Help Me, Please!
Sharon W. Betters
Today’s Treasure
And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?”
2 Kings 4:2a
"I need help! My preacher husband is dead! We're out of money. The bill collectors are coming to enslave my two sons as payment for all of our unpaid bills. Please, help me!"
Though written thousands of years ago (2 Kings 4), the story of Elisha and the widow’s oil, ripe with dread, need, and desperation, holds current applications which can transform the way we respond to impossible circumstances:
Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”
2 Kings 4:1-7
The Background
Elisha the prophet has taken on the mantle of Elijah, the prophet. During Elijah's tenure, Ahab and Jezebel murdered God's prophets (I Kings 18:13, 18:4; 19:1) and it's probable the widow who cried these words to Elisha is the wife of one of the murdered prophets:
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.
2 Kings 4:1
A destitute widow, about to lose her two sons, wastes no time in describing her plight to God’s prophet Elisha. Her poverty was most likely caused in part by the curse of Elijah and the ensuing drought. Even though her family worshiped God, they were not exempt from suffering the consequences of corporate sin. Not only does the drought drain their resources, her prophet husband died, leaving her destitute, with no savings, piles of “credit card” debt, and no means to care for her two sons or to pay off her creditors. This is a broken-hearted woman whose only hope is Elisha the prophet of God.
There are life-changing teaching moments in the widow’s story. The first is…
Teaching Moment #1: When in need, ask for help. The widow exhausted all of her resources. She has no one to turn to except for Elisha.
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
Are you in a desperate place, feeling hopeless and with no way out? Ask for help. Start with the Lord. I suspect this widow cried out to God, again and again, pleading for Him to save her and her boys. I wonder if she prayed, “Lord, you are my rock, rest, rescue, and refuge. I have no where to turn but to You. Show me what to do, I don’t know what to do.”
God led her to ask for help from a most unlikely source, as He may also do for you and me. After all, what could Elisha, a poor man himself, do in the face of such abject poverty? Yet, Elisha was God’s answer to her prayers.
Are you the widow, desperate for hope? Ask for help.
Are you Elisha, the one who can give hope in a desperate place? Ask the Lord to give you His wisdom and encouragement.
PRAYER
Oh Father, maybe not today, but someday, each of us will cry out as the widow, “I am destitute, help me!” May the first place we run with such cries be to You. And then, Lord, may we carefully listen and wait for You to meet our cries with Your wisdom and strength.
Sharon W. Betters is author of Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures in Darkness and co-author of Treasures of Faith. She is Director of Resource Development and co-founder of MARKINC.org, a non profit organization that offers help and hope to hurting people. Sharon enjoys quality time with her husband, children, fourteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
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Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.