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NOTHING BUT A LITTLE

Rev. Susan Bottger

Read 2 Kings 4:1-7

Have you ever felt trapped in a situation? Have you ever felt like you were at the end of your rope or up against a rock and a hard spot? What do you do when you reach that point?

Some are in that very place today! You are at the end of your rope and you do not know what to do.

• What do you do when you are facing family problems that you cannot solve?

• What do you do when facing financial difficulties or you’ve lost your job?

• What do you do when you have health issues or have been given a bad report?

• What do you do when there are problems at work and it seems that there is no way out?

• What do you do when you have suffered a great loss, tragedy or the death of a loved one and you cannot escape the loneliness, the grief and the pain?

• What do you do when your heart is broken and your hopes & dreams are shattered?

• What do you do when you are walking through a spiritual wasteland and there seems to be no way out?

I don’t know what the answer to your problem is but the Lord has the answers to all those questions. Yet, there may be some help in the verses we have read today. This passage tells us about a poor, widow woman who was at the end of her rope. She did not know what to do or where to turn. In her pain and her poverty she did the only thing that she knew she could do: she turned to the Lord. When she did that, God came through for her in a very big way!

This passage teaches us God has a plan for our problem. Just as God took care of this widow, He will take care of you. This passage lets us know that when we reach the end of our rope, there is help and there is hope. I want to take these verses and look for some answers that should be of comfort when you reach the end of your rope.

GOD KNOWS OUR PROBLEMS 2 Kings 4:1

A. There Was Despair In Her Family – The word “cried” means “to moan; to weep uncontrollably; to shriek out of grief.” This word identifies the sound of a broken heart. This woman comes to the man of God at the lowest moment of her life. She is desperate!

B. There Was Death In Her Family – Her husband, her provider, dead. She was married to one of the “sons of the prophets”. He was mentored by the Lord’s prophets. Elisha knew him. He was one of the prophets who didn’t bow to Baal. He feared the Lord.

C.  There Was Debt In Her Family – Since her husband is dead she cannot pay her bills. As a result, her creditors are coming to take her sons away as slaves so they can work off the debt. This was allowed under the Jewish Law. She has been deprived of her husband, now she is about to lose her sons as well. Her represented the hope of a future because she is a widow. She is over her head in debt and she doesn’t see how she can make it.  

D.  There Was Devotion In Her Family – In spite of all her problems, she is a woman of faith! In her desperation she turns to the man of God for help. Elisha was God’s representative on earth and he was her best hope. She reminds Elisha that her husband “did fear the Lord.” She goes to Elisha knowing the seed of the righteous shall not be forsaken.

Her life has been a life of devotion to the Lord and in her trouble, she still trusts Him and turns to Him for the things she needs! In spite of her pain, her problems and her lack of possibilities, she still looked up to God for the help she needed! Even though she couldn’t see a way out and didn’t understand everything she was facing, she still believed that God cared and that He could do something about her situation, so she cried out to Him in faith!

There are some lessons in this verse that we do not want to miss today.

• At some point, every one of us is going to arrive at that low point of life. There will come a day when you will reach the end of your rope. Some have already been through it and can testify about it. Others are there right now and are looking for some help. Others will arrive there someday. We will all have our days of trouble and trial. Jesus said, in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

• When you reach that point, the world, the flesh and Satan are all going to tell you that God doesn’t see and that He doesn’t care. However God is All Knowing, Ever Present and All Powerful. God isn’t blind or deaf. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on our behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (Chronicles 16:9)  He sees everything you are facing. Not a single thing is hidden from His view.  And, He does care. He cares more than you know about what you are facing. 1 Peter 5 instructs us to cast our care upon Him, for He cares for you.             Care: “to divide”, “the mind”. The word denotes distractions, anxieties, burdens, worries. To be anxious about daily life is worry that is unnecessary, because the Fathers love provides for daily and special needs.

• These verses are designed to teach us that our problems, while they may appear to be insurmountable in our eyes, are opportunities to trust and believe in the Author and finisher of our faith. God is faithful. Therefore, no matter what you are called on to face in this life, learn to turn to the Lord first for the help you need. He cares! He is able! He will work in your need!

 GOD RELEASES OUR POTENTIAL 2 Kings 4:2-4

Notice Elisha didn’t say, “Okay I’ll take care of it go home and wait for God to meet your need.” Instead He chose to involve this widow in her own miracle. First, God erased her faith by forcing her to admit what she didn’t have. Then, God expanded her faith by teaching her trust, humility and obedience. He does the very same things in our lives!

How God Erases Our Faith – The Lord erased the widow’s faith through two questions asked by Elisha. 1.) What do you need? 2.) What do you have? By those two questions, this woman was made to see the size of her need and the smallness of her own resources. She needed everything and she had but a little. She needed much and had could not meet her own needs. She said there was nothing in the house. She already did all that she knew to do. Have you done that before? Cut every corner that you knew to cut? Sold everything you thought you could sell. If there was a chance that you would lose your children, you would sell all that you had. She was out of resources. She even had to borrow empty vessels from her neighbors. 

Often God will use the trials, heartaches and burdens of life to bring us to the place where we can honestly see our need and our own inability to meet it. Think about it, as long as we think we can handle things, why should we look to the Lord? If we have all the answers, why should we turn to Him with our questions? But, when we stop and honestly answer those two questions, we will realize that we need more than we will ever be able to supply by ourselves. God does this to erase our faith. He isn’t trying to erase our faith in Him; He is trying to erase our faith in ourselves.                                         

B. How God Expands our faith – After God erased her faith in herself and her own abilities. He began the process of expanding her faith in the power of the Lord to meet her need.

1.  He causes us to look at things with eyes of faith. Elisha’s second question: “What do you have in your house?” Caused her to look at what she had differently. It looked like she didn’t have much, but in reality, she already had everything she needed to obtain what she wanted. She couldn’t see it, but God had already given her the very thing He would use to meet her need.

She answers, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house, but a little jar of oil.” That little, insignificant amount of oil would be the answer to her prayers.

What we fail to realize is that God has already given us everything we need to get our need met. That widow said that the only thing of value she had was a little jar of oil. Yet, you and I have so much more than a mere jar of oil! Think about it! We are a child of God! He has promised to hear you prayers. He has promised to answer your prayers! He has promised to meet all your needs! …and my God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Don’t worry. Are you not more valuable than the birds of the air?

We look at our problems and they look so large. We look at our possessions and they seem so small. Yet, we always fail to factor God into the equation! So, He places us in situations where our faith in Him must be expanded! ...For you shall expand to the right & the left.

I am reminded of many stories in the Bible when nothing but a little was used to meet a need. Nothing but a little lunch, 5 loaves and 2 fish, fed over five thousand. (Matthew 14:13-21) A woman with nothing but a little faith was healed of an issue of blood that she had for 12 years. (Luke 8:40-56) Jarius had nothing but his belief in Jesus’ words and his daughter was made well. Gideon’s nothing but a little army saves Israel from the Midianites. (Judges 6-8) A shepherd boy takes down a champion named Goliath with nothing but 5 smooth stones and his sling. (1 Samuel 17) Nothing but a little water would be turned into wine. (John 2:3-11) Nothing but a handful of four and little oil would save a widow and her son. (1Kings 8-16)   

We are to use and make the best of what we have. The Prophet tells her what is going to happen to expand her faith. God tells us things to increase our vision and expand our faith; to give us a hope and a future. Have you ever gone to church and the message is just for you. Or someone gives you a word of confirmation that encourages you to keep on.

2.  She must act on what she heard. She moved in faith. She believed. She obeyed. James said, “Faith without works is dead.” The widow is told to go to all her neighbors and borrow all the empty vessels that she can get her hands on. That is a strange command!  How many times have you answered a strange command?                                                                                                     

How do you suppose she explained this to her neighbors? Did she think they thought she was crazy running door to door collecting vessels? What a witness it would have been when the Lord met her need! God used her as a living testimony that He is faithful to His children.

He does the same thing in your life and mine! We talk about how we love the Lord and its just words until the Lord sends us into the valleys of life. When we are there, and He comes through for us in a big way, it speaks volumes to those who are watching us! Your life is a billboard advertising the grace, blessing and power of God to a lost world. Our life is a public display of our faith.

3.  He Expands Our Faith Privately – She obeyed the word of the Lord; she borrowed the vessels and she and her sons shut themselves up in the house and trusted God to do what He had promised to do.  

Why shut the door? I think she was to shut the door to prevent interruptions & distractions from creditors or others. I believe she shut the door on unbelief. I am reminded of Jarius. There in the privacy of that home, they learned that God was all-powerful and able to meet every need.

When Gods people feel like they are at the end of their rope, they will see Him come through for them time after time. This is the experience of every child of God who is placed in a position of total trust and dependence. When the Lord comes through for His people, the work He does might be widely known, but the greatest work is in the heart of His child. When the Lord moves in power, the child of God receives a lesson in faith that can never be taken away from them. Their faith is expanded and they will never be the same again.

Paul – He went from “Who art thou Lord?” (Acts 9:5); to “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Eph. 3:20-21) What made the difference? Paul’s faith had been expanded on numerous occasions by the trials of life and the power of God. That is what the Lord is up to in your life and mine!

GOD GIVES OUR PROVISION 4:5-7

The woman and her sons filled one vessel after another until every vessel they had borrowed was full. That one jar of oil became a living fountain that flowed as long as there were vessels to fill it. There was enough for all. She began that day with nothing, she ended it with everything!

A. God Will Do What He Says He Will Do – One of the lessons we can learn from this episode is that God will do exactly what He has promised to do. Elisha promised that the Lord would fill the vessels and He did!

He will keep all of His promises to you too! Not a single word in a single promise will fall to the ground unfulfilled! His word does not return void.

God’s Provision Is Not Limited – The oil flowed until the vessels ran out. There was no limit on the amount of oil. The only limit was on the amount of vessels. God’s provision knew no limits. God is able to meet every need, move every mountain, and solve every problem. His provision is limited by nothing. God stands ready to give all that you make room for in your life, no more and no less!

If we can trust Him to take care of us and if we can get our vessels under the flow of His oil, there is nothing He can’t do.

Story: Two men went down to a lake one morning to do some trout fishing, and they stayed there all day. But one man had a strange habit. Every time he would catch a trout he would pull out a little ruler and measure it. If the trout measured larger than the ruler he would throw it back. So strangely enough he kept all of the little trout that he caught, but he threw back all the big ones. Well his partner watched that all day long, and as they prepared to leave he looked at him and said, “I can’t stand this any longer. I have never seen a man fish like you in my life.” He said, “You’ve kept all of the small trout and thrown back all of the big ones.” The man said, “Sure did.” He said, “Why did you do that?” The man said, “Because I only have an eight-inch frying pan.”

Now think about that. Rather than get a bigger frying pan, he was settling for smaller fish. I believe so often God wants to give us a big blessing, but all we have is eight-inch faith.)

C.  God’s Provision Is More Than Enough – When the day was done, there was enough oil in those borrowed vessels to settle her debts, meet her desires and supply her dependents! God’s supply was far more than sufficient! That is the kind of ability our Father possesses. He is able to do more than you can imagine. Get your vessels to Him and watch Him fill them all.

Conclusion:     Are you at the end of your rope today? I just want you to know that God cares for you and Jesus loved you so much He died for you. You are not forgotten by God. You are not an afterthought. He cares for you. So come with your nothing but a little and let Him amaze you with His abundance.

Dear Reader, Let me tell you what the Lord told me on my walk yesterday morning. Are you that woman or man who cries to God today for an answer to your question? Are you the empty vessel that needs to be filled? Come to Him with your nothing but a little and be filled to the brim. As long as there are empty vessels He is pouring. There is more than enough for all to be filled. He has your today and your future in His plan. I believe He is going to turn your nothing but a little into more than enough. If only you believe! God bless you. ~ Susan

Website Revised: 10/22/2010.  Copyright © 2005 [Susan Bottger Ministries]. All rights reserved.