GOD SPEAKS

Now a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” 2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go, borrow containers elsewhere for yourself, empty containers from all your neighbors—do not get too few. 4 Then you shall come in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour into all these containers; and you shall set aside what is full.” 5 So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they began bringing the containers to her, and she poured the oil. 6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” But he said to her, “There are no more containers.” Then the oil stopped. 7 So she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” 2 KINGS 1: 7 [NASB].

Here is a prophet indebted. Moreover, he died. Debt is an important issue for this family. His family is now in crisis. Debts make lives miserable. If God blesses us financially, you will be in a position to lend but not in a position to borrow. Look at the great promises that God has given us. The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. Deuteronomy 28:12[ NASB]. If He blesses our handiwork our property will expand. Does not the fact that you can lend to so many nations mean that your financial blessings are unimaginable to you? Let’s look at also one of God’s words in this context. Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. Job 1:9-10. [NASB]. The reason Job’s possessions expanded was because God blessed the work of his hand. All we need is to have God’s blessing on the work we do. There is no room for debt where there is God’s blessing. For someone who has decided not to borrow, there will be no expenses beyond his needs. Because he is satisfied in all conditions. Only God’s blessing can deliver those who are in debt. Such is the blessing we must obtain from God. 

Now the debtor has approached that family. He asked them to settle the debt. Or send your two sons to be slaves to me. They did not understand what to do. The nice thing they did was decide to seek God’s advice. She came to the prophet Elisha. That is, she sought God’s advice to come out of the trouble. This work showed her the way out of the debt problem. Many times we think we can achieve through our thinking. We think we also have a lot of experience. God’s thoughts and counsel are far greater than ours. That is why it is always best to seek God’s advice. What the Word of God says in this context? Do not be wise in your own eyes; PROVERBS 3: 7; Also, says: I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will advise you with My eye upon you. PSALM 32:8. [NASB]. Who in the world is as rich as He can advise us to get out of trouble? See the wonderful counsel given by God through God’s prophet Elisha. Then he said, “Go, borrow containers elsewhere for yourself, empty containers from all your neighbors—do not get too few. Then you shall come in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour into all these containers; He advised them to take the cooking utensils from the neighbors. God bless the oil in the house. That little bit of oil has now become too much. God showed them the way to pay their debts. How did all this happen? Isn’t it because they are asking God for advice?

What would happen if the neighbors did not provide the empty containers? Is it not because this family is in alliance with the neighbors that they gave their bowls / containers to them? Do not abandon your friend or your father’s friend, And do not go to your brother’s house on the day of your disaster; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away. Proverbs 27: 10 [NASB]. On the day of disaster, a neighbour is better than you own brother far way. See how important friendship is with your neighbor. Neighbors near you can help you without having to go to a distant sister/brother. Your neighbor is your brother or sister in case of emergency. That is why you need to be friendly with your neighbor. We can see that the Prophet’s family had such brotherly love for their neighbors. We also need the help of neighbors. Do not think that I can live on my own. If not, how can you fulfill the command to love your neighbor as yourself?

This family faced such a debt problem together. When the mother says that we should go to the prophet of God to settle our problem, what would have happened if the sons were not ready for it? What if the mother had left them, saying that their problem was theirs? What would have happened if those two sons had not done the job of bringing those cooking utensils? Everyone in the family thought the problem was theirs. Family unity has been a great help to them. Because of this unity they all went together to the servant of God. Where there is unity there will be the blessing of God. Let us read this passage in this context: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to live together in unity! 2  It is like the precious oil on the head, Running down upon the beard, As on Aaron’s beard, The oil which ran down upon the edge of his robes. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For the Lord commanded the blessing there—life forever. Psalm 133:1-3[NASB]. They did what God told them to do and got out of debt. God’s loving unity brings blessings to your family.