The Principles Behind a Working Faith Part One
If you have ever read the story in 2 Kings 4:1-7 you have seen a woman who put great faith into action. Here was a widow whose recently deceased husband left her with a significant debt she could not pay. Coincidental with that sorry event was the fact that the debt collector was coming to take her two boys away from the home to extract slave payment. They would have to work to pay the debt which could have taken years and the best of their young lives. The situation was overwhelming to her to say the least. Without money, hope, or any answers she fled to the prophet of Israel to ask him what to do.
The story begins and ends in seven short verses, and in that space the OT Scripture gives us four amazing principles which demonstrate how faith is activated and works in our lives.
The first thing we notice here in this story is that:
I. Faith is often produced in a Crisis. vs 1. The Sum she Owed
Did you notice that? Faith is really not necessary in life until we face something bigger than us! This widow was facing a "sum she could not pay." When life gets bigger than we are, we need an even bigger answer. She did the right thing and took her need to the one who could help her.
The prophet in Israel at the time was the prophet Elisha who had replaced Elijah when he passed the scene. The prophet in Israel was to be a means of getting revelation from God for His people. A prophet had to have a 100% accuracy record or else he was considered to be a false prophet.
Elisha asked her one simple question.
The prophet said, "What have you in the house?" This inquiry leads us directly to principle number two.
2. Faith always Requires Surrender. vs. 2. The Supply she Owned
Little did this little widow realize that the man of God would ask her such a question as this. Here she was with a deceased husband, two hungry young boys to feed, and a debt collector coming soon to take them away as slaves. She had empty cupboards, an empty purse, and an empty bag of solutions. Elisha was not defeated by her impoverished condition but gave her the precise answer to her problem and also a key to her ultimately discovering the solution herself. However, she first would have to recall that small but significant little bottle of oil she had forgotten was still in her kitchen! But how would that do anything? How could that ever meet such a great need?
Do you remember the little boy who surrendered his lunch to Peter at the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus? He had a total of a few little fish and a few small loaves of bread, but he willingly gave them to the apostle as his offering. Jesus took the token food, blessed it and then broke it and gave it to the disciples to distribute to the people.......all five thousand men which likely included twice as many woman and children! When they were done passing it all out..........well you know already what happened, don't you! They collected the scraps, twelve goodie bags likely a pneumonic device for the apostles.
But the demand was the same as in our story above. This woman had to be willing to give up the only thing she had in order for her great need to be met! She did just that and then Elisha told her exactly what to do next.
Check that out in the next blog!
The story begins and ends in seven short verses, and in that space the OT Scripture gives us four amazing principles which demonstrate how faith is activated and works in our lives.
The first thing we notice here in this story is that:
I. Faith is often produced in a Crisis. vs 1. The Sum she Owed
Did you notice that? Faith is really not necessary in life until we face something bigger than us! This widow was facing a "sum she could not pay." When life gets bigger than we are, we need an even bigger answer. She did the right thing and took her need to the one who could help her.
The prophet in Israel at the time was the prophet Elisha who had replaced Elijah when he passed the scene. The prophet in Israel was to be a means of getting revelation from God for His people. A prophet had to have a 100% accuracy record or else he was considered to be a false prophet.
Elisha asked her one simple question.
The prophet said, "What have you in the house?" This inquiry leads us directly to principle number two.
2. Faith always Requires Surrender. vs. 2. The Supply she Owned
Little did this little widow realize that the man of God would ask her such a question as this. Here she was with a deceased husband, two hungry young boys to feed, and a debt collector coming soon to take them away as slaves. She had empty cupboards, an empty purse, and an empty bag of solutions. Elisha was not defeated by her impoverished condition but gave her the precise answer to her problem and also a key to her ultimately discovering the solution herself. However, she first would have to recall that small but significant little bottle of oil she had forgotten was still in her kitchen! But how would that do anything? How could that ever meet such a great need?
Do you remember the little boy who surrendered his lunch to Peter at the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus? He had a total of a few little fish and a few small loaves of bread, but he willingly gave them to the apostle as his offering. Jesus took the token food, blessed it and then broke it and gave it to the disciples to distribute to the people.......all five thousand men which likely included twice as many woman and children! When they were done passing it all out..........well you know already what happened, don't you! They collected the scraps, twelve goodie bags likely a pneumonic device for the apostles.
But the demand was the same as in our story above. This woman had to be willing to give up the only thing she had in order for her great need to be met! She did just that and then Elisha told her exactly what to do next.
Check that out in the next blog!
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