Empty Vessels

2 Kings 4:1–7 NASB95

Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few. “And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not one vessel more.” And the oil stopped. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

INTRO: I am so thankful that we get to honor all you moms and mother figures out there! We want you to feel valued and loved because you absolutely are! As I was studying for today’s message, I thought maybe we could cover all of chapter 4 in one swoop and title it 3 Miracles for Moms.... that sounds like a pretty good Mother’s Day sermon, doesn’t it?

Well, obviously that’s not where we ended up, but it is my prayer that all of that is for a purpose, and you and I will leave here today encouraged.

You see, Mother’s Day is not a joyous occasion for everyone. There are folks here today that were never able to have kids, and this day seems like a slap in the face. They probably considered just staying home. Others here have no mother to celebrate and thus this day reminds them of their orphan status. Still there are those whose life is filled with sorrow so much that celebration is not even a remote possibility.

So, we really must begin by acknowledging the reality that life can change in a instant. One minute you’re doing great, and then BAM! Tragedy strikes. Accidents, illnesses, death. We are all one step away from tragedy. Perhaps you’ve never thought about it and, let’s be honest, we don’t want to think about such things.

But, today, our text lands us on the story about an unnamed woman who has had a sudden life change. These few verses record her interaction with the prophet Elisha. We don’t know a lot about this lady, but we do know that she was a widow and a mother… suddenly now a single mother. We know that she believes in the God of the Bible and that she lives in a culture where her religious beliefs would make her a bit of an outcast. And we know that she has called out to Elisha in her grief.

Now, in the grand scheme of this book, this section of Scripture was likely not intended to make you sad or really to linger on the circumstances, but rather to illuminate the miracle credited to Elisha. Indeed, this chapter sets us up to observe some parallels between the miracles of Elisha with those of Elijah so that we can be confident in his anointing as a prophet of Yahweh.

Keeping that in mind, we have need to take a closer look and see how this short section of Scripture teaches us and draws us ever closer to the merciful hand of God. To do this, we are going to examine the parts of the narrative and then overlay the principles on our lives.

So, grab your sermon guide and let’s dive in. The sermon is entitled “Empty Vessels”

We begin by looking at

A Painful Plight (1-2)

Let’s read v. 1-2 again (READ)

What we see here is a woman who in absolute despair. Her world has been flipped upside down and she is at the end of her rope. Let’s mark the changes:

Her husband has died. - I know we have some here who can relate.

She has no companionship, no support in the home.

She has no income. This society was one where the men were the primary providers and the women kept the house and kids.

She has no resources. Evidently, there was no brother to her husband nor did she have any relatives that could give her aid.

She had no advocate to speak up for her or defend her against creditors or swindlers.

She has unpaid debt.

With no income, the creditors were perched like vultures in order to take the woman’s kids as slaves to pay the debts.

The house was devoid of any real valuables that might be collateral.

Can you imagine just how overwhelmed this poor lady must have been? And, so she cries out to the only one she can think of - Elisha.

Now, this plea illuminates a few additional facts.

She was a believer. When people face these kind of life-altering tragedies, they usually respond either by drawing near to God or by pulling away from God. They either HOPE in God or they hope in something else.

Consider Job and his wife. He questioned God in the midst of the pain, but still trusted Him. Job’s wife, however, encouraged him to “curse God and die.”

While this poor lady didn’t know what to do, she did know where to turn.

Even so, she appeared angry with God.

You can almost hear it in v.1. She cannot understand why God would allow this. Her husband served God faithfully- was this really deserved?

I think we can relate here, right? - We serve God, go to church, pay our bills, etc.- THIS IS NOT FAIR!

When she cried out to Elisha, it was as a woman who seemingly had nothing and owed everything. Where could she turn? Who could understand? What hope remained?

ILL: I’m reminded of the song- Where could I go, but to the Lord? Have you been there?

I’m not sure she even knew what she needed, but she knew she needed the Lord and God’s prophet demonstrated godly compassion as he responded.

Notice that he didn’t try to minimize her - He didn’t say, “Chin up… it’s not that bad. I mean, at least your sons are alive to work off the debt!” (That would be unhelpful, btw) And a hundred other well-intentioned things could have been uttered, but instead we see a wise and compassionate “What can I do for you?”

Obviously, Elisha had an insight that we do not here, but as we consider how we might respond to someone who has met this kind of trauma, let us remember that this hurt and pain is real and we’d do well to empathize and reflect God’s patient love.

The painful plight of this woman is not hard for us to imagine. And while we may not be there in this moment, the reality is that we are only a step away. Do you know where to turn? Who to call out to?

There is more to come, thankfully. Elisha demonstrated compassion in her pain, but we also see:

A Miraculous Provision (3-7)

The only thing this woman had of value was a single jar of oil. Let’s read 3-5. (READ)

As with many of the miracles we see, there is a requirement of faith and obedience. For this woman, there was both a public and private display necessary.

Publicly, she would be required to borrow vessels from her neighbors. As many as she could. How much faith did she have? That would be displayed by the number of vessels she borrowed.

I wonder how the neighbors responded- did they interrogate her? follow her and wait outside? Whether she wanted to make this public profession of faith or not, it was required. “Go borrow vessels from your neighbors!”

Privately, she would have to do this without Elisha. She was to go inside and shut the door and without any hand-holding or prodding, she must be willing to pour out the only valuable thing she owned. This miracle was not a show for the public, but a personal blessing from God.

Look here- In order for her to receive God’s provision, she had to be willing to empty out what she had. She had to trust God with ALL she had left.

And remember, she was angry with God. She was upset and overwhelmed and is told to pour out the only valuable asset she had - you have to imagine that this was difficult. Did she really trust God? This private demonstration of faith would be the test.

Let’s lean in a bit more. This woman was in the most difficult time of her life and was pretty much all alone. Her cry to Elisha communicated just how invisible she must have felt. But in this moment- she and her two sons receive a personal, intimate blessing that proved God’s lovingkindness to her.

This was a tangible blessing that met her physical needs… she was seen by God in her pain and it was at her own hands that God poured out His care and provision.

Can you imagine? GOD came near to HER, to minister to HER.

But look at this in v. 6 (READ)

The oil only stopped when the empty vessels were all full. What do you think would have happened if this woman would have only asked 2 neighbors for vessels? Her faith and obedience were the limiting factors, not God. Thankfully, this was indeed a woman of faith! There were no more vessels- she had obeyed the command in faith and confidence.

V. 7 shows that she returned to Elisha and reported the miracle. (READ) In God’s mercy, He provided enough to pay off her debts- to alleviate the pressure of creditors and of losing her two sons. That alone is a praise! BUT our God is a generous God! He not only met her critical need, He provided for her future needs as well! “Go sell it and you and your sons can live off the surplus!”

Little is much when God is in it!

Now, the tragedy was still true. This lady’s husband was still dead. She was still a single mother and the pain was still very real. She might not ever know why God allowed this and maybe she always wondered. But here is the beauty: God filled more than oil vessels that day. He restored her hope and reminded her of His compassion.

The plight and provision that we have observed point us forward to one final observation:

An Insightful Parable

God has shown in the previous chapter and this one, that He is in the business of dealing grace.

Whether you are a powerful king or a poverty-stricken widow, God has demonstrated that He is a personal and compassionate God. Let’s align our parable pieces.

This woman herself was an empty vessel. Her bed was empty, her pocketbook was empty, her house was empty, and her heart was empty. She was on the brink of a meltdown as she questioned God’s goodness.

Her pain is not unlike the pain we face when we realize that we are helpless and hopeless on our own. Her husband was her security; Like this widow, perhaps we are believers who have relied on things of this world to give us stability. Perhaps we think our good works will secure our good standing before God and that we will never have to face these hard times. Maybe our security is in our business or our wealth.

But the true picture is that we are bankrupt. Sin remains in this world and suffering discriminates not.

ILL: When we face hard times- When we hear the words “terminal cancer” or incurable; when that which we have so strongly depended is gone; When hopelessness seems to rule, we must cry out to God! We may not know what we need, but the greater demand is WHO we need.

When life’s hurts have emptied us of our hope, we need to cry out to the filler of empty vessels! Listen to me folks- we serve a God who holds out His arms to us, One who came near TO US not only to bear our sin and shame, but to fill us with a hope and peace that transcends this world.

Perhaps you are here this morning and you are an empty vessel devoid of hope or peace. Sin has condemned you and you find that what you owe is greater than what you can pay. Friend, the invitation remains: Cry out to God!

Present to Him your empty heart, pour out your guilt and allow Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit!

TODAY, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Hey, don’t you know that He has said, “My grace is sufficient for you?!?!”

Will you trust God with your pain? Your emptiness? Your hopelessness?

Romans 15:13 NASB95

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I invite you this morning, come- cry out to King Jesus.

Discuss: What trauma have you faced and how did you respond to God?

Discuss: What do you think would have happened if the widow would have only asked 2 neighbors for vessels?

Discuss: How are we like the empty vessels? How much do we trust God to fill us?