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Colin Smith: God is able to do far about 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.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you're listening today. And Colin, that principle that you just pointed out there, is that a pretty standard thing that God waits until we step out in faith before we often see Him work? Because I think a lot of us, we want to see God begin to work to give us the faith to step out. But it sounds like that's not quite what you're saying God typically does.

Colin Smith: Yeah, the word typically, I think, is important there, Steve, and really, really helpful because there is how God most often works and then there's what God is able to do. He's able to do whatever He chooses, and He's able to work without our faith and without our obedience. I mean, the occasion when Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fish, that would never have happened if the whole thing was dependent on how much faith the disciples had.

They obviously had very little. There's no food here, there's only five loaves and two fish. What are we going to do? It wasn't that they believed. It wasn't their faith that led to the miracle. It was the power of Jesus that then, having been demonstrated, called them to a new level of faith. But having said that, there is a normal pattern in Scripture that God usually chooses to work in and through the faith of His people and not apart from them.

And that to me is one of the wonderful encouragements to faith. And we see it, I think, very clearly in this beautiful story of the widow for whom God wonderfully provided. He had a command for her. There was something for her to do. And as she did it, she saw God's wonderful and marvelous provision.

Steve Hiller: Well, let's continue to look at this from Second Kings chapter four. Grab your Bible and meet us there as we continue the message, "God Will Provide for Us." 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. This is 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 three. 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 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 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. It would 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 this 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 the story that this woman did exactly what Elisha had said. Notice the parallels between verse four and verse five. Exactly the same language.

Verse four, 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 five: 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. And 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 six, "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. The woman's faith and obedience were woven into what God did for her. It was as she obeyed that God provided. God worked through her faith and obedience, and it will be the same for us.

Now, do you see what we're learning from this story? It's very important. It's very practical. God will provide for us. We can be sure of this. He will work with what He has already given, and He will work through our faith and obedience, not without these. You remember the words of the Lord Jesus expressing this principle of how faith and obedience are woven into God's provision for us? He said, "According to your faith be it unto you." God works with what He has already given. God works through faith and obedience, not without them.

Steve Hiller: A great truth to remember as we think about how God will provide for us. He also works with what He's already given. And when we come back in just a moment, we're going to spend some time looking at how God works for our freedom and joy. So I hope you'll stay with us. This message, "God Will Provide for Us," is part of a larger series where we're looking at the life of Elisha.

It's called "In God We Trust." And if you ever miss a program in the series, come and listen online at openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again, that's at openthebible.org. Another way to listen is to get the Open the Bible app. It's free at your app store and it's a great way to listen on the go whenever it fits your schedule. Well, we're in Second Kings chapter four as we get back to the message. Again, here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: God works with what He has already given. God works through faith and obedience, not without them. Third, God works for our freedom and our joy. Now, we'll come to the end of the story in just a moment, but I want first to look back at verse one and pick up on these two boys. "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.'"

Now, I want us just for a moment to look at this story from the perspective of the two boys. As you read the story, it's very striking how often they are referred to. The two boys are referred to in every verse from verse four to verse seven. That surely indicates that they're a very important part of this story. Look at verse four: "Shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels."

Verse five: "So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons." Verse six: "When the vessels were full, she said to her son, 'Bring me another vessel.'" Verse seven: "Go sell the oil and pay your debts and you and your sons can live on the rest." These boys had quite a story to tell, didn't they? Their father had been a godly man, the ministry of the Word. He feared God. They were blessed to have such a father.

But when their father died, their world had fallen apart. How could anyone ever fill the awful void that was left through the death of the father so early in these boys' lives? Their mother was a wonderful, faithful, godly woman. She had done her best, but the bills kept coming and the debts kept mounting. And now the creditor was at the door and threatening to take these boys and make them his slaves.

I think if one of these boys could be here this morning and tell us his story, I think he might say something like this: Oh, I'll never forget the day when that awful creditor came to our home. What a mean, vicious man he was. "If your debt," he said to my mother, "is not paid by the end of the month, your sons will work for me, and they will keep working for me until your debt is paid in full."

That felt like a death sentence to me. Born free, I was about to become a slave. But then God stepped in. One day, when my brother and I came home from school, my mother had a smile on her face, a smile I hadn't seen for a long time. "I've got a project for you two," she said. "I want you to go to all the neighbors and ask if they have empty jars that we can borrow."

"Why?" "Because God is going to provide for us. You'll see." "Well, how many do we need?" "As many as you can find." Well, we found so many jars the house was stacked with them from floor to ceiling. And then she said to us, "Close the door." I put the biggest jar that I saw there on the table, and she started pouring out of this little jar of oil, and it just kept coming.

We witnessed the grace and kindness of God poured out in our own home. It was a miracle of God's grace, and I saw it with my own eyes. Oil was a precious commodity. And when we sold the oil, the debt was paid. And here's what it meant for me and my brother: Instead of being slaves, we were free. God works for our freedom. But there's more. He also works for our joy.

Notice verse seven. After the miracle, the widow comes back to Elisha and reports what has happened. She came and she told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest." Do you see how wonderful this is? God did more than pay off the debt. God provided for them a rich future life. A rich future life for the widow and for her sons.

And you see, the fact that the widow and her sons could live on the rest of the oil is the clearest possible evidence of the woman's faith and obedience in gathering a massive number of jars in the first place. She gathered so many jars that there was enough oil not only to pay off the debt but for the family to live for the rest of their lives. So I think if one of her sons was here today, he'd say, "I didn't know this at the time, but when Elisha said to my mother, 'You and your sons shall live on the rest,' he was telling us that God had set us up actually in a small family business.

We were sellers of the finest oil for cooking and baking. And I can tell you, we did very well on it because the oil that God provided was the finest of oil. There was always a good market for it, and it fetched a good price." If one of the boys was here today, he would say to us: God paid our debt. He did more than that: God set us free. And he did more than that: God gave us the most marvelous future life.

And do you not see that that is what God does for us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus paid our debt. Our sins are a cumulative debt that none of us could ever repay. But the Lord Jesus Christ, we're told in Colossians chapter two and verse 14, canceled the debt that was against us by nailing it to the cross. He paid the debt as He suffered and died for us there.

And Jesus sets us free. He said, "Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." But then he said, "If the Son sets you free—if the Son of God sets you free—you will be free indeed." Jesus saves us from being sin slaves, and He brings us into the glorious freedom of the children of God. And Jesus not only pays our debt, Jesus not only sets us free, but He gives to us the most glorious future life.

The thief, Jesus said, comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy, but I came that you may have life, and that you may have it to the full. Jesus gives eternal life, and that life is ours by believing in His name. God will provide for us. The Apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter four and verse 19, "My God will supply every need of yours." Writing to the church, "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

My God will supply all that you need. That's why in God we trust. We trust Him because He'll provide for us. He will work with what He's already given. He will work through our faith and through our obedience. And He will work for our freedom and for our joy.

Steve Hiller: Pastor Colin Smith, you're on Open the Bible, wrapping up our message, "God Will Provide for Us," the first in a series entitled "In God We Trust" as we take a look at the life of Elisha. If you ever miss a broadcast in the series, I hope you'll come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org.

We're able to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching each day because of your financial generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Lincoln's Daily Devotional. And Colin, what is one thing that you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, you know that opening the Bible is really very, very simple. I think some people have the idea, "Oh, I don't have time for studying the Bible and it's all very difficult and all very complicated." Actually, it's beautifully simple. And Lincoln's devotional is really a good place to begin. What this book does is it gives us a verse for every day of the year.

Just a verse, sometimes it's two verses from the Bible, but it's very, very short. The idea is that you try and take in a simple and wonderful truth or promise from the Word of God and then just carry it in your heart and in your mind to be able to draw strength from it, to draw comfort and hope from it. And each month in this devotional is organized around a theme of part of the experience of a believer's life.

So one month you'll be looking at the temptations that a Christian faces, another month you'll be reading verses from the Bible about the sorrows that a Christian will experience, another month you'll be reading about the joys, and of course, you'll end up reading about the glorious hope and the great future that lies ahead of every believer. Very simple, a verse from the old King James version of the Bible and a short poem or a verse of a hymn that just reflects on it added. And that's there for you every day for a year. It's a great place to get started, or if you've got bogged down, it's a great way to be refreshed.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy of Lincoln's Daily Devotional as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-673-6365. That might be easier to remember as 1-877-OPEN-365. And again, the 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: A single conversation can change your life. And that happened to me at a conference many years ago. Over lunch, I sat next to a pioneer missionary. He told me the story of how he'd made contact with an unreached tribal group in Northern Thailand. How the tribal chief had invited him to make his home there, how he built his own home, and then learned the tribal language and began to serve these people.

It was jaw-dropping stuff. At one point in the conversation, I asked him, "Where do you begin in explaining the gospel to people who don't even know who God is?" And he said, "We tell them the Bible story." Now, I'm convinced that we need to learn from the approach of pioneer missionaries in reaching lost people today. And that's why I wrote "Fly Through the Bible."

"Fly Through the Bible" is short, simple, and shareable. It's a place where someone in your life can begin. So who is there in your life who needs to know the God of the Bible and might be willing to open the Bible with you if you asked them? For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That's openthebible.org/fly.