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Colin Smith: We are going to look at a series of stories from the life of Elisha, and all of them have the same message to us. They say, look at who God is. Look at what he has done. Look at what he is doing. Look at what he will do. Believe in him. Trust him. Have confidence in him.

Host (Male): Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you're listening today as we begin a brand new series. It's called, In God We Trust, from the book of 2 Kings. And Colin, what kind of stories are we going to be looking at in this series?

Colin Smith: We are looking at some wonderful stories from the Old Testament. I find the life of Elisha absolutely fascinating. We will look, for example, at the story of the Shunammite woman, as she is known, who received the miraculous gift of a son, a wonderful gift from God, and the son then died, and then amazingly was raised to life. It is an extraordinary story.

Then there is the story of Naaman, a Syrian commander of the army, and he had leprosy and he came to Elisha, who was a prophet, and Elisha told him something he didn't want to hear. But when he believed God's promise, he was wonderfully healed. It's an amazing story.

But we are going to start today with I think one of the most wonderful and beautiful stories of all. It's the story of a widow, a godly woman, who was in great need and God provided for her in an extraordinary way. It's a story that I think many people will know well, and the reason it's known well is it so beautifully conveys the tender compassion and the almighty power and provision of God. It's a wonderful encouragement and I'm excited to be beginning this new series today.

Host (Male): Well, let's open our Bibles together to the book of 2 Kings. We're in chapter 4 as we begin a message called God Will Provide for Us. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: The plan for us is that we will be looking together at the life of Elisha. And I have preached before on the life of Elijah, but never on the life of Elisha. And Elijah, of course, is the better known of these two prophets.

But God's people enjoyed more blessing under the life of Elisha, in the time of Elisha, than they ever did in the days of Elijah. Now, the series over these six weeks is entitled, In God We Trust. We are going to look at a series of stories from the life of Elisha, and all of them have the same message to us. They say, look at who God is.

Look at what he has done. Look at what he is doing. Look at what he will do. Believe in him. Trust him. Have confidence in him.

The God who was with Elijah was also with Elisha. God's servants change, but God's work continues. So I hope you will open your Bible at 2 Kings and chapter 4, and we are looking today at the story of a woman who was married to a godly man.

You will see that in verse 1, that her husband was one of the sons of the prophets. Now, prophets, of course, spoke the word of God. And so this lady was married to someone who had a ministry of the word.

And it's clear that her husband was a faithful servant of God. She says to Elisha, you know that your servant feared the Lord. And it seems from what she says in verse 1, that her husband was especially close to Elisha. She describes her husband as Elisha's servant, not once, but twice. Notice, your servant, my husband, and then she says, you know that your servant feared the Lord.

This woman's husband may well have been Elisha's right hand man. So here is a woman who has been greatly blessed by God. We are not told her name. We are simply told that she was married to a godly husband, a faithful son of the prophets. And we are told here that she had two wonderful sons.

But then tragedy struck. The woman's husband died, and because she refers to her sons as children, it seems that her husband died really very early in life. God's faithful servants suffer, and sometimes suffer greatly.

Well, this great loss and tragedy that came into this woman's life opened a whole new chapter of troubles. God's law, as you may remember, made provision for widows, and that provision was primarily through the extended family circle. But for whatever reason, this woman seems to have, as we would say, fallen through the net, and she was left with mounting debts.

She speaks here in verse 1 about a creditor. Notice what she says. Now, the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, your servant my husband is dead. And you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.

So you see, the man who had lent her money had come knocking at the door. And it's not hard to imagine the conversation, is it? You owe me money.

I don't have any money to give you. Well, what do you have? I don't have anything. You look around my house, my shelves are empty, my cupboard is bare. I only have one little jar of oil.

What use is a jar of oil to a creditor? But the creditor then steps forward with menace in his eyes. But you do have something, don't you? You have these two fine young men here. If your debt is not paid by the end of this month, your sons will work for me, and they will keep working for me until your debt is paid in full. And then he says, I'll be back soon.

And he walks out, slamming the door behind him. So this woman was desperate. She's lost her husband. Now she's facing the imminent prospect of losing her two sons. And so she goes to Elijah, she cries out to him, she's desperate for help. She knew that Elisha walked closely with God. As it seems her husband, who also walked with God, had walked closely with Elisha. Perhaps God could do something to help her.

Well, what we have here, friends, is a wonderful, wonderful story of God's provision. And I want us to see some very practical things from it today. I want us to see first, how God provides. Then I want us to see how we are involved in God's provision. And then I want us to see, of course, how this story points us very wonderfully to what God does for all of us in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So first here, I want us to see a pattern of how God provides and for us to note that God works with what he has already given. Look at verse 2 if you would. And Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said, your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. I love that, except, except a jar of oil.

Now, there is something very practical and very important here about how to help a person in need. We will all perhaps at some point be in a position of trying to figure out how best to contribute to a situation of great need. And I want you to notice that Elisha's first question here is, what do you have?

What do you have that you could sell? You have this debt. What do you have that you could sell? What means do you have at your disposal to make some money that would pay off this debt? In any situation of need, a wise first question is to ask what has God given already? Tell me, what have you in the house?

And you see, that is the first question because God most often works with what he has already given. Now, to be clear, God is not limited to working with what he has already given. God is not limited in any way. Our God is in heaven, he does whatever pleases him. There are other ways that God can work. But this is a pattern that we often see in the Bible, and therefore a pattern that we should often expect to see in our lives and in the lives of others.

God works with what he has already given. Let me give you one or two examples. Think, think about Moses when God called him to speak to, to Pharaoh. And Moses said, I am not eloquent. I am slow of speech and of tongue. But you see, God had already given to Moses a brother, whose name was Aaron.

And if you read the account, it just so happened that at that very moment where Moses was protesting his inability, Aaron was coming out into the desert to see him. You see, God provided through what he had already given. You get the same later on in the story of Moses. You remember when he was absolutely overwhelmed with all of these people bringing all of their problems to him day after day, and the answer lay in wise and godly people who the Lord had already placed around Moses.

They were the ones to help him. God worked through what he had already given. And of course, the most obvious example of this is in the New Testament, that wonderful occasion where there was a vast crowd of people gathered around Jesus to hear him in a remote desert place, and after many hours, you remember they were hungry. And Jesus said to his disciples, how many loaves do you have? You see, he starts with the, with the question, what has already been given? Go and see.

Well, you remember that they went to do their research on what God had already given, and what they found was it didn't amount to much. John records that they came back, there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many?

You see the pattern? What do you have? Well, nothing except for five loaves and two fish. But you see, God worked with the five loaves and the two fish that he had already given when they were placed into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God works with what he has already given. Now you see very clearly that that is precisely the pattern that we find here in this story. What do you have in the house? Elisha says to the widow, well, nothing except for a jar of oil. Well, let's see what God can do with a jar of oil. That's the point.

God could have created oil out of nothing, but he didn't do that. He worked with the oil he had already given. He could have created loaves and fish out of nothing in the desert. He didn't do that. He worked with the loaves and fish he had already given.

God works through what he has already given. So in any situation of need, what's the first thing you do? You look at what God has given already.

Host (Male): We've been looking at this principle that God works through what he's already given. So in any situation of need, the first thing we do is to look to see what God has given already. You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and a message called God Will Provide for Us. It is the first in our series on the book of 2 Kings called In God We Trust.

Now, we're pausing here, but we'll get back to this message in just a moment. If you ever miss a broadcast, you can always come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's at openthebible.org.

Back to the message. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: God works through what he has already given. So in any situation of need, what's the first thing you do? You look at what God has given already.

What gifts do you have? What friends has he given you? What opportunities do you have? What resources have already been placed in your hand? Look at these things because these things may be the very things that God uses to provide for you. It's very practical.

God works through what he has already given. Second observation from this wonderful story is that God works through our faith and obedience. Look at verse 3. Then he said, go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few.

This is very significant. God is going to wonderfully, miraculously provide for this lady, but there is something for her to do. And what we learn from this story is that God provided for her as she walked in faith and in obedience.

Now, again, to be clear, God is able to do far above all that we ask and all that we imagine. God is not limited to the range of our faith or of our obedience. But it is very, very clear from Scripture that God calls us to be actively engaged in the means by which he provides.

Again, just to take an example from another part of Scripture, you see this in the story of, of Noah. God saved Noah and his family from the flood. But Noah's obedience and faith were actively engaged in God's salvation of him and his family. He obeys the command to build an ark in the desert, which must have seemed a very strange thing to do.

And in an act of faith, when God commanded him, he, he got into the ark with the animals, with his family, and God shut the door when there wasn't even any rain. Imagine getting into an ark when there wasn't even any rain. You've take an act of faith to do that.

Well, God saved Noah and his family in the ark, but Noah was actively involved in his own salvation. God worked through his faith and his obedience, not without his faith or without his obedience. Now, you see the same pattern in the story here of the widow. Very clearly, Elisha says to her, now you've got to go outside, borrow vessels from all of your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few.

And remember, Elisha was a prophet. So this really was the word of God to her. Go borrow vessels from your neighbor. It was a command for her to obey. And Elisha says, make sure you don't borrow too few. So there was faith involved here. He calls her to exercise faith.

Don't make the mistake of underestimating what God is going to do for you. Walk in obedience and anticipate his blessing. That's what Elisha is saying to her. God will provide for her, but there is something for her to do. Faith and obedience were woven into God's plan to provide for this widow.

And your faith and your obedience will be woven into God's plan to provide for you. Now, it's clear from this story that this woman did exactly what Elisha had said. Notice the parallels between verse 4 and verse 5, exactly the same language. Verse 4, Elisha told her, then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside. That's what she was told to do.

Verse 5, what she did. So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons, and as she poured, they brought the vessels to her. She did exactly what Elisha had said. And we will see at the end of this story clear evidence that she did indeed go to all the neighbors, and that she did indeed borrow vessels, and not too few. She did exactly what he said.

Now, I want you to picture with me for a moment the scene as this miracle of God's provision took place. I want you to picture this house, and it is literally stacked from floor to ceiling with jars, pots, vessels of varying shapes and sizes. And one of the widow's sons takes a jar, the biggest one he could see in front of him, and puts it on a table.

The widow takes the small jar of oil in her hand. It's all she has. But in an act of faith, she begins to pour it out. It was just a little jar. It should have emptied itself out in seconds. But to the woman's amazement, the large jar into which she was pouring was soon nearly full.

And so she calls on her son, bring another jar, bring another jar. One of the sons then places another empty jar on the table. The other son takes the full one and puts it on the floor. They got a little production line going, the three of them. And the woman just kept pouring. And every few seconds, another jar, another jar, another jar.

Then verse 6, when the vessels were full. She said to her son, bring me another vessel. And he said to her, there is not another, and the oil stopped flowing. The oil flowed from that little jar, as long as there were empty jars to fill. So you see, if the woman had not obeyed the command of Elisha to go to the neighbors and get the jars, she would never have seen this miracle. God works through our faith and through our obedience.

Host (Male): You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. What a great truth to think about as we have to wrap up our time together. Next time, we'll look at how God works for our freedom and joy. If you ever miss a broadcast in our series called In God We Trust, come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can also listen through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your App Store.

Well, Open the Bible is listener-supported. We do depend on your generosity to keep this teaching on the air. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Lincoln's Daily Devotional. And Colin, tell us about this book.

Colin Smith: Well, the first thing that's absolutely fascinating to me is that Abraham Lincoln had and used a devotional. He read scripture and had it in his mind and in his heart. And I discovered this because a friend of mine a while ago gave me an early edition of the actual devotional that Abraham Lincoln used. And it's brilliant.

It lays out each day a verse or two of scripture. They're organized topically around a month, and they go through the experience of a Christian believer, our joys, our sorrows, our temptations, and of course, our final hope and blessedness. I was absolutely thrilled to discover that all these years ago, Abraham Lincoln was reading and meditating on a verse of scripture each day. And then I discovered that the book has been reprinted, and it's been beautifully reproduced. And so Steve, it's a joy to make this available to folks. It's in the old King James version, which, of course, is so beautiful in the way that it expresses the word of God.

I find this just to be very wonderful and rich. I think people will treasure having a copy of the devotional that Abraham Lincoln himself used to meditate on the word of God.

Host (Male): Well, we want to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for financially supporting Open the Bible this month. You can give a gift online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or again, our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in.

Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.