THERE AREN'T ENOUGH JARS
During the time of Elisha the country of Aram was a major threat to the northern kingdom of Israel. In fact, at one point the king of Aram brought down his entire army and surrounded the capital city of Samaria. The siege that followed became so bad and lasted so long that the people of the city actually began to eat their own children because they were on the verge of starvation. The king of Israel was so enraged at the Lord’s lack of help that he wanted to have the Lord’s prophet, Elisha, killed. But Elisha said to the king, “There will be food at the gate of Samaria at this time tomorrow, and it will sell for next to nothing.” One of the officers next to the king said, “Even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen” (2 Kings 7:2)? Well, long story short: it did happen. The Lord caused the Aramean army to run away in terror that very night from the sound of chariots and horsemen that weren’t even there, and the Israelites were inundated with so much food and clothing and money the next morning from the Aramean’s abandoned camp that they couldn’t collect it all at once. In fact, the officer who had doubted the Lord’s Word through Elisha was trampled in the gate by the crowds of people rushing out of the city. This story is a wonderful account about God’s overabundant blessings given to his children in a seemingly hopeless situation. But this isn’t the story of Elisha that we will concentrate on today.
At another time in another place a man brought Elisha 20 loaves of bread out of thanks to the Lord. “Give it to the people to eat” Elisha told the man. “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked. But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the LORD says, ‘They will eat and have some left over’” (2 Kings 4:42-43). And that is exactly what happened. Just like the story of Jesus feeding the 4000 in our gospel reading this morning, the one hundred men around Elisha could not eat enough to finish off the loaves he set before them. The Lord once again supplied his children with overabundant blessings in such a way that it didn’t seem possible. But this isn’t the story of Elisha we will concentrate on today either.
This next story is. And the reason we looked at these two other accounts in the book of 2 Kings first is because this next story is also a situation in which the Lord’s overabundant blessings are given to his children in an extraordinary way. It is a story that shows that the Lord does the impossible for his people. It is a story that demonstrates that the Lord doesn’t just bless his people; he blesses them with so many gifts all at once that they cannot handle them all.
“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.’ 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.’ Elisha said, ‘Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. 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.’ She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 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. 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.’”
It’s hard to say what this woman wanted Elisha to do - or what she expected him to accomplish. Maybe she wanted him to speak to the creditor himself and try to convince him not to take away her two sons. Elisha was the Lord’s prophet after all! If the creditor would listen to anyone, it would be a man of God! Or maybe this widow wanted Elisha to use some of the connections he had made as the Lord’s prophet and find a well-to-do Christian who might help her out in this rough time. Or maybe she didn’t know what to ask Elisha for at all. Maybe she just needed help and went to Elisha not knowing what could be done but hoping that something would. In any case, she most certainly didn’t anticipate what actually happened. She could have never guessed that the Lord will help her through the prophet Elisha in the way that he did. Who would have ever thought of requesting that the Lord miraculously supply enough oil in one jar to fill as many empty containers as someone could find? It was over and above anything she could have expected or even asked for!
But that is how the Lord decided to fix this widow’s particular problem: in a miraculous way, in an immediate way, in an overabundant way. And you can be sure that the widow learned three important lessons from that afternoon: 1) The Lord is loving. 2) The Lord is powerful. And 3) She should have collected more jars! She didn’t have enough! She did not bring in nearly enough jars to hold all of the Lord’s blessings! And maybe she had a lot of them. Maybe she had collected so many it was to the point of embarrassment. But however many jars she had brought into her house, it wasn’t enough. Elisha had specifically told her, “Don’t ask for just a few,” and boy was he ever right! If she had collected more jars, more jars would have been filled. If she had obtained every empty jar in the entire city then every empty jar in the entire city would have been filled. The oil didn’t stop until each and every jar was full. And she must have realized after it was all said and done: the Lord’s blessings would have kept pouring out as long as she had enough containers to hold them…
I imagine that you have plenty of needs in your own life for which you go to the Lord in prayer just like the widow did. There are things you ask for, troubles you need help with, problems you need to be fixed. But in those prayers that you pray to your Lord do you anticipate that you’ll need to gather up a whole bunch of jars because the Lord’s blessing are going to rain down on you in torrents or do you plan to have just one small jar in your hand and hope it’ll be at least half way filled? Do you pray for overabundant blessings - so much so that you cannot possibly use them all - or do you pray for the bare minimum: just enough so that you can get by, just enough so that the Lord doesn’t get too annoyed with your extravagant requests?
Why would we ever ask God for just the bare minimum? Why wouldn’t we want to ask him to bless us with an array of gifts beyond our wildest imagination? He certainly is capable: I think we would all admit that. But in our minds we think: “Is his willing? Does he really want to bless me over abundantly?” That’s a question we struggle with sometimes because he doesn’t seem as if he has done that kind of thing for us before. “Why would he overload me with blessings from his hand? Why would he suddenly give me so many gifts in this one area of my life that I would have a hard time keeping up? Maybe I should pray for less. Maybe I shouldn’t expect quite so much. Maybe if I lower my expectations then I won’t be so disappointed when I don’t get what I really hoped for. Maybe if I pray for a little he’s more likely to give it to me than if I would pray for a lot.”
Is that any way to pray? Is that any way to present a request to the Lord? Is that any way to address a God who not only gave Abraham a son when he was 100 years old, but who gave him so many millions of descendants that no one can even come close to counting them all? Is that any way to approach your Savior who not only gave Solomon the wisdom that he had asked for, but who also gave David’s son unprecedented honor during his lifetime among the people of this world and more wealth and material blessings and gold than any other king in any other country? Is asking your Lord for the table scraps an appropriate way to come before the one who not only gave Job his health back but then gave him twice as many blessings as he had done before. Or who not only supplied Peter and his companions with a nice catch of fish but with such a great catch of fish that their nets started to break and they could barely carry it to shore? Or who not only stopped by the house of Mary and Martha on multiple occasions and taught them the Word and visited them when their brother died and reminded them about the resurrection and comforted them with eternal life, but also raised their brother from the dead without them asking him to? The Lord does not just hand out table scraps! He delivers a 5 course meal - and then some! He doesn’t just give us the bare minimum; he gives us gifts beyond our capacity to enjoy every aspect of every one of them! Our Lord isn’t cheap; he isn’t stingy; he is generous and openhanded to a point that he never closes his hand! And there aren’t enough jars to catch it all! There aren’t enough jars in this world to hold all of the blessings the Lord wants to give us. And if you are unsure about whether he has ever done that for you before, just consider your spiritual condition from start to finish. And take a look at all of the blessings that the Lord has poured out on you in this most important aspect of your life.
Before God created the world, he chose you to be his own. But not only that, he also decided to come down to this earth to live in your place before you ever lived. But not only that, he also suffered a punishment on the cross and in hell itself before you even knew what pain was. But no only that, he also rose from the grave to secure your resurrection from the dead before you ever existed. But not only that, he also ascended into heaven to rule at his Father’s right hand over a world that you would one day be born into. But not only that, he also loved you even though you were conceived in sin and were automatically an unbeliever and an enemy of his Name. But not only that, he also brought you into contact with his Word after you were born. But not only that, he also baptized you and convinced your heart through his gospel that his sacrifice on the cross was for you and strengthens your faith every day through that same powerful Word of God and protects your from physical evil and rescues you from Satan’s attacks and supplies you with every necessity and pours out on you countless other enjoyable things in this life. But not only that, he also promises to take you home; he guarantees you a spot in heaven; he reassures you that everything is under his control. Are there enough jars to hold all of those blessings? Are there jars big enough to contain the enormous blessings of salvation from death and forgiveness from sins and eternal life that, by definition, will not end? You can pour and pour and pour your spiritual blessings out and try to measure them all, but you’ll never get to the end of them. They just keep coming from every direction. In fact, your biggest problem will be keeping track of them all! And that’s a pretty good problem to have. The Lord has blessed you over abundantly. And you are in the middle of those overabundant blessings right now.
I’ve always wondered how many jars that widow actually collected at Elisha’s command. Did she really exhaust every option, finding every empty container available to her? Or was she embarrassed to ask for too many? Did she stop at a certain point and say to herself, “This must be more than enough. I can’t possibly see how all of these jars can be filled with the little oil I have.”? Did she kick herself when the oil was still miraculously flowing but she didn’t have a single jar left to catch it? Was she ready for this incredible act of grace or did she underestimate the Lord?
Be ready for the blessings, my fellow children of our heavenly Father. Don’t underestimate his love. Just as he has in the past, he is able to pour out his gifts on us at an unimaginable rate. They might not be the gifts we ask for; and they might not come in the ways we expect; but they will come. And when they come they will come in droves. Because that’s what a perfect Father does for his precious children: he pours out on them everything good as often as he can. And so ask your Father to open his hand wide. Request overabundant blessings. And be ready for what he gives you. Because there aren’t enough jars in this world for what the Lord has in mind for his children.
Amen.
“God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.” - Phil. 4:19-20
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