3. What Shall I Do for Thee?

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Hymns: 448 The King’s Business 464 Throw Out the Life-Line 450 To the Work!

 

Life of Elisha

(Serving Our Faithful God)

– What Shall I Do For Thee?

2 Kings 4:1-7

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. 5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest. 2 Kings 4:1-7 (KJV)

 

OUTLINE

  • The Concern (v1-2)
  • The Counsel (v3-4)
  • The Contribution (v5-7)

 

INTRODUCTION

We are saved to serve. When we become a child of God, we are equipped with gifts through the Holy Spirit and God’s Word for service. We are made adequate for an eternal stewardship. He makes us competent for all the work that He entrusted us to do. Often, we feel our inadequacy.

Indeed, serving our great God is a great honour. It is a great honour as one pastor puts it, “walking with God as He is filling the earth with His glory and we are so small. Whether God has called us to give action to our faith, to preach, to counsel, or to encourage, we are continually faced with great inadequacies. We are not eloquent enough. We are not spritual enough. We do not know the Bible well enough. We do not have enough faith. It is encouraging to know that we are not alone in this battle. As the apostle Paul fully understood the ministry God had set before him, he cried, 2 Corinthians 2:16 (KJV) 16  … who is sufficient for these things?”

None of us is equal to what God has set before us to do. Not one of us is adequate in ourselves. We know well the truth of Jesus’ statement to His disciples:

John 15:5 (KJV) 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”[1]

Elisha was an ordinary man tasked with an extraordinary mission. We shall see how God can use an ordinary vessel yielded to Him for His glory. You recall Elisha requesting Elijah, his mentor’s prayer. God gives to him a double portion of the Holy Spirit’s might for service. And we observe how his request was granted. We see the manifestation of that power in our text today to meet the need of a widow:

Three thoughts:

  • The Concern (v1-2)
  • The Counsel (v3-4)
  • The Contribution (v5-7)

(1) The Concern (v1-2)

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.

There was a crisis situation in the home of one of the sons of the prophets. Her husband had gone “full-time” to be trained as a prophet. It was in the midst of the training that he died. He had died, leaving behind his wife and two sons. Because he was in debt, his demise caused the repayment of the family debt to default. The debtors were coming after the family to take the widow’s sons for slave work to repay the debt. The widow was at her wit’s end. In desperation, she came to Elisha for help. Notice her cry revealed her great grief and sense of loss to handle the situation. Notice also she had the faith to seek God’s prophet for help. She did not go anywhere else but asks the Lord for help. She knew that Elisha was His servant. When we come to God for help, we find Him to be our unfailing and faithful helper.

1 Peter 5:7 (KJV) 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (KJV) 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Psalm 121:1-4 (KJV) 1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Elisha enquired the situation, “What shall I do for thee? What hast thou in the house?” Elisha had to understand the concern of the family. What resources they have to help themselves? There was only a pot of oil left. He had to know the need of the family. Elisha probed with needful questions so as to understand the need of the family. The family was in a desperate state. He found out their predicament. We observe how the woman was honest to inform the prophet her dire predicament. She was truthful concerning her need.

We shall see how God is able to meet the seeming impossible needs of His people because He is the Almighty God. He proved Himself faithful to His people.

(2) The Counsel (v3-4)

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.

Elisha was entrusted this ministry of mercy toward this poor widow and her sons. The Lord would enable him by a miracle to supply the needs of this widow. As the psalmist declared, so this widow:

Psalm 23:1-2 (KJV) 1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

The woman was asked to do her part by assembling as many empty vessels she has in her home or borrowed from the neighbour. God would enable the little pot of oil to miraculously multiply to meet the need of the family.

It is interesting that in the house of this widow was all that she needed to meet her needs. Elisha directed her to look for them and trust God to provide for them.

Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV) 3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

It is interesting to note that our Wednesday Bible Study group takes Jeremiah 33:3 as the theme verse for the Bible study group. When we needed a place for Bible Study we were directed to the office of the Salvation Army Retreat Centre and there was the verse when we entered the office.

Matthew 7:7-11 (KJV) 7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

We shared our need to the person in charge and were given the permission to rent a room for our Bible study at the end of 2011. From there, the Lord directed this group to seek God for our needs. We find God faithful, answering our prayers in ways we cannot imagine. In the fullness of time, the Lord will use the group to begin a church! Unimaginable but true just like the supply of oil that overflowed to all the vessels in the house!

Elisha provided the needful counsel to help the widow.

As the world around us seems to become exceedingly unstable, insecure, violent, and troubled, what should be the Christian’s response to this hopeless and dying world? There seem to be times of euphoria that are soon followed by times of depression as we see in the economic situation of the world today.

Should we respond as the story of the German billionaire who took his own life by throwing himself in front of a moving train? Many are falling into deep depression because they simply are at their wits’ end. No solution is forthcoming. They seem to be going through a dark tunnel without any sight of light at the other end!

Dear friends, we must not live as the world, grieving and despairing. We must rise above our troubles. How can we do so? Our Lord Jesus shows to His disciples and the multitudes that He is the source and means of solving life’s problems. Prayer is speaking to God, to be connected to the source of our blessings. Asking God requires on our part persistence, sincerity and knowledge of His will through His Word. Ask, seek and knock are three imperatives or commands from our Lord teaching us not to stop calling upon Him. What is the promise given by our Lord to every earnest petitioner? When you ask, you will be given; when you seek, you will find; when you knock, the door of God’s mercy shall be opened unto you. As the old saying goes, ““Prayers go up, blessings come down.”

After Jesus was ascended to heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. We have a sure hope in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 6:17-20 (KJV) 17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

The widow shall now experience God’s good hand answer her call for help.

(3) Contribution (v5-7)

5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

The widow experienced the promise of Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” 

The kindheartedness and benevolence of our heavenly Father to give good gifts to His children is the thought for our meditation. How God contributed to the widow’s need. He is most interested to hear and answer our prayers as a natural father would help his children! Why should His children not come to Him? The lack of knowledge of the Father’s kind heart conjures up a mistaken notion that He would desire ill for His children. Therefore, we dare not ask! Our Lord wants to dispel every wrong notion of the Father’s loving heart so that His children will remember to call upon Him as a habit of life.

To experience the Father’s blessings as He has promised, His children must by simple faith go to Him in prayer. The psalmist praises in his heart the blessing of dwelling with God and God dwelling with him. This is the state of true blessedness in man according to God’s design. His close communion with his Father renders his walk an upright one! He surrenders himself to His leading whatever the end may be. This disposition of trusting God makes life most pleasant. He does not withhold good from His children. In fact, the evangelist D. L. Moody has this testimony, “God never made a promise that was too good to be true.” All His promises are yea and amen. Therefore we bless Him this day, as we bring our requests to Him.

As God said to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:14 (KJV) 14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

 As Jesus said, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matt.19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27)

It was in these times of gross darkness in Israel that God showed Himself very present to His people. Those who will not go a whoring after other gods will find Israel’s God faithful and able to meet all their needs.

CONCLUSION

There’s no prayer that’s too hard for God. Almighty God is not limited by circumstances. There is no problem too big for God to solve, not a one. May we trust in Him alway. Amen.

[1] Adapted from Bill Mills, Adequate – How God Empowers Ordinary People to Serve, Leadership Resources, 2010, 13-14.