Session 8

Multiplication God’s Way

From The Blessed Life

2 Kings 4:1-7 reads:
“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.”

In this story we see:
● Our choices affect others. As much as that may stink, it is true. The man’s financial choices while alive greatly affected his wife and sons after his death.
● Believing God will provide requires monstrous faith. The widow exhibited faith by her question and her actions. She believed Elisha, the man of God, could help her, and she acted upon his instructions - even though it must have seemed like an act of folly, given the little oil she possessed.
● The size of God’s provision may be directly related to the size of our faith. The oil stopped flowing when she ran out of jars. Elisha warned against collecting only a few jars. God’s provision matched her faith.
● The widow paid her husband’s debt and still had enough to care for her family.

This story clearly communicates that when we demonstrate our faith in our finances, God rewards our obedience.