Examples of God's Provision. (2 Kind 4: 1-44) Part 1.

The Bible Project Daily Podcast is a daily, in-depth study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. 

Episode Notes:  Examples of God's Provision. (2 Kind 4: 1-44) Part 1.

One of the great themes of Scripture is that God provides for His children. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells us that God sees, God knows, and God supplies. But what does that actually look like? What kinds of needs does He meet? And how does He meet them?  The Old Testament is full of examples, and the New Testament builds on those promises. But in 2 Kings 4, we’re given three very specific, very practical stories of God stepping into real human need. And each one shows us something about how God provides for us today…

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hi friends, welcome to today's episode of the Bible Project Daily Podcast. A very quick update before we begin. A couple of new uh features that have come online with the podcast just very recently. Number one is the new ability to contact me through the host website, which is BuzzSprout, where all my podcasts are in fact hosted. What they call fan mail, find that title a little bit embarrassing, but really it's a private messaging service, which means you can reach out and speak to me there. Now you've always been able to do that. The difference is now I'll be able to reply to you. It's still a private messaging service, but that now we can have a conversation there. So if there's anything you want to ask or anything you want to say, you could do that over there. Now there's also the facility to record a voice text, which I'm very excited about. So if you'd like to leave me some feedback or like to say something that you think might be of help or benefit to the listening community, then you can do that over there. And with your permission, I'll then share it in the future on a sh maybe a short, slightly shorter length episode in the outro. The other big thing is the change to transcripts. Many of you will know that many of the podcast providers have been providing a free transcription service. It's not perfect, but it has improved greatly, and the main providers like Spotify and Apple have been doing that for some time. The one disadvantage of those systems is it doesn't allow you to access the text in a way that you can actually take it and use it yourself, print it off or copy it and use it for whatever purpose. And my aspiration is that the main podcast, the Bible Project Daily Podcast, that those transcripts should be in the public domain. I have now the ability to create my own transcripts, which I'll lightly edit and improve from the spoken word, and make those available on those places instead of their transcription service. Now, what that means from your point of view, you probably still won't be able to access them on your own podcast provider, but you will now be able to go to the host website, the link's always in the episode notes on BuzzSprout, and access the full authorized transcript there. And it's free for you to do whatever you want with it. Now, of course, that means that the very large books that I've published in the past, where I have produced a Bible commentary based on my Bible studies and podcasts, I won't be making those available because effectively you'll have access to those individual episodes at a time wherever you get your podcasts from. However, I am going to make the full transcript available in book form, PDF form, for you to download for free on Patreon to anyone who's on one of the supporters tiers over there. That way you'll be able to get those in the complete, you'll be able to get the complete version for each book of the Bible that I've covered. Now it's going to take a time, but Genesis is on there now, and Exodus is on there now, and the others will be appearing as we work along over the coming weeks, months, and years. That also means that I have the opportunity to just get those out there quickly, but then I'm going to revisit those works and I'm going to produce a shorter, more manageable, daily devotional Bible study series based on each book in the Bible. I would say my main inspiration for this would be what William Barclay did with his daily Bible study series when he worked through the New Testament in the 1950s and 60s. My plan, Lord willing, over the fullness of time is to produce a short devotional daily study through each of the books of the Bible. Genesis has been done. Or you'll be able, if you're a member and a subscriber to Audible and what's called their Audible Plus, it will appear free in their catalogue. So the plan is to produce new shorter devotional daily devotionals to help you work through the Bible and approach them more in that tone. So a couple of exciting developments there. I'll let you know as each and every one appears on Patreon. Now that's it. The other little bit of housekeeping I'm going to say as I looked at the first draft of this, and it is looks like it going to be on my notes, it's going to be a long one. Rather than try and edit it down more, because it is one theme, I've just decided to go with it as it is, and it'll take as long as it takes. Because I'm going to try and cover the whole chapter, because the three stories in the chapter are all linked and all cover one theme. So I'll do what I occasionally do in the past. If it's significantly over 30 minutes, then I shall just naturally fade it out at a point around the middle and then fade it back in. So that's the plan, and today we're going to look and see examples of God's provision found in 2 Kings chapter 4, and I'm going to try and cover all 44 verses. So let's begin. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible clearly tells us that God sees us, God knows us, and God supplies what we need. But what does that actually look like? What kind of needs does he meet? And how does he meet them? Well, the Old Testament is full of examples, and the New Testament has examples also that build on those promises. But here in 2 Kings chapter 4, we're actually given three very specific, very practical, very different stories of God stepping into very real human need. And each of those examples, I think, show us something about how God provides for us today. So I'm going to look at all three examples, one immediately after another, and then I'll try and pull them all together and try and help us see the big picture of what God's trying to tell us here today. So welcome to today's episode of the Bible Project Daily Podcast. It says this: The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, Your servant, my husband, is dead. And you know that he revered the Lord, but now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as slaves. Elisha replied to her, How can I help you? Tell me what do you have in your house? Your servant has nothing there at all, she said, except a small jar of olive oil. Elisha said, Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour the oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it on one side. So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons, and they brought the jars to her, and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, Bring me another one. But he replied, But there is not a jar left. Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, Go sell the oil and pay your debts, you and your son can live on what is left. Okay, so let's look at the first of these three stories. This is a heartbreaking situation. It's simply a widow coming to Elisha and saying, My husband is dead, he's gone. And she immediately then tells us a little about his character. It tells us he feared the Lord, meaning he walked with God, was a godly man, he was your servant, meaning that he served the Lord. Part of how he served the Lord was by serving Elisha himself, and he was one of the sons of the prophets. He was a faithful man in ministry in this prophetic school. But now he's dead, and she's left facing a crisis. You see, in those days, if a man died with any unpaid debts, the family was responsible, and if they couldn't pay, the creditor could legally, legitimately take the sons as indentured servants until the debt was paid off. It wasn't unusual, it was part of the culture at that time. In fact, it was even reflected in the Mosaic Law. So this woman has lost her husband, and it would appear she's about to lose her sons, plus the fact she's no money. Of course, there's no social security in those days, no support from the state directly. She is a widow in poverty and she's desperate. So she comes to Elisha and she says, What can you do to help me? So Elisha asks her, Well, what do you have in your house? And she says, Nothing but a jar of oil. That's all she has. One small jar of olive oil. Now, olive oil was essential in that culture. It was not only used for cooking, it was also fueled for lamps. But it's a small jar, so she hasn't got much, and it's certainly not going to be enough to pay this debt. But I think the point being made here is God will often start with what you already have. He doesn't begin and expect you to do anything with what you don't have. He begins with what you already have in hand. And she only has this one little jar of oil. And Elisha then says, Well, now go and borrow every pot, every pan, every jar, and every bucket you can find. Now, in that culture at that time, of course, people live closely together. Everyone would have known everyone in this town that she came from. So she and her sons go out door to door and collect containers, as many as they can. And because she obeys and does that, the miracle then begins. She takes the jar and she pours it into the first vessel, and the oil keeps flowing. Then she pours it into a second, it's still flowing, a third still flowing, it's as if this little jar is connected to a sort of invisible olive oil pipeline. But then in verse six it says, When the vessels were full, and then she said to her son, Bring me another vessel, and he said to her, There is no other vessels, and it was at that point the oil ceased. So the moment that they ran out of containers, the miracle stopped. But what happened here is extraordinary. Because we'll see she didn't just get enough to pay the debt, she actually gets enough money for the olive oil to live on for the rest of her life. This is an example of God's provision. This is God supplying a financial need, but supplying it abundantly. Now remember, this was a faithful family. Her husband had served the Lord, and she had supported him in the ministry, and when they needed help, God supplied her need and supplied it miraculously. Now you might say, well, that's just a rather strange, obscure Old Testament story. How does that apply today? Well, let's look in the New Testament. If we turn to Philippians chapter 4, well I'll read it for you. Beginning in verse 15, we see Paul say this. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. I am full, having received from Aphrodites the things sent from you, a sweet smelling aroma well pleasing to the Lord. Now what's going on here is Paul is thanking the Philippian Church for financially supporting his ministry, and he gives them this promise, one of the greatest promises in the New Testament. So let me explain what is happening here. When Paul wrote these words, he's actually sitting in a Roman prison. That's an important point. And in those days the government didn't provide meals when you were in prison. If you didn't have friends to support you financially, when you were in prison, you simply didn't eat. Now the believers in Philippi knew that Paul was in jail, so they're sending money through a man whose name here is Aphroditis. So in many ways, this entire letter of Philippians is really just a thank you note, a warm, grateful response to the generosity of this church. Paul mentions their giving at the beginning of the letter, but he expands on it as he works his way through. He says, No other church has supported me, only you. And because of this generosity, I am fully says. In other words, he's saying, My needs have been met. God has supplied Paul through that church, met his needs through that church, and Paul in response gives one of the great promises of Scripture. He says in the close of the of the chapter, and my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So if you're faithful to the Lord, Paul says the Lord will be faithful to you. Now there are two things in that verse that really strike me. First, Paul says that God will supply all your needs. Now the immediate context is of course financial. It was about getting enough money to buy food and give it to him, so there's no question about that. But the promises is seen to extend beyond money. God, it says, supplies all your needs. That's the response. Secondly, and this is the part that's always fascinated me, Paul says God will supply your needs according to his riches, not out of his riches. And there's a difference. There's a very clear difference in the choice of words here. Let me try and illustrate what I think is being suggested here. Suppose you had a financial need, and Elon Musk, one of the wealthiest men in the world, said, I'm going to help you out and I'm giving you the money you need out of my riches. Well, what you might get for him would be a very small amount. Certainly enough to meet your immediate need because he's helped you out out of his riches. But suppose he's going to say, I'm going to help you according to my riches. Well, that's a different story, and that's what's going on here. The gift being offered is being measured not by the need, but by the wealth of the giver. That's what Paul is saying here. So he's also saying God supplies your needs according to the standard of his riches, not the standard of your problem that you're facing. And that's exactly what we see here. The widow asked for enough to pay her debt, but God gave her enough to pay the debt and enough to live on for the rest of her life. That was God giving according to his riches. Now, if you'd like a quick second example, another passage that teaches the same principle is 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Let me give you the context. In 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9, we have the longest section on teaching in the entire Bible on the principle of giving. Paul is collecting money for poor believers in Jerusalem, not for the church to spend on itself, not for their own building project, but for the benevolence of others to help people in need. And he spends two chapters explaining why this type of generosity matters. So if I just quote to you from 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6, he says, But this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Now the context here again is money. If you give sparingly, then you'll reap sparingly, but if you give generosity, you'll experience generosity right back at you. In verse 7 he then says, So let each one of you give as he proposes in his heart, not grudgingly or out of necessity, but for the fact that God loves a cheerful giver. Now this is important. In the Old Testament, of course, we know with Israel tithed. Actually they tithe multiple times, and if you add it up, it actually comes to 23%, not the 10% that most people think. But in the New Testament, tithing is mentioned, but it is never mentioned in the form of a command. Instead, God gives a different uses different language and gives us a different principle on how we should give. He actually says, let each one give as he proposes in his heart. So you decide what you give and how much you give, but you must do that without a grudging attitude. You give not because you have to. In fact, I would go so far as to say, if that's your attitude, then don't bother giving. God doesn't owe you any favors. I wonder if you've ever heard a preacher say that. Well, believe me, friends, I just did. Give because you want to, give because you love the Lord, and give because you're grateful for what He's done for you or for that ministry and what it's given you. Now here's the verse that I want you to see in all this. Verse 8. It says, And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you will always have all sufficiency in all things, and may have an abundance for every good work. Now let me approach this quite carefully because this verse sometimes gets abused. Paul is saying this if you give generously, from the heart, and with the right motive, God will see to it that you will always have something to give. So this doesn't allow room for you to try and manipulate God or to obligate him to you. No, it's a principle of sowing a seed so you too can experience the blessing back. Your motives have to be pure in this. If you're giving just because you believe that there's some direct relation to you being financially richer as a response of your giving, then I don't feel that's really a pure motive. In fact, James chapter 4, he writes and says, You ask and do not receive, because you ask a miss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. So this isn't about greed, it's about giving out of gratitude. If you give because you love the Lord and because you really want to bless others, because you know God loves those people or loves what they're doing, God will make sure you always have enough to keep blessing others. That's the main principle that underlines this teaching, and that is what I believe 2 Corinthians chapter 9 explicitly teaches. And again, that's exactly what we see here in our passage from 2 Kings chapter 4. God supplies needs, financial needs, but according to his riches, not our need. Okay, we've been talking about God supplying our needs. Well, what does that look like? Well, in the first story it looked like money, and I hope I've shown you from the both testaments that God really does care about that part of life. But before you get nervous, no, I'm not asking you to send me money, let's simply go back to 2 Kings chapter 4, because the next story is about how God gives, but a very different kind of provision, and we're going to pick up in verse 8. The Shumanite son is restored to life. One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a well to do woman was there who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, I know this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room in the roof and put a bed in there and a table and a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us. One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant, Gehazi, call the Shumanite, so he he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to the servant, Tell her you have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can we do for you? Can we speak in your behalf to the king or the commander of the army? She replied, I have a home among my own people. What can be done for her? Elisha asked. Gehazi said, She has no son, and her husband is old. Then Elisha said, We'll call her, so he called her, and she stood in the doorway. About this time next year, Elisha said, You will have a son in your arms. No, my lord, she objected. Please, man of God, don't mislead your servant. But the woman became pregnant, and the next year, about the same time, she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her. The child grew and one day went out to his father, who was with the reapers, and he said to his father, My head, my head. He told a servant, carry him to his mother. After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died, and she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door and went out. She called her husband and said, Please send me one of the servants and a donkey, so I can go to the man of God quickly and return. Why go to him today? he asked. It's not the new moon or the Sabbath. That's all right, she said. But she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, Lead on, don't slow down for me unless I tell you. So she set off and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant, Gehazi, Look, there's the Shemanite. Run to meet her and ask her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right? Everything is all right, she said. When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, Leave her alone. She is clearly in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me, and she has not told me why. Did I ask you for a son, my lord? she said. Did I tell you, Don't raise my hopes? Elisha said to Gehazi, Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and run. Don't greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, don't answer them. Lay my staff on the boy's face. But the child's mother said, As surely as the Lord lives and you live, I will not leave you. So he got up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound in response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him the boy has not yet awakened. When Elisha then reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, he shut the door on the two of them, and he prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room, and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy then sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, Call the Shumanite, and he did, and when she came he said, Take your son. She came in and fell at his feet and bowed to the ground, and then she took her son and went out.