The Widow Whose Business Rises Again After Fallen Apart
The Widow Whose Business Rises Again After Fallen
Apart
Introduction
One of the
commonest works during the ancient times was business. The kind of business
then was trade by barter. Trade by barter is not common among individuals today
unlike then, because it limits trade. However, this kind of trade is common
amongst countries today and that is why America would exchange her technology
for some precious metals like diamonds.
Google defines
trade by barter “as an act of trading goods and services between two or more
people without the use of money. This act of trade is sometimes referred to as barter
system. Barter system is a form of trading in which goods are exchanged directly
for other goods, or used as a medium of exchange, without the use of money.”
“And
Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they
had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of
David.
“So
Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.
“And
Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household,
and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.” (1 Ki 5:1, 10-11)
We shall see in
the above quoted bible chapter and verses that the form of trade here is trade
by barter, in which expertise, cedar trees among others are being changed for
other materials.
However,
business nowadays has to do with exchange of money for that thing which one
wants to acquire.
Having said
this, a person who is a widow is said to be someone who has lost his husband to
the cold hands of death and who has decided not to remarry. This person may be
a young woman or old woman. An example of a woman who decides not to remarry
after her husband’s death in the new testament was Anna. The bible says she
lived with her husband for seven years before her husband’s death.
“And
there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of
Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from
her virginity;
“And
she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the
temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” (Luk 2:36-37)
However, it is
not all women who can do this, and those who cannot do that should not be
looked down upon as if they do not love their husbands, but we should know that
individuals differ. God fives room for our differences, and a good believer of
the Gospel should always give room for individual’s differences.
What you
will condone, I may not be able to condone it, what I can do, you may not be
able to do it, that is why we are different that is the beauty of life and
living.
Losing what one
loves is usually not easy except you do not love the thing in the first
instance, but if the thing is loved, it will pain you greatly when you lose it.
In the same wise should we view losing one’s partner, spouse. It is usually not
easy for the partner who has lost a partner. In fact those who have been
enduring the marriage, when the person losses his or her partner, the person
would still remember one day what the person used to do that he was perfect in
and would say to no one in particular that assuming my spouse is alike now, he
would have done this or that. That is how it is.
Therefore, when
one loses a person that one loves, it is usually a time of trial for the
person, for he will have to adjust to the situation.
As losing a
partner pains a lot so did it happen unto God when he lost man to the pranks of
the devil in the garden of Eden, it pained God greatly and he started adjusting
himself to the situation of not having free access to us like before again by bringing
many schemes on board to bring man back to fellowship with him. It is through
this adjustments and readjustments that resulted in him sending Jesus to the
world to die for our sins, and the onus is now on us all to accept God’s freewill
offering by given our lives to him. Have you given your life to Jesus Christ?
If you are yet to, God wants you to give your life to him through his son
today.
The collections
of the bible are wonderful, and it is one of the wonderful collections of the
bible as found in the Old Testament portion of the bible that I want us to
learn from in this submission.
After Prophet
Elijah has been carted away by the chariots of fire, the man Elisha who saw him
being taken off stepped into his shoes and began to operate on a full scale in
his office in the late ninth century BC.
A woman who
happens to be one of the wives of the prophets ran to the prophet when she
could neither curtail nor control the problem she has been battling with alone
and the prophet attended to her. The concise story of what happened is
documented in the book of second Kings chapter four, the first seven verses. It
is from this place that I want to draw out the following points.
1. The Woman and Her Spouse Were Devoted: According to the Mosaic Law that says Levites
shouldn’t marry a whore, it stands to reason that the husband of this woman did
not marry a whore but a decent and a chaste lady.
“They
shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a
woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
“A
widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take:
but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.” (Lev 21:7 & 14)
Though the worship
of the true God was threatened during their days, but these people would be one
of those whom God vouched for that they were keeping his precepts when he was
talking with Prophet Elijah that he still has 7,000 people who have neither
bowed to Baal nor kissed it.
“Yet
I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed
unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (1 Ki 19:18)
This perhaps
could suggest why they faced troubles, financial crises that eventually led the
woman to go to the prophet after the demise of her love in this book.
“Now
there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha,
saying, thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did
fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be
bondmen.” (2 Ki 4:1)
From the
statement of the woman here we shall see that she said her husband feared the
Lord. The fear of God in the heart of her husband before his demise was not a
hidden one, it was equally known to all and especially the prophet. Assuming
this is not so, the Prophet would have called her to order, that her husband
did not fear the Lord, for we know that the Prophet called to order King Jehu
when they came to him for assistance on the battle they wanted to confront.
Now, if he could confront the Kings like that, the authority that rules
kingdoms then, who is this woman that he will not tell her that her husband was
not devoted, her husband did not fear the Lord and the same applies to her.
“And
Elisha said unto the king of Israel, what have I to do with thee? get thee to
the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of
Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD hath called these three kings together,
to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
“And
Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it
not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not
look toward thee, nor see thee.” (2 Ki 3:13-14)
The prophet was
silent on what the woman said because he knows that what the woman was saying
was correct.
After the woman
and her husband have been joined together, they have been living harmoniously
following the rules of the Jews into letters And the Mosaic Laws.
2. Terrible Things Happen to Believers (Devotees)
too: From what this
woman said we shall discover that evil things also happen to those who believe
in God and who are following his rules. They are not immune to it, because they
are still in the world and in flesh as all humans are.
The wisest King
says that, evil happens to the just (or righteous) person as if the person is a
wicked person.
“All
things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth
in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his
wickedness.” (Ecc 7:15)
“There
is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it
happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to
whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also
is vanity.” (Ecc. 8:14)
When a
believer, ardent follower of the Lord borrows to feed, borrows before executing
good things with no respite in site, with no wherewithal to repay the loans
taken. When a believer after doing all his or her best and everything turns
negative or to nothing, the author of this book of Ecclesiastes is saying it is
evil.
This is what
this woman brought unto Prophet Elisha that despite following God, despite not
being lazy, despite given all their best into the service of God, what they do
not think would happen to them eventually happened and they couldn’t contain
the event.
“Now
there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto
Elisha, saying, thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy
servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two
sons to be bondmen.” (2 Ki 4:1)
What are those
things that have overwhelmed you despite being ardent follower of Jesus?
Despite doing all you know the scriptures have proffered to be right, yet those
things happen to you. I want you to know that you are like this spouse, this family
of God and you shouldn’t for that go and kiss Baal neither worship him, you
should not for that go and have fellowship with Mammon, for there shouldn’t be
any relationship those of us who are light and darkness and neither can we have
two masters.
“No
man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon.” (Mat 6:24)
“Be
ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness?” (2 Co 6:14)
If you are
passing through hard times, that make you doubt your salvation and at times
question why you are being given birth to, you need to exercise patience and
know that God is there he sees all things.
The couple were
borrowing here and there to keep themselves going, they were borrowing to keep
the wife’s business afloat since the husband was a prophet and would likely not
be working again.
3. Loan Repayment Becomes Difficult: I perceived that the couple before the death of
the husband couldn’t pay the interest on the loans they took, and the interest
keeps accumulating. It was when they couldn’t pay the accumulated interests on
the original loans that the loans keep accumulating until it became huge debt
on them.
4. They Couldn’t Save: When people talk about saving before you spend I
cannot but say to myself that it is a person who has no debt on him that could
save. But for someone who has debts that she or he is servicing, she can barely
save. This couple couldn’t save a dime because they were servicing loans.
5. They Have Sold all to Service Their Debt: It is unarguably logical to assume that for a
couple who fears the Lord and who does not want to owe anyone a dime as the
bible says, they would do everything within their power to ensure that they are
freed from the burden of debt. Doing everything within their means would
include selling everything they had to offset the debts, but even at that they
were unable to pay off their debts.
“Owe
no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law.” (Rom 13:8)
It was after
they have sold all to service the debt that they were left with only one bottle
of oil at home.
“And
Elisha said unto her, what shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the
house? And she said, thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save
a pot of oil.” (2 Ki 4:2)
It was because
all valuable things in the house have been sold to service their debt profile
that was why the woman said, “thine
handmaid hath not any thing in the house”. She may be thinking that, the prophet may want to
tell her to go and sell some things to settle the debt, she may be thinking that
the prophet would tell ask her that does she has difficulties in selling some
of their possessions to settle the debt? For that is what is common when we are
indebted to someone and we go to people for counselling they would ask that do
you find it difficult to sell those things to pay your debt? If the answer is,
I have difficulties in selling what I have to offset the debt the person would
say he would help you market the goods so that you will be able to convert the
goods to money and pay your debt to time.
This was
however not the case with this widow, for they have sole all they had at
ridiculously low prices to offset part of the debt and service the interests on
the debt, but despite all of these, the debt profile keeps rising.
6. Why She Has Pot of Oil Left: Anyone who has at a time or another passed
through financial challenges would recall that when you want to offer some of
your properties for sales, immediately the people see that you have challenges
financially and you need the money urgently, they would be pricing those goods
anyhow, they would be pricing it at ridiculously low prices, which I do not
think it is good.
Some
people usually assume that it is because those people who wanted to sell those
goods have gotten it illegally that is why they are offering it for sales and
they would be saying, their illegally gotten wealth, God has retrieved it back
for them.
I am persuaded
that it is not everyone who got their goods and wealth illegally, but as the
wisest King said in his accounts that “time and chance happen to them all”,
that is what happen to couple of those people who are forced to offer their
properties for sales to raise money for what they want to do next or to offset
their debts.
“I
returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of
understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth
to them all.” (Ecc 9:11)
This woman
having tried all her best and couldn’t raise the money started selling her
things however, when it got to the last pot of oil, people wanted to exploit
her, they started pricing the pot of oil at a ridiculously low price, at a
price that would not serve anything for her, and the woman felt, even if she
would give it out to someone it would be better than offering it out at a price
that would not make sense, getting money that she would not be able to use for
anything, thus, she preserved it at home, obviously thinking she would use it
for something if she couldn’t give it out, maybe to anoint herself as a wife of
the prophet who indubitably would have learnt how to anoint from her husband
before her demise. She thence left the pot at home, waiting for the day it
would be used.
“And
Elisha said unto her, what shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the
house? And she said, thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save
a pot of oil.” (2 Ki 4:2)
She had it at
home because she couldn’t sell it anyhow, she didn’t want to sell it at a
ridiculously low price and would be blaming herself afterwards.
7. Her Sureties Have Done Their Best: This woman’s sureties have done their best in
ensuring that the loans she took be repaid, but everything was on promise and
fail. “I will pay tomorrow, I will pay next month”, was all she kept saying and
since she has not died, the sureties perhaps have to tell the creditor to take
more drastic and decisive measures against the woman because they also had
their lives to live and that was when the creditor changed his disposition to
collecting the loan back from the woman, she told her that she has not been serious
with the issue of the repayment of the loan and that he would go with her
children, to be serving him and they would be repaying the debt with their
services under him and or if she has money before they fully repaid the loans
with their services under him, she can come for his children.
“Be
not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away
thy bed from under thee?” (Pro 22:26-27)
When this
happened, the woman knows that the issue has taken a new dimension.
8. Knows When and How to Involve God: Having tried her best but failed thereby and now
that the creditor has come to disturb her, not only to disturb her for they had
been doing that well before then, and her sureties have handed off the issue, she
decided to turn to someone who cannot hand her off, someone who will always be
there for her.
“Now
there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto
Elisha, saying, thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy
servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two
sons to be bondmen.” (2 Ki 4:1)
God will always
be there for us if we can put our trust in him, God will always be there for us
if we can involve him in all we are doing. You have been trusting him before
but without changes like the woman, he calls on you to come and lean on him
again.
Poll God’s Involvement: Have you been involving God in your activities
before? Yes No
If you have
been involving God in your activities before but it seems as if he has not been
there for you as it happened unto this widow even before her husband’s demise
for to them it seems as if God does not see them, it seems as if they have been
forsaken and neglected by God, thus, they keep on trying, keep on doing some
things to make sure their situation and lives changes but all they were doing
turned to nothing.
However, when
she discovered that the trend has changed, she went back to that God through
the Prophet to ask for his mercy to ask that she and her children should
neither be forsaken nor forgotten, and God did arise on her plight.
He will also
arise on your plight if you can forsake the experience and go to him afresh
today.
9. What she has been Accustomed to Was Used to Save
Her: God hardly takes
a person through a new path without going through the known path. He will go
from known to the unknown when dealing with people. Be it known that when God
wants to change your life, he will start from what you know how to do before
moving to other things that you have little knowledge about in the past and
would then teach you how to go about the new thing.
Teaching you
how to go about the new thing could come through someone, instruments, observation,
inner directives through social media among others.
After this
woman narrated her ordeal to the Prophet, the prophet asked her what she has at
home and having confirmed what she had at home, the prophet told her that it is
what she knows how to do that she will do again. And what is it that she knows
how to do, she knows how to borrow.
What she would
borrow now would not be money, but she would borrow insignificant thing, what people
would readily part with without asking for money from her.
“Then
he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty
vessels; borrow not a few.” (2 Ki 4:3)
If we can take
our plights to him, he will turn the insignificant things in our hands and lives
to big and mighty things that will surprise the enemies.
10. The Instructions Were Well Emphasized: The Prophet after telling her what she needs to
go and borrow, emphasized the clause attached for the borrowing because assuming
the clause was not well emphasized. Let us see the instructions:
(a) Borrow Many Empty Vessels: It is certain that assuming the clause attached to
this instruction was not well spelt out for the woman she wouldn’t borrow considerable
numbers of empty vessels.
“Then
he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty
vessels; borrow not a few.” (2 Ki 4:3)
When the
Lord is giving us instructions, he will emphasize the key areas to focus on, on
the instructions so that we shall not come around and say what he said did not
work for us.
Prophet Elisha
told her what she should do, she shouldn’t miss it, he told her that it is now
time for her to recoup all she has lost, it is now time for her to be
compensated and rewarded, it is now time that God would wipe away her tears,
anguish and pain, it is now time that God would remove her shame from the face
of the world.
“Fear
not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt
not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt
not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.” (Isa 54:4)
He thence told
her that she shouldn’t borrow few empty vessels, but she should borrow many of
it, she should borrow as many as she could. She has known how to borrow before,
and God uses what she knows how to do to remove her shame from the face of the
world.
You who are
passing through troubles, pains, trials and financial difficulties, you shall
remember them no more when you acquaint yourself with the Lord.
(b) Take Those Borrowed Vessels Home: She was told that she needs to take the borrowed
vessels to her house. Thank God she still has a house that she can resort to.
Many people are out there ravaged and without homes, but this was not the case
for the woman. Thus, Prophet Elisha told her to take those empty vessels which
she might have borrowed to her house and then she will move to the next phase
of her action.
“And
when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons,
and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which
is full.” (2 Ki 4:4)
We need to
patiently wait for the instructions of the Lord if we really want to be his
follower.
(c) Shut the Doors: Prophet Elisha told her to shut the doors behind
her and her children after she had gotten as many empty vessels as possible
which she can borrow from people. God by this statement through his conduit, Prophet
Elisha wishes to teach them an important lesson, which by extension he is
teaching all of us too.
It is because
when those things happen and the smooth paths become roughened, we shall pause
our moves, reflect on the pasts and other things and we shall be able to see
and to learn what he wants us to learn which we have been avoiding all this
while.
Poll 2: Roughened Paths: Is your paths roughened in life? Yes No Unsure
If your paths
in life has been roughened and you are a believer in Jesus Christ, it may be
that the Lord is teaching you something and thus you need to be patient with
him to learn and see those things he wants you to see and learn what he wants
you to learn. Thine roughened paths may not be caused by sin, neither enemies,
but it may essentially be from God to let you see some things that would be of
immense benefit to you in the future.
“That
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” (1 Pe 1:7)
- Why She was told to Shut the doors Behind Her and
Her Sons? Here are some
of the reasons why I think God said through his oracle, Prophet Elisha that
they should shut the doors behind them when they wanted to be pouring the oil
into the new empty vessels borrowed.
(i) Make it Complete Secret Between Them and
Yahweh: They need to
shut the doors behind them so that what they are doing would be between them
and their God and his God alone. For when it becomes public it may not be so
appreciated by people again.
(ii) To Avoid Disturbances: If the doors were opened, their friends and or neighbors
may at that time wanted to come and visit them and would cause disturbance, cessation,
to the flow of the anointing that is working in bringing about the
multiplication.
Jesus himself
would talk along this line when he was talking to the apostles and all of us on
the need for prayers, he said when we want to pray we shouldn’t be like the
hypocrites who stand at the corners of the house and start shouting, but when
we are praying we should enter into our closet to talk with our father in
heaven secretly and he will hear us.
“And
when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they
may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
“But
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly.” (Mat 6:5-6)
I remember
sometimes back that when I wanted to pray, it is then that I will have
visitors, and they would talk at length and wouldn’t leave early until all the
time I set aside for prayers be exceeded and the fire for prayer in me be
reduced. After they have departed, and I wanted to pray I wouldn’t be able to
pray much again.
I saw this as a
means for which the devil is cheating me, and thence, whenever I wanted to
pray, I started shutting my doors behind me. When visitors arrived and knocked,
I wouldn’t open until I have spent the hours, I want to spend with God in
prayers with him.
By the time I
finished my prayers, the visitors would have gone. Shutting the doors behind
them is a means of avoiding distractions and obstructions from people.
(iii) God’s Exclusive Rights: They were told to shut the door behind them so
that what they are doing would be exclusively reserved between them and their
God. When one has exclusive right to something, no other person can go there
anyhow without being sued or punished. They by shutting their doors gave God
exclusivity to what they were doing.
(iv) To Show Them That It’s Power of God That Will do
it: An author
says, he said this because he wants them to know that they were going to be
dealing with Yahweh as from thenceforth. He wants them to know that it is God
who will do it not him, the prophet.
(v) To Show Them That Yahweh is Omnipresent,
Omnipotent and Omniscience:
They need to shut the door behind them because it is not him, Prophet Elisha,
who will be at work, but Yahweh who will be at work. The God who works where no
one is, the God who makes a way through the sea and river Jordan is the one
they would be dealing with. The God who is everywhere at once, sees everywhere
at once and knows everything would be the one they shall be interacting with.
(vi) Wants Them to Praise God Afterwards: The Prophet told them this because he wants them
to know that he was simply a conduit for getting across God’s message and will
to them and he wouldn’t have any input in it, thus she neither her sons should
come and be praising him after the miracle has been wrought but they should
direct all their praises to Yahweh alone.
(vii) He Wants Them to Enjoy God: Since they would be dealing directly with God if
they follow his instructions, by closing the doors behind them, thus removing
all forms of interference between them and God he opens the door for them to be
enjoying their God. Thus, if they decide to do it in the appropriate way, they
would enjoy that God, but if they do the work shoddily, they wouldn’t.
(viii) So That the Miracle Would be Valuable: There is an adage in my land that says, valuable
things are at first hidden from the spectacles of the spectators. When you hide
something from the majority, they would value it more when they see it, but
when they have seen it at the inception, they would not attach much importance
to it when the product is eventually finished and brought out for them to see.
God may by this
be teaching them of the need to ensure that they learn how to keep some things
to themselves until those things become finished products. This is also true of
us, we need to learn how to keep some things to ourselves until it is finished,
by doing this, the thing would have more importance in the sight of the people.
(d) Pour into new ones: He told them that they should start pouring the oil
into the empty vessels after the doors have been shut behind them.
New vessels are
required because new thing is to be done and Jesus says no one can pour new
wine into old wineskin.
“Neither
do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine
runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles,
and both are preserved.” (Mat 9:17)
It is when our
lives are free of impurities that the oil of God would be poured into our
lives. We cry for new oil every day, but we are yet to receive it because our
lives yet have impurities in them.
(e) Setting Aside Those Filled: After a previously empty vessel has been filled,
it should be set aside, he told them. It is important you set aside filled
vessels from empty ones lest there be confusions. God equally sets aside those
who are his from those who are not his to place us at vantage position for his
blessings at the right time.
“Then
shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him
that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” (Mal 3:18)
11. She did What she was Told: It is possible that one hears a word and not do
it, but this was not the case for this widow, she heard what the prophet said,
and she carried it out.
You perhaps may
have been hearing and reading the messages of Christ Jesus for a while, you
have been reading the bible for a while, but you are yet to carry out what you
have read, you are yet to be the doer of the word. Be it known unto you that
neither the hearer nor the speaker would be justified but the doer of the word
of God.
You have to
take actions on the word of Jesus that you have been hearing, you have to take
action on the good messages you have been reading and downloading on many
social media because it is by taking actions and doing them that you would
become justified, it is by doing them that your life and business would become
transformed.
Some people
have heard about the Gospel before some of us, and they have been asking that who
have you known that his life has got transformed through this means? And because
they couldn’t receive satisfactory answers, they couldn’t follow Jesus.
They have read
it, some have heard of it, but they were seeking for someone whom they know to
tell them more about the Gospel before they start, and some even after seeing someone
to tell them what they wanted to hear, they will yet not do the needful.
Such people wouldn’t
be justified neither receive anything if they continue in their position of
pessimism.
It is the same
with some of the systems of the world, if you continue to linger in the
position of your doubts, asking questions that who have you seen that has done
this and things changed for him or her, then you won’t make appreciable
progress in anything you are doing.
If you continue
in that position, it is sure that you will not give your life to Jesus Christ.
It is someone who starts that would be rewarded, it is the doer of the word of
God who shall be rewarded.
“But
whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deed” (Jas 1:25)
This widow did
not linger in her position, she did not keep on questioning the prophet, but
she acted what she was told out and it worked for her. When you put the word of
God to action in your life, I want to tell you that it will work for you.
12. New Business Perhaps Introduced Through Her: I foresee that after this woman after doing what
she was told by the prophet and her life becomes transformed and his business
receives a fillip, the people who borrowed her the empty vessels would from
then not be borrowing their empty vessels out without money attached.
No one wants
good thing for anyone in the world, and when the people see that your life has
changed they will want to trace how the change comes about, and on noticing
that it is through the insignificant thing that your life becomes changed, they
would want to block the way, thence they would device other means of blocking
the way.
This perhaps
may have been the reason behind rentage services in the world today. The people
saw that it was their empty vessels which she borrowed that brought about a
total turn around for her and her business and thence, they said to themselves,
we shall not be lending our properties out for free again, it needs to be
monetized.
13. She Involved Her Children: This woman gets her children involved in the
process of pouring the oil into new vessels. I foresee that she would equally
have gotten them involved in the borrowing of empty vessels too. Doing this it
means all along she has involved her children in all she was doing.
Poll 3: Children Involvement: Do you involve your wards in your business? Yes
No
Some people do
not involve their children in their businesses, and it is not fair enough.
Business is neither a University certificate nor an award solely meant for the
person that cannot be shared by wives, children or husbands. If we can get our
children and people involved in our businesses, and when we do this, we shall
be relieved after they have known the rudiments of the job.
It is true that
some children may not want to toe the paths of their parents in what they are
doing, but that does not stop us from introducing them to it, so that they will
decide on what to do about it after a while.
“So
she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought
the vessels to her; and she poured out.
“And
it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring
me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.” (2 Ki 4:5-6)
The prophet
asks her to introduce (or involve) her children in her business and that was
what she done.
14. Situation Report: She continued to pour oil into empty vessels, and
she discovered miracle happening, she started enjoying God as the Prophet has
said. However, after a while all the vessels got filled to the brim and when
she asks her son to bring empty vessels again, they told her that there were no
vessels left as all have been filled.
“And
it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring
me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. And the oil
stayed.” (2 Ki 4:6)
On hearing
this, they praised the Lord and went to the Prophet to give him the situation
report. It is good to give people who send us message situation report, so that
they would know whether we have done what they ask us to do or not.
15. Re-ignite Your Business: When she got to the prophet and told him what
happened, the prophet told her what was in the mind of God for her, for
incorporating her into the business that she has just finished. These, the
Prophet said were in the mind of God for her.
“And
it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me
yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. And the oil
stayed.
“Then
she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt,
and live thou and thy children of the rest.” (2 Ki 4:6-7)
(a) Auction Out the Oil: She was told that she needs to go and sell the
oil in those vessels. Business has been her occupation before, thus, God told
her to go back into her business and ensure that she sells those oil perhaps at
a lower price to draw more customers to her side and so that she would be able
to pay her debt to time.
When a business
person lowers the price, what is called “Black Day” in the advanced climes, it
draws customers to the business, because hardly would anyone see where
something is being sold at a cheaper rate and want to go and buy at a place
where the price is on the high side. The economists and business persons call
it business strategy. She was led into a business strategy by God so that she
would not be in a position again.
(b) Pay Your Debt: The first assignment after selling those oil was
paying her debt so that she would not be disturbed by her creditor again. God
knows the priorities in our lives, and he will help us in fulfilling those
priorities if we can hand over the situations of things to him.
Poll 4: Hand Over: Have you hand over the situation of your life to God? Yes
No
When we make
what should be prioritized second in our lives there would be problems if not
immediately it would happen later.
(c) Starting Afresh: After she has paid up her debts, she was told
what to do by the prophet. Things would not be spelt out in A, B, C fashion for
people. The prophet told her that she and her children should “live…(on) the rest.” (2 Ki 4:6-7). By saying this, Prophet Elisha knows
that irrespective how lower the price of the oil was she would still have
excess capital with her to start her business afresh with. Therefore, she told
her that she should live on the rest with her children.
God herein is
saying that he does not expect her neither her children to go a begging again, he
does not expect her to lack again because what has been done for her is more
than enough to establish a big oil company in their country.
God would
establish you if you can give him your entirety. He is yet to get you
established because you are yet to give him your all. Please give him your all
today and see him at work in a new dimension in your life.
Since she
hasn’t been lazy, it is obvious that she wouldn’t sleep in doors and start
thinking the money would keep growing because when one keeps taken something
from a container sooner than expected the thing would finish, but when one
keeps replacing what one has taken from the container it would never run out. This
essentially is the reason why we must keep growing in the word of God as well
as keep growing in our daily endeavors, for when we rest on our oars we would
run out of fuel and fire and would be a person of yesteryears.
Conclusion, do
you wish to start new thing or has your business fallen apart like this
woman’s? Are you having difficulties repaying your loans despite given your
business all it takes? Then you need to do like this widow did, introduce God
into the scheme of your business and if you have introduced him into your
business before, re-involve him there, re-dedicate everything to him and you
shall see uncommon changes in your business. Always know that it is not too
late to start afresh with God.
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