A Study Of The Miraculous – Part V
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1 ¶ Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
Go Back Over:
Verse 1: … cried a certain woman … unto Elisha …
* At times people can be left in sudden and certain trouble
* It’s wise and beneficial to seek Godly counsel
Verse 2: … What shall I do for thee?
* Perhaps he knew that there was nothing he could do for her
* This would require a miracle
* He needed to move her into position to receive actively a miracle
> many may receive miracles without asking …
> but when we ask … a greater responsibility comes to us
1. He motivated her to depend on God and not the arm of man.
2. She needed to offer what they had to God for His touch.
3. Be obedient and follow the prescribed course of action required.
4. Use the blessings & benefits received for God’s intended purposes.
Verse 3: … empty vessels; borrow not a few
* There is such potential in an empty vessel
* Don’t limit the miracle by your limited need
Verse 4: She poured
* sometimes we need to keep our hand on our miracle
* some things will work for a particular person and not another
* some miracles are keepers
* Even the miraculous can be hard work
* God often demands we participate in our miracles
> from Noah, to Abraham, to Shadrach to Peter to you
Now For The Rest Of The Story:
and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
* There is a process to the miraculous which is often very practical and logical. Here the widow is admonished not to get so caught up in the spiritual that she gets distracted and wastes the natural potential of the miracle. Miracles are not a mad rush and an anxious attempt. There will be time in a miracle to stop for a moment, take care of necessary business at hand, and then continue with some reasonable expectancy. She does not have to hurry or be hasty or afraid.
* Thus far she has not been told what to do with the oil other than set aside the full vessels. These full vessels will be used by God later to complete the miracle but for now they too must be patient and wait for further instructions from God. Sometimes God does not give the full picture upfront. Here the prophet stops his heavenly instructions and leaves the woman to complete what she has been told to do before he tells her more.
* Sometimes we must act in faith with what we have. The headlights of a car do not shine light on the whole journey before you must begin, unless you are going nowhere. This woman would be asked to do things later which will require more energy, perhaps some hard or undesirable work. God does not burden us down with the details of things we are not ready to tackle. The job at hand is usually enough. If one does not trust God to begin the journey on faith, they will not move themselves into miracle territory.
* When the widow asked for help, the man of God gave her work to do without promising her any miracle. A time of proving is almost always required before God releases his precious pearls to people. If one will not be faithful to simple, small, seemingly out of the way acts, miracles will continue to escape them.
* I have seen many take control, take charge, take ownership of their situation and douse the miracle of God. Most likely this was not Elisha giving this woman a test of faithfulness but rather it was God administering this time of proving. It is possible that even Elisha did not know what would be later required of the woman. Maybe God had not given the man of God the full picture yet. This is a place where people can get frustrated with pastors and counselors who clearly hear from God. It can seem as though they are stonewalling information when it is very possible they just don’t know the future, but they do know the next step and without taking the next step, without driving the next mile, the lights of the vehicle will never illuminate the further pathway of God’s will. Anyway, she did not complain, she took what she knew and did what she could. She had enough to get started.
* Remember some principles from a recent sermon:
> You must use what you have to get what you need.
> You must start where you are to get where you want to be.
> You must attempt what you cannot do to accomplish what you can.
* You don’t have to know the whole journey to take the first step.
* You should, however, know the first step before you strike out on the journey. If not, you could be going the wrong way and taking yourself farther from the miracle.
* There is a difference between a word of knowledge and a word of wisdom. Noah was told that it was going to rain. Well what good would that actually have done him if he had just run off with that much information. He could have preached rain and doom and damnation and destruction, but not salvation and neither could he properly have prepared for the miracle God wanted to give him and his family. He had a word of knowledge and that was good but not enough to go on. Half-cocked is a position on the hammer of some guns which disables the gun from firing. One that is only half cocked can neither on purpose nor by accident do anything of consequence. It is a place of safety that greatly disables, not enables. What Noah needed was more information such as what to do about what he knew. So God begins the word of wisdom. Noah, build a boat! Wow … but what is a boat? And how do I build one? And out of what and how big and on and on. We Must - Wait for instructions from God. Don’t take off before you have something to do.
* Going somewhere requires leaving where you are. Often the first indication you are going on a new spiritual journey is a desire to depart … even a restless spirit. Leaving is not the purpose or the goal, but the process to accomplish the goal. Leaving is only God’s will because of where He wants to take you. Many times knowing where to go comes after the stirring to leave. Do not take a stirring to quit or leave as the will and purpose of God. It’s preparation not purpose. Leaving does not equal going somewhere. Have God’s vision for your future before you leave the productive past or the place of God‘s last word to you.
