YES, AND MUCH MORE – 2 Kings 4:1-7

4 Ways God Answers Prayer #4

Lisa Boyd enjoyed a close, loving relationship with her mother. Even though Lisa was now married with her own family, she looked forward to talking with her mother every day either on the phone or in person as she would either drop by her parent’s house or her mom would stop in to see her for a while. So when Lisa first suspected and then found it medically confirmed that her mother had contracted Alzheimer’s disease, she dreaded that inevitable day when she would no longer have that special relationship that she had enjoyed since her childhood. It took almost a decade, but the day finally did arrive when Lisa’s mother no longer recognized her as a daughter. Mrs. Boyd remained sweet and pleasant and would even remark to her husband, “They are such nice people” after Lisa left, but there was no recognition of that special mother-daughter relationship anymore. Even though Lisa had known for some time that this day would come, she still wasn’t prepared for how much it hurt.

One late summer afternoon, as Lisa was having her devotions, she decided to take this burden to the Lord. She prayed that God would grant her just one more opportunity to know that special daughter-mother relationship that she so much craved.

The next day when she was visiting her parent’s house, Lisa was cleaning up, doing some dishes when she felt someone gently slip her arms around her from behind. She then heard her mother whisper in her ear, “Is it really true? Are you my baby?” Tears came into Lisa’s eyes as she turned around and answered back, “Yes, it’s true.” Lisa and her mother hugged for some time as Lisa savored this moment that she had longed for. Lisa’s mother recognized her that entire visit and the daughter was reluctant to leave. But she had responsibilities of her own at home with her husband and children so she had to go. But an amazing thing happened. The next time Lisa called her mom on the phone, she could tell that her mother recognized her as a daughter. And the next time Lisa saw her mother again, it was the same. To this day Mrs. Boyd recognizes Lisa even though her condition has continued to deteriorate. Often as they sit together in a room with others present, she will look over to Lisa with that special look in her eyes that seems to say, “We are in on a secret that nobody else knows about.” Lisa knows that her mother will probably pass away soon, but the amazing thing to her is that while she prayed only for 1 time of recognition, God has given to her many months now of continued relationship with her mother.

Now Lisa’s situation certainly doesn’t mean that prayer will always bring about miraculous results in Alzheimer’s patients. I have a father-in-law who is suffering from this disease and has ceased now to recognize members of the family. But there are times in our lives when God answers our prayers in miraculous ways giving us much more than we even expect to show his love and power to us.

We have been looking at 4 ways that God answers prayer during some of our Sunday evenings together. We started this series in the summer. We have already seen that God sometimes answers our prayers by saying “No, I love you too much to grant you your request.” King David prayer fervently that the 1^st child that he had conceived with Bathsheba would live, but God answered his prayer by saying “No”. This important answer to David’s prayer not only impressed upon him and the children of Israel the serious nature of the sin that he had committed, but it changed the whole course of Israel’s history as it allowed a 2^nd child that Bathsheba bore, a man named Solomon, to become king of Israel when David died.

We have also seen that God sometimes answers our prayers by saying, “Yes, but you’ll have to wait”. Hannah prayed and prayed for a child from the Lord. Through the High Priest, Eli, God assured Hannah that she would indeed have a child. But Hannah had to wait and wait on God’s perfect timing. Looking back from our vantage point today, we can see the wisdom of God’s timing. For Hannah’s son, Samuel, would become the next High Priest when Eli’s wicked sons died in battle with the Philistines and Eli in turn died suddenly himself hearing that the Ark of the Lord had been captured. If Hannah had received her request in her timing, Samuel would not have been in a position to step into that great religious void that Eli’s family had left. But God knew what was best. So He answered Hannah’s prayer in His perfect timing. Sometimes God delays His answers to our prayers as well so that His perfect will can be accomplished in our lives.

Still other times, God answers our prayers by saying “Yes, but not what you think”. Many times in life we don’t really know what is best for us. We have our own plans that we think would be best for our lives. But sometimes these plans would eventually bring great heartache and disaster into our lives. So while God answers our prayers, He sometimes doesn’t give us exactly what we thought that He would. The Apostle Paul experienced this when he suffered from a thorn in the flesh. Paul wanted greater power and freedom in his ministry and thought that he would have it if this thorn were removed from him. So Paul prayed and prayed and prayed that God would remove this thorn in the flesh from him. God told Paul that he would grant his request, but not in the way that Paul thought. Instead of removing the thorn in Paul’s flesh, God gave Paul an extra measure of grace so that Paul’s ministry would expand and blossom.

Now this evening we want to consider a 4^th and final way that God answers our prayers. This is not to imply that these 4 ways are the only ways that God ever answers our prayers. If we were to share our combined experiences this evening, we would probably find that God has answered prayers in as many ways as there are people here in this room. But these 4 ways are major ways that God very often answers our prayers. Sometimes when we pray, God answers by saying, “Yes, Yes and much more than you are even asking.” I would like to take an example from the life of a widow in dire straights as an illustration of this principle this evening. Turn to 2 Kings 4 with me.

The widow that we are introduced to here is undoubtedly a godly woman. Her husband had been a prophet. But now her husband had been taken from her in death and she found herself in dire straights. She had fallen into some debt and now creditors were threatening to take her 2 sons away as slaves in order to pay for her debts leaving her all alone in this world. In desperation, this widow comes to Elisha as God’s representative asking for just enough to pay off her debts so that she could keep her 2 sons. Her prayer to God through God’s representative, Elisha, is answered in a most unusual way as God gives to her much more than she even requested. Notice this heart-warming story as we read it together. READ 2 Kings 4:1-7:

^{2KI 4:1} 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 his slaves."

^{2KI 4:2} 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 little oil."

^{2KI 4:3} Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. ⁴ Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."

^{2KI 4:5} She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. ⁶ When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."

But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.

^{2KI 4:7} She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

1. Now in the first place we find a widow who came to God’s servant with a serious problem.

She was in debt with no available means at her disposal to pay her creditors. Now this was a more serious problem in these Biblical times than we would imagine today. If someone were to find themselves in such straights today, she would have several options at her disposal.

*she might find a job somewhere. Today, it is common for women to work outside of their own homes. We expect to find women in all arenas of the business world today. We find women working in retail outlets; we find women in classrooms teaching; we find women in professional offices; we find women in almost every arena we can imagine. And if there is an arena of business where women aren’t found, just wait a month or so and there will probably be a lawsuit demanding equal opportunity.

It is difficult for us to even imagine today a world where there weren’t business opportunities open to women. But such was the Old Testament world when this widow was alive. The vocational opportunities for women 2,700 years ago were very limited. So when this widow lost her husband, she just couldn’t run down to a local business and apply for a job.

And to make her plight more dire, this widow was saddled with a heavy load of debt. Now the nature of the debt is not mentioned in our text. Because she tells Elisha that his creditor is coming, some have assumed that her debt was one that was left behind by her husband when he died. This certainly might be the case, but we can’t be dogmatic here. We certainly don’t need much imagination to picture a widow with 2 sons and no means of income falling into debt.

Now it is interesting to note that this widow’s concern was not primarily with her poverty, but rather with the fact that she might lose her 2 sons to creditors who would take them as slaves to help pay off her debts. Having lost her husband, she was concerned with losing her sons as well and being left all alone. We can empathize with her most tragic circumstances. In her distress, this widow comes to Elisha for help. And this brings us to the second part of the story.

2. God through His prophet Elisha provided a solution for her.

Now it is most interesting that God’s solution for this widow begins with what she already possesses. “What do you have in your house?” was the first question that Elisha asks her. The widow hadn’t seen anything of value there before. She was down to just a little bit of oil left in a bottle. That was all that she had. But God was going to use what she had to meet her great need.

Upon learning that she has a little bit of oil left, Elisha then instructs her to go around to her neighbors and gather as many vessels as she could. “Don’t just ask for a few”, Elisha says. Now this is important to note because God’s provision to this widow came as she was obedient to Him. The widow gathers up all of the vessels that she can find. Then following the instructions of the prophet, she begins to pour oil from her kitchen vessel into the other jars, one at a time. Now we must remember that oil was as valuable in that day as money would be today. Oil could be traded and used as currency. So all of those vessels of oil were used by the widow to pay off all of her debts. And then she had enough left to live on for a long period of time. The oil continued to flow until the last borrowed vessel is filled. Only then does the oil stop. And this brings us to a most important point – probably the central point of this whole story.

3. God’s ability to provide exceeded her ability to receive.

Every single vessel that she had borrowed was filled up to the brim. It didn’t matter whether she had borrowed 10 or 100, they were all filled. And the implication is that if she would have had a thousand more vessels, they all would have been filled as well. God’s ability to supply the oil was unlimited. He could supply as much as she had ability to hold. But when the final vessel that she had was filled up, the flow of oil stopped. God didn’t waste a drop of oil. He gave the widow only as much oil as she was able to handle.

One of the most difficult concepts for many of us to grasp is the generous nature of God. This is most difficult for us to understand because we live in the world where selfishness normally rules. Even apparent blessings come with strings attached to them. When people appear to be generous, it is usually because they want some return on their investment. We even have developed colloquial sayings to remind us of this lest we get sucked into a loss in our naivety. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”, we are often told. And it is true that many apparent gifts bring strings with them in this life. When the offer comes to us for a couple of nights free lodging in a luxurious resort, we really know that we are going to have to pay for this free lodging with several hours of our time listening to a hard sell trying to get us to purchase some time share.

This world system in which we live and the influence that it has on our thinking causes many to have a faulty view of God. The simple fact that God is a generous God who delights in giving good gifts to His children without ulterior motives is too much for many people to swallow. So they assume that they have to work to earn God’s favor. They assume that they have to do good deeds in order to impress God. They assume that they have to give money to satisfy God. But how much work would be necessary to earn the favor of the omnipotent God who created all of the universe? How many good deeds would be necessary to impress the benevolent God who causes it to rain upon the just and the unjust alike? How much money would one have to give to satisfy the God who owns everything that He has created? You see, the very concept of having to reciprocate to an infinite God in order to balance his kindnesses to us is laughable.

The Bible tells of a God who delights in giving good gifts to His children. In fact, God will give as much as we are able to hold. It is only the ability of God’s children to receive that limits the generosity of God. God delights in surprising us by giving us more than we dreamed possible. I’m sure that this widow never envisioned vessels covering her floor all filled up with precious oil when she first called Elisha with her problem. All she asked for originally is just to have her debt paid off. She would have been happy just with that. But God had more for her in mind. God not only paid off her debt, but He also provided her with a nice little nest-egg that would allow her to raise her 2 sons without financial pressures. That’s the type of God we serve – a God who is ready and willing to give to us all that we are able to receive and handle.

An elementary teacher once noticed a student of hers who appeared to be very frustrated doing the work that she had assigned. So she walked over to his desk and asked what was the matter. “It’s this stupid pencil, he replied. My parents just bought me this new mechanical pencil and the lead’s run out already and I can’t finish my work.”

The teacher just smiled. “Let me look at that pencil for a moment. You see, this pencil has a long strip of lead that runs up into it. If you just pump on the top like this, more lead will come out the bottom for you to write with and you can finish your work.”

Many times we live our lives like that young boy using the mechanical pencil for the very first time. We become anxious and frustrated when the vast resources of Almighty God are just waiting to be available to us. And what makes matters worse for us is the simple fact that most of us have availed ourselves of God’s resources many times in the past. So we know that they are there. We know that God can provide for each of our needs. But we still come to periods in our lives when we fret and worry because we think that the oil has run out.

God has promised to supply all of our needs. So when we walk in His will and obey His commands, we need never worry about having a lack of resources to do His work.

In His famous Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus taught His disciples a very important lesson about their anxiety and God’s ability to provide. READ Matt. 6:25-34:

^{MT 6:25} "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

^{MT 6:28} "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God answers prayer. He answers prayer every time a child of His prays. God must answer prayer because He has promised that He would. “Call upon me and I will answer you”, God has said. Sometimes, God answers “No, I love you too much to give you that request. If I gave you what you are asking for, it would hurt you in the long run rather than helping you.” Other times, God answers, “Yes, I will give you what you are asking for, but you’re going to have to wait for a while. The timing is not right just yet. When the time is right, I will give your request to you.” Still other times, God answers, “Yes, I will grant your request, but not exactly in the manner that you are asking it. I have a better plan that will be better for you. So I will answer your request by giving something better to you.” And then as we have seen this evening, there are times when God answers our prayers by saying, “Yes, I will give you what you are requesting and I will give you more than you ever imagined.”

I think it would be good for me to end my sermon by quoting the words that the Apostle Paul used to end the 3^rd chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians:

^{EPH 3:20} Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.