One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the LORD. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.” 2 Elisha asked her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go out and borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few. 4 Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side.” 5 So she left. After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring. 6 When they were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” But he replied, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped. 7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest.”… 38 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and make stew for the sons of the prophets.” 39 One went out to the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment would hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, but they were unaware of what they were. 40 They served some for the men to eat, but when they ate the stew they cried out, “There’s death in the pot, man of God!” And they were unable to eat it. 41 Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve it for the people to eat.” And there was nothing bad in the pot. 42 A man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with his sack full of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first bread of the harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.” 43 But Elisha’s attendant asked, “What? Am I to set this before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said, “for this is what the LORD says: ‘They will eat, and they will have some left over.’” 44 So he set it before them, and as the LORD had promised, they ate and had some left over. —2 Kings 4:1-7, 38-44 CSB
The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please notice that the place where we live under your supervision is too small for us. 2 Please let us go to the Jordan where we can each get a log and can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” he said. 3 Then one said, “Please come with your servants.” “I’ll come,” he answered. 4 So he went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Oh, my master, it was borrowed!” 6 Then the man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, the man of God cut a piece of wood, threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 Then he said, “Pick it up.” So he reached out and took it. —2 Kings 6:1-7 CSB
“My job is not to solve people’s problems or to make them happy, but to help them see the grace already operating in their lives. It’s hard to do, because our whole culture is going the other direction, saying that if you’re smart enough and get the right kind of help, you can solve all your problems. The truth is, there aren’t very many happy people in the Bible. But there are people who are experiencing joy, peace, and the meaning of Christ’s suffering in their lives.” —Eugene Peterson
1 - ONLY GOD: A CRY FOR
When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. —Psalm 91:15 NLT
2 - ONLY GOD: A SUPERNATURAL
Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” —John 10:37-38 NIV
3 - ONLY GOD: A GRACIOUS
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:19 NKJV
“Because we look for the bonfire, we miss the candle. Because we listen for the shout, we miss the whisper.” —Max Lucado
But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. —Hebrews 2:9 NIV
NOTES