2 Kings 4:1-44


The power of God and His providential care are blessings that He makes available to us in amazing ways.  There is no doubt that God used Elisha to minister to the needs of the people around him through supernatural means.  God used him to bless others and raised others up to bless him as well.  It is a beautiful thing to see God using the lives of people to bless and strengthen one another through the power and provision that He supplies.  We can take great comfort in knowing that we serve this same all powerful and caring God and that He continues to use us to minister in the lives of one another.

GOD PROVIDES HELP FOR A POOR WIDOW: Elisha was approached by a widow who had no means of paying her debts and supporting her sons.  She was without hope and without help but she was not without faith.  God chose to use the little oil that she had to provide for all of her needs.  Elisha instructed her to go gather empty vessels and then poor from the jar of oil into them.  God make the oil multiply until every vessel was full.  She was blessed according to her faith and apparently her faith was large enough to be able to pay off all of her debts and be able to provide for her family.  God cares for our needs and is a Father to the fatherless.  He is pleased when we demonstrate that same compassion on those who are in need of special care.

GOD PROVIDES HEALTH FOR A PRECIOUS FAMILY: There was a wealthy family who regularly provided hospitality to Elisha but would never take anything in return for their kindness.  Elisha promises that they will have a son even in their old age and God blesses them with a son just as Elisha had promised.  However, when that son dies their hearts are broken but the mother’s faith is unfaltering and she goes immediately to Elisha and insists that he go to her house to bring back her son.  God raises him from the dead and the family is blessed with a healthy son once again.  The family had the gift of hospitality and used their resources to bless the work of the Lord and God blessed them in return.  We can trust the Lord to provide for our needs and the health of our family according to His will.  We simply must be faithful to use the resources that He has provided and then have complete faith in His power.

GOD PROVIDES HEALING FOR THE POISONED PROPHETS: A group of prophets made a pot of stew with poison in it from one of the plants that had been used.  When they all started to get sick Elisha simply put some flour in the pot and have everyone eat of the stew again.  God not only took the poison out of the stew but used the “new stew” to heal those who had eaten the poisonous stew.  God then multiplied a small amount of bread so that all of the prophets were able to eat with bread left over.  Christ would repeat this miracle for a much larger group during His ministry, so it is very clear that this power and provision comes from the very same God.  We too have the privilege of serving this same glorious Person and can trust Him completely to provide for all of our needs as He sees fit.

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