A Home Remedy

One sign that you have an authentic relationship with the Lord is that you have the ability to worship Him when you’re alone.  Do you know what I’m talking about?  When you reach the point where your outward display of worship is not for show.  When you can fall out in your home just like you did in the sanctuary, because God is still good even if there is not an usher on post.  When you can preach His word to an empty sanctuary and make your own self happy.  Honey, Sunday’s sermon was much needed and appreciated.  Let’s jump right into the sermon recap.

The sermon scripture was II Kings 4:1-7.  A widow of a man of God comes to Elisha.  Although her husband faithfully served God, his death has left his family with a mountain of debt.  The widow is in a desperate situation.  The creditor is coming to take her sons to be slaves.  She didn’t come to Elisha for prayer.  She came to him to have a very real need met.  Elisha doesn’t write a check and solve her problems.  Instead, he asks her a question that we all need to ask ourselves.

Elisha asks the widow woman what she has in her home.  He gives her room to evaluate what is already in her own possession.  Surely, she had thought of what she could do before she reached out for help.  So, that has the potential to be a frustrating question.  She has come to him after deciding that he is her most viable option.  She responded that she only had a jar of oil.  And what would a jar of oil do for her gigantic need?  It’s small in the face of an overwhelming burden.  She has massive debt to be repaid.

My pastor challenged us to take a visual and spiritual inventory and see if the answer to what we’re seeking is found within what we already possess.  He furthered pushed this point home when he said that whatever we already possess is still not enough.  Whether we are millionaires or thousandaires, it doesn’t matter.  The things that we possess have never carried us.  It has been God the whole time.  The woman’s husband dedicated his life to God, and God takes care of those who worship and honor Him.

Elisha tells the woman to use the oil.  Remember that small jar?  The one that’s not enough?  He wants her to use it.  The oil is a symbol of whatever skills and talents that you have that can be used for Godly purposes.  You may not be able to play the piano until your neighbors pass out in the spirit, but you may have the gift of sewing.  You can sew masks for those in the community during the crazy season.  You may be great at writing resumes.  You might have a photographic memory.  Whatever that gift is…use it.  Elisha tells the woman to shut the door and pour the oil.  In this season of social distancing and shut doors, don’t be afraid to use the oil that God has placed in your life.  Miracles are waiting to happen behind these shut doors.

Ooops.  I skipped an important detail.  Before the woman could get behind shut doors to pour the oil, Elisha told her to go borrow empty vessels.  As a matter of fact, he implores her to get as many vessels as she can.  Then she is to shut the door and pour into all those empty vessels.  Remember, she only has a jar of oil.  It’s small in relation to all of the vessels that she borrows, but she does what she asked.  These empty vessels are open to receive whatever is being poured out.  They have nothing to offer in return.

My pastor brought it home when he reminded me that it’s my job to pour into empty vessels.  You know those gifts that I think are small?  I can’t judge the size of my gifts.  My responsibility is to pour my oil into all the empty vessels around me.  My neighbors, my co-workers, that man at the grocery store.  I need to live life in a continual state of pouring out.  That jar oil that was so small filled all the empty vessels.  It continued to pour beyond it’s capacity.  It poured until there were no more vessels.

But let’s not be so naïve to think that empty vessels are all outside of our home.  We have to pour into those in our homes.  We can become so focused on helping everyone else that we neglect the empty vessels that sit at the dinner table with us.  We can look past the empty vessels that sleep in the same beds with us.

At the end of this passage of scripture, the widow woman was able to sell all the vessels of oil.  The money she received covered her debts AND left her with enough money for her and her sons to live on the rest.  God provided, but it required the woman’s obedience to His plan.  She had to trust that His plan was the best.  She had to trust His remedy.  #wepreach

Sermon Recap Questions (Maybe it will propel you into action):

• Have you taken an inventory of your skills recently? What do you do well? How can you use those gifts for God’s glory?
• Are you attentive to those in your home? Do you know the interests of your family members? Are you dismissive of them and their struggles?
• Have you taken time to talk to God? Do you seek out His will for your life every day?