:9-10
It is important that we all learn to talk about what God does for all his people,
Past - pardon of sin
Present – peace, purpose and power
Perpetuity – paradise.
But this must be done in a way that glorifies the Lord and not us. Some doors do need to be shut!
Jesus emphasised this is in a section of his Sermon on the Mount which begins,
“Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do you have no reward in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets . . . ” Matthew 6:1-2
How easy it is for my religion to be used to glorify me! Jesus continued,
“When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 6:5
Our ambition must be to invest in heaven. Jesus continued,
“Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth, where moths and vermin destroy . . . But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . .” Matthew 6:19
It all depends on our motives for using the gifts we have been given. Are we living to glorify our Lord, are we trying to build others up and motivate them or is it for my glory, because of my pride, trying to show off how spiritual I am? The Lord knows.
God longs for faith v. 5-6
Notice how this woman does precisely what she has been told.
“She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons.”
There must be a reason why the sons are specifically mentioned here. God does want our children to be involved in all we do, so that we can pass on what we know about the Lord. Let them see you having your daily Quiet Time with him, involve them in your service of others, show them that you love and revere God’s word. At meal times involve them in thanking God for his grace! We should treat them as nascent Christians, they need to be trained to fear God and taught to obey him. Our children and our grandchildren are our prime responsibility.
Gypsy Smith was an itinerant evangelist in Victorian times. He had no formal education. He was born in a simple gypsy ‘bender’ tent in Epping Forest near Woodford Green – there is a monument in the forest to commemorate the site of his birth. When he was just five years old his mother died of smallpox here in Letchworth. She was buried in St. Nicholas’ Church in Norton and you can see a lovely stone for her there.
Gypsy Smith became a Christian when he was fifteen years of age, partly through the witness of his father, partly through hearing Sankey sing and Moody preach, and finally through a visit to John Bunyan’s home at Elstow near Bedford. He then taught himself to read and began to practice preaching. His ability was recognised by General Booth of the Salvation Army and he subsequently became a very popular itinerant evangelist.
After one of his missions, a lady who had been listening intently, approached him and expressed an interest in becoming an evangelist. They discussed her gifts and her circumstances – she was married and had five children. Gypsy Smith then said,
“Let us praise God that he has called you to share your faith. But praise him too that he has already given you a congregation!”
Our passage emphasises the woman’s obedience and does not discuss any faults she had. In verses 3 to 4 she is given God’s instructions and in verses 4 to 5 we read of her obedience. For the miracle to occur she had first to obey. God could have miraculously produced a few gold coins fro thin air but he chose to involve her in the search for pots. Why did he work this way? What God most wanted for her, and for ourselves, is to build up our faith and he does this by involving us. He asks us all to obey and keep obeying whatever the circumstances. That is to ‘live by faith’. This is how God blesses his people. This is what Elisha did for this woman and it is how we can most help those around us. Everyone needs to learn to ‘trust and obey’ for there is no other way to grow as a Christian.
God’s ambition for you and me is that we should have an increasing faith in the Lord Jesus.
God’s overflowing goodness v. 7
As she poured in her little remaining oil God filled all the jars that the woman and her sons could find. Elisha then gave the woman three commands, ‘Go sell the oil,’ ‘Pay your debts,’ ‘Live on what is left’. She must have been thrilled at the outcome but we are not given any details of this.
What are the greatest blessings God has given you and me? In Paul’s letter to the Romans he lists what he sees as most important:
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-2
Paul has no doubt that his faith in the Lord Jesus is fundamental to his being blessed. Through faith he has been givenpeace and a relationship with God for eternity. But he then continues,
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5
Paul recognises that God is changing him through all the circumstances of life and this gives him great assurance or hope for the future. God also makes these blessings, that come from faith in him, to overflow to others around us. This is why God blesses us.
“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” Isaiah 44:3
Jesus wants to bless all people, this is why he said,
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations . . .” Matthew 28:19
There is so much to learn from this obscure nameless widow. Contrast her with a very different character. In the Bible King |Omri (1 Kings 16:23-28) was one of the most significant kings of that time. It was he who built the city of Samaria after buying a large plot of land very cheaply (about £55,000 in today’s money) from a man called Shemer. It was after Shemer that the city was named. Omri was a very shrewd but godless ruler but all the Bible tells us about him is,
“Omri did evil in the eyes of the LORD and sinned more than all those before him . . . he aroused the anger of the LORD by their worthless idols.” 1 Kings 16:25-26
Omri died and he was succeeded by Ahab his son, who married the wicked Jezebel. Ahab was possibly the worst king of all in God’s eyes. This woman in our story gets just seven verses, one more than Omri, but the lesson is so different. We learn that God’s desperate people do matter to him and he will bless us with great peace both in this world and especially in the next, as we serve him faithfully.
BVP
November 2022
