"So she did as she was told." 1 Kings 4:5
There were many points in today's reading that caught my attention. I had forgotten God parted the Jordan River two more times: once with Elijah's cloak and the other for Elisha to walk back across. ( I would love to have seem the look on Elisha's face when he walked up to the river bank and it parted!) I've always loved that Elisha asked for a double-portion of Elijah's spirit. Then there was the feeding of the 100 in 4:38-44. My heart kept going back to the widow, the heading of this section of our reading calls her "a poor widow."
This was not just any widow. This was the widow of a prophet: a woman I feel sure that Elisha must have known through his relationship with Elijah. One commentary suggested that she may have been married to Obadiah, who hid 100 prophets in caves to protect them from Ahab. The commentary further suggested he had to borrow money to feed them, thus leading to a large debt. It was customary when debts could not be repaid for wives and/or children to be taken as slaves in payment for the debt. The "poor widow" could not let that happen. She took action.
She knew where to go: to one whom she knew had the power of the Lord upon him, Elisha. Elisha knew this was a woman of faith because it had been demonstrated through the actions of her husband. She know doubt knew Yahweh.
I heard her heart's cry as she told Elisha about the creditors. Instead of jumping in and fixing her problem, he wisely drew her need out by asking her the question, "What can I do to help?" After another question, Elisha had a grip on the situation and told the widow exactly what to do and she did it.
The word did is a verb that shows action. Upon further study of this word I Iearned what this powerful word means: perform (an act, duty or role), to execute (a piece or amount of work), to accomplish finish, complete, to put forth; exert.
Did you notice the last word in the definition? Exert. The widow exerted her efforts to accomplish what Elijah asked of her. She did not sit around and feel sorry for herself. She did not say, "Well, this is law. They will take my sons as a slaves but at least they will be alive." She fought.
Sometimes we have to fight for faith. We have to take what we have (a small amount of olive oil) surrender it to the Lord and fight with all the faith we can muster up, exerting ourselves until we see change. Fighting faith bring battle fatigue but the result of such fatigue is a closer relationship with the Lord and resting from the battle in His everlasting arms.
She knew where to go: to one whom she knew had the power of the Lord upon him, Elisha. Elisha knew this was a woman of faith because it had been demonstrated through the actions of her husband. She know doubt knew Yahweh.
I heard her heart's cry as she told Elisha about the creditors. Instead of jumping in and fixing her problem, he wisely drew her need out by asking her the question, "What can I do to help?" After another question, Elisha had a grip on the situation and told the widow exactly what to do and she did it.
The word did is a verb that shows action. Upon further study of this word I Iearned what this powerful word means: perform (an act, duty or role), to execute (a piece or amount of work), to accomplish finish, complete, to put forth; exert.
Did you notice the last word in the definition? Exert. The widow exerted her efforts to accomplish what Elijah asked of her. She did not sit around and feel sorry for herself. She did not say, "Well, this is law. They will take my sons as a slaves but at least they will be alive." She fought.
Sometimes we have to fight for faith. We have to take what we have (a small amount of olive oil) surrender it to the Lord and fight with all the faith we can muster up, exerting ourselves until we see change. Fighting faith bring battle fatigue but the result of such fatigue is a closer relationship with the Lord and resting from the battle in His everlasting arms.
10 Comments:
Oh wow Wendy. Thank you for this. The application you proposed here has challenged me. I so appreciated how you wrote: "She did not sit around and feel sorry for herself. She did not say, 'Well, this is law. They will take my sons as a slaves but at least they will be alive.' She fought."
Over the last week I have watched my Dad become more and more depressed. A new room-mate is feeding him lies and Dad no longer has the discernment between fact and fiction and is believing everything this gentleman is saying. The health care system is telling us the wait time to move my Dad out of his current situation is at the very least 10 months. This cannot be. We need Dad closer to home and out of this locked-down facility - a place where a bed was available, but where he does not need to be.
Tomorrow Dad returns to our local hospital for another scope to check for any more cancerous cells. Will you join me in praying that the Lord will intervene miraculously and Dad will be able to stay in our local hospital here and that a long-term care facility of God's choosing will open up quickly. We just want to see Dad happy again.
I also pray that the Lord will show me what to do. I am not a confrontational person, but maybe there are steps that need to be taken. Maybe I need to "exert" myself until I see a change. I can't give up and surrender to the "system"...there must be a way.
The thing that struck me as I read this account was, I wonder, if the widow had realized in advance what the Lord was about to do, would she have sent her sons even further to collect more empty jars before she shut that door? It says they went to friends and nieghbours, but I wonder...would she have extended her search if she had only known the blessing she was about to receive? Maybe she wouldn't have "shut the door" so soon. Sometimes we need a greater vision.
Thanks for listening to my heart again today friends. Love to you all,
Joy
"Faith in Action"....I have to share with you girls what happened in our little Baptist church yesterday.
At sometime during the sermon, a man walked into the sanctuary and stood leaning against the doorway. His appearance was different than what one would normally expect in church. He had on a dirty old t-shirt with the arms cut out; revealing large tattoos. His pants were large and very worn, faded sweat pants. The man was tall with dark long hair.
As the man stood against the doorway, people in the church became very nervous. He wouldn't sit...he stood with his arms crossed and appeared to be angry. The pastor paused in the sermon and asked him if he would like to sit down. At this point, everyone was aware of the visitor who refused to sit but stood with his arms crossed. The uneasiness of those in the church became evident. The man appeared angry with his arms folded...the pastor began to stumble with his words and paused to pray...then he continued the sermon. My husband turned to face the isle (he later told me he thought he might have to jump into the isle onto the man if he came to cause harm)...the congration began to pray silently. Thoughts of recent news stories were running through our minds...man enters church and kills pastor or shoots members...
One member of the congration got up and left...the pastors son (a man of his late 20's) got up and went to speak to the man. He wouldn't speak. The pastor broke into an alter call...many came forward to pray for the situation.
And then the tension broke, as the man moved along the outer side of the room and headed for the alter...it brought tears to my eyes to see our fellow believers move beyond their fear and come to pray with him. The man told them his wife has cancer and he has a family to take care of. He was welcomed with hugs and prayer at the alter; not a dry eye in the house as many moved to the front of the church to pray with him.
Out in the parking lot was a pick-up with anohter man sitting and waiting on him. We followed (not on purpose, it was the direction we drive to go home)and found he turned into a local trailer park. I hope to find out more about him ...if we have his kids in our school. There may be more ways we can help them...and I can make sure the kids have what they need.
By the way, he passed 5 churches on the way out to our little church...I can only think the Lord lead him there so we can help minister to his needs. Please be in prayer with us for him and his family.
Wow, what a Sunday and the layers of lessons we learned. Faith...even if we were to fired upon that day...all but one stayed. We prayed for the man...and loved him when he appeared the least loveable. We moved to meet his needs...even though we were afraid; our faith was stronger than our fear.
Please keep him in your prayers and we continue to provide whatever the Lord has for us to provide.
love ya,
nancy
Hi everyone,
I am back and safe and we had a wonderful trip. Thanks for the prayers.
Joy,
Still holding you and your family in prayer.
Wendy - there were a lot of nuggets today and you touched on most of them. Thanks for the extra bit about the possibility of the widow being Obadiah's Wife. That gives it so much more meaning than just any widow.
It struck me too when you said: "She did not say, "Well, this is law. They will take my sons as a slaves but at least they will be alive." She fought.
It is something I feel God is working on in me. Confront when needed, and let go when needed - and learning to discern the difference. Rebel without a cause or pacifist, too much of either is not good. :)
Another part that I noticed this morning is how Elisha did not want to leave Elijah's side, and told them to be quiet about Elijah leaving. I wasn't sure if he didn't feel ready to take over yet or if he knew the time wasn't right. I might need to look into that.
Wendy thanks for your time and wisdom and sharing it with us.
Have a blessed day everyone -
Lynn - OR
Nancy thanks for sharing and I will hold him and his family in my prayers.
Good Morning Favorite Blogger Friends!
Oh, Nancy~ Your comments brought me to tears. Thank you so much for sharing. That is exactly the kind of man Jesus would attend to. That I could be that way too! We had an exciting day in church too! God showed up huge. 229 people were baptized! Talk about tears! To see God pursuing people of all walks. All ages. It always gets to me when "older" people turn their lives over to God. This year our church has been able to witness 1214 people getting saved since Sept. 1. Now, tho we pray for protection...as I know this is exactly what Satan does not want! His days are limited and he knows it!
Joy my heart goes out to you. I love what Wendy wrote and I think it was a small message just for you! God is speaking out of dear Wendy! Remember the power we have within us!!! If we believe and have faith! I pray that the Spirit in you will counsel and guide you and allow you to exert yourself at the right time. That your mind will be keen, and alert to details. God, what do you want in this situation? Show dear Joy. Lead her, comfort her, give her strength and empower her.
Thank you Wendy for your rich lesson! The only possession the prophet's widow had in her house seemed worthless because it was only a small vessel of oil (4:2); but God can take the little we have and make it into something priceless and precious as we give ourselves to Him. We must remember, that it was OUR God that created ALL things. It is not hard to believe that there is no personal need that He cannot meet.
Hugs & prayers!
Lori - AZ
PS Welcome back Kristen!
And, Nancy...I'm hoping your summer vacation starts soon! Closing the school down is a hectic time!
Lynn~Glad you got back safe too! We were typing at the same time!
Lori
Today's reading was rich with symbolism. Elisha fed the masses with just a few loaves of bread, foreshadowing Christ's miracles; Elisha told Elijah 3 times that he wouldn't leave him - the Trinity and or the 3 days before Christ rose again; I also wondered why the boy sneezed 7 times when he came back to life? and I also wrote in my margin that the woman who added on an upper room for Elisha to stay in had the gift of hospitality. You know that gift when you see it! Today's reading was great!
Nancy- your story of what happened in your church yesterday gave me CHILL BUMPS! God had His hand in that whole ordeal. Prayers to that man and his situation.
Have a good week friends!
Morgen
Good morning Ladies,
I love the stories of Elija and Elisha! I remember them from my childhood and still sit in awe of the way God worked through these men. I also love the way the NLT calls them "Men of God" most often and not as often by their names. This after all was their identity.
Wendy, you commentary on the Woman and the Oil was great and the response of the women here has also been great. There are so many life lessons in that story; obey immediately, believe that God will provide (Yahweh Yirah is His Name), exert effort in your faith, don't be afraid to ask for help in your situation, surround yourself with Godly people to whom you can turn. Thank you for pointing these out.
Also today I noted the raising of the son, similar to Elija's healing of the widows son in 1 Kings 17:21-22. I noticed that both Elija and Elisha laid on top of the boys to bring them back to life. They also both prayed to the Lord and God heard their prayers and restored the boys to life.
Lastly I noted the barley loves used to feed the people. The servant was certain that 20 loves was not enough for all the people, but Elisha replied (2 Kings 4:43) “Give it to the people so they can eat, for this is what the Lord says: Everyone will eat, and there will even be some left over!” And there was!! Is this reminiscent of another story? (John 6:8-13)
I'm sorry I haven't been posting much, but I have been reading the readings daily. And I have been praying for you all. I am in the midst of planning to move to Switzerland and will likely complete the move by the end of the summer. Please pray for me and my family as this is a BIG DEAL for me. I daily pray for God to lead me where He wants me to go; to open the doors He wants open for me, and to make clear my path and my purpose. I also pray for my husband and my family that this is the right course to take and that we will find our place and our peace in this new country.
Love you all,
Karen, CA
Good morning all,
"this is the day that the Lord has made,let us all rejoice and be glad in it!'.
Thank you all for your comments thus far. I always find the various biblical stories to be amazing and full of life lessons. What catches my attention in particular is how God, most of the times through his servants (in the old testament), takes whatever little is available and provides in such multitudes!! Then I realize that these lessons hold true for everything in life including our faith. The word declares that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we will be able to move mountains.
Reading the word daily brings such encouragement and bright hope for tomorrow.
All prayer request were noted and acted upon.
Continue to be encouraged everyone.
Chanan, Bahamas.
"So she did as she was told." 1 Kings 4:5
Exactly where I am, just putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes we simply have to choose to do the right thing. Even when the world says that it is wrong. When things or choices we make goe contrary to the word of God we must "do as we are told" by God, simply obedience.
I love this story in the bible. In fact yesterday I was reading about the olive oil in a different context. The simply idea of taking what we have "now" and giving it all, not give me "more" so I it will bless many.
For me the nugget today is to be willing to be used 100 % right where I am, with all I have today.
Diane
Post a Comment
Home