WEBVTT - 2 Kings 4 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.720 Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:12.280 walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Studyheadquarters dot com. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.880 You're listening to the Chapter a Day Audio Bible. I'm 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:20.040 John Stangey, and today we're in Second King's chapter four, 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.000 and this is what we read. One day, the widow 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.480 of a member of the group of prophets came to 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.840 Elisha and cried out, my husband, who served you, is dead, 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.120 and you know how he feared the Lord. But now 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.560 a creditor has come, threatening to take away my two 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.199 sons as slaves. What can I do to help you, 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:46.159 Elisha asked, Tell me what do you have in the house. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.600 Nothing at all except a flask of olive oil, she replied, 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.800 And Elishah said, borrow as many empty jars as you 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.080 can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.080 house with your son and shut the door behind you. 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:07.080 Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.640 each one aside when it is filled. So she did 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.000 as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:18.920 and she filled one after another. Soon every container was 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.560 full to the brim. Bring me another jar, she said 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.920 to one of her sons. There aren't anymore, he told her, 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:30.600 and then the olive oil stopped flowing. When she told 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.280 the Man of God what had happened, he said to her, 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.640 Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.200 you and your sons can live on what is left over. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.360 One day, Elijah went to the town of Shunam. A 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.080 wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.800 to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:56.040 passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat. 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.960 She said to her husband, I am sure this man 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.000 who stops in from time to time is a holy 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:06.400 man of God. Let's build a small room for him 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:09.360 on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.400 a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:17.280 place to stay whenever he comes by. One day Elisha 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.040 returned to Shunam and he went up to this upper 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:24.360 room to rest. He said to his servant Gahazi, tell 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.000 the woman from Shunam, I want to speak to her. 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:32.240 When she appeared, Elisha said to Gahazi, tell her, we 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.280 appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.720 we do for you? Can we put in a good 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:40.840 word for you to the king, or to the commander 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:45.200 of the army. No, she replied, my family takes good 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:50.400 care of me. Later, Elisha asked Gahazi what can we 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.800 do for her. Gahazi replied, she doesn't have a son, 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.520 and her husband is an old man. Call her back again, 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:04.000 Eli Shah told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.320 to her as she stood in the doorway, next year, 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.720 at this time, you will be holding a son in 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:15.240 your arms. No, my lord, she cried, Oh, Man of God, 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.640 don't deceive me and get my hopes up like that. 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.680 But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant, and at 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.480 that time the following year she had a son, just 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:31.280 as Elisha had said. One day, when her child was older, 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.960 he went out to help his father, who was working 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:38.480 with the harvesters. Suddenly he cried out, my head hurts, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.800 my head hurts. His father said to one of the servants, 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.680 carry him home to his mother. So the servant took 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.200 him home and his mother held him on her lap. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:54.200 But around noontime he died. She carried him up and 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.520 laid him on the bed of the Man of God, 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.520 then shut the door and left him there. She sent 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.880 a message to her husband, send one of the servants 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.560 and a donkey, so that I can hurry to the 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.360 Man of God and come right back. Why go today, 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.280 he asked, It is neither a new moon festival nor 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:16.520 a sabbath. But she said it will be all right. 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.040 So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, hurry, 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:25.080 don't slow down unless I tell you to. As she 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.600 approached the Man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.440 her in the distance. He said to Gahazi, look, the 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.520 woman from Shoodham is coming. Run out to meet her 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:37.920 and ask her. Is everything all right with you, your 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:42.760 husband and your child? Yes? The woman told Gahazi everything 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.560 is fine. But when she came to the Man of 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.320 God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.080 him and caught hold of his feet. Gahazi began to 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.920 push her away, but the Man of God said, leave 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:58.200 her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the Lord has 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:02.320 not told me what it is. Then she said, did 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.400 I ask you for a son, my Lord, and didn't 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.800 I say? Don't deceive me and get my hopes up. 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:13.360 Then Elishah said to Gehazi, get ready to travel, take 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:16.840 my staff and go. Don't talk to anyone along the way, 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:20.440 go quickly and lay the staff on the child's face. 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.919 But the boy's mother said, as surely as the Lord 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.480 lives and you yourself live, I won't go home unless 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:33.680 you go with me. So Elisha returned with her. Gahazi 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.760 hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child's face, 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:40.839 but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.200 returned to meet Elisha and told him the child is 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:48.880 still dead. When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:53.200 lying there on the prophet's bed. He went in alone 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.239 and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord. 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:59.800 Then he lay down on the child's body, placing his 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.719 man my mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.320 the child's eyes, and his hands on the child's hands. 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.120 And as he stretched out on him, the child's body 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:14.839 began to grow warm again. Elisha got up, walked back 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:18.239 and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.600 out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:28.159 seven times and opened his eyes. Then Elijhah summoned Gehazi 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.400 call the child's mother, he said, And when she came in, 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:37.920 Elijhah said, here, take your son, She fell at his 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:42.200 feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.840 took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.200 Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.120 in the land. One day, as the group of prophets 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.159 was seated before him, he said to his servant, put 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.480 a large pot on the fire, and make some stew 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.360 for the rest of the group. One of the young 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.080 men went out into the field to gather herbs and 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.440 came back with a pocket full of wild gourds. He 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.680 shredded them and put them into the pot, without realizing 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.800 they were poisonous. Some of the stew was served to 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.600 the men, but after they had eaten a bite or two, 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.040 they cried out, Man of God, there's poison in this stew. 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.480 So they would not eat it. Elisha said, bring me 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.160 some flour. Then he threw it into the pot and said, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.760 now it's all right, go ahead and eat, and then 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.320 it did not harm them. One day a man from 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.600 bail Shallashah brought the Man of God a sack of 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:44.080 fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread made from 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.280 the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, give it 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.720 to the people so they can eat. What his servant exclaimed, 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.920 feed one hundred people with only this, but Elisha repeated, 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:01.400 give it to the people so they can eat. For 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.720 this is what the Lord says. Everyone will eat, and 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.000 there will even be some left over. And when they 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.400 gave it to the people, there was plenty for all 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.400 and some left over, just as the Lord had promised. 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:21.800 Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for your word, and 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:23.600 we thank you for the privilege of being able to 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:25.760 look at this passage of scripture. And Lord, as we 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.760 witnessed these miracles that you did through Elisha, we see 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.000 a variety of things here that you were doing to 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.520 glorify your name and to benefit your people. But we 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.520 also see a series of miracles here that point to 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.880 the miracles that would be done by your son Jesus Christ. 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.640 They remind us, or they show us a foretaste of 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.800 some of his miraculous activity. We know that at the 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.520 wedding feast that Jesus turned the water into wine and 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.960 there was plenty to go around. We know that he 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.520 fed a group of five thousand, and that he fed 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.760 a group of four thousand after that, and he displayed 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.319 to you people that he was who he said he was. Lord, 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.720 we know that at times we find ourselves people who 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:10.000 struggle with doubt. But then, by your grace, you put 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.240 all these reminders in front of us that testify to 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.679 your power, testify to your compassion, and testify to your 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:20.120 presence with your people. So, Lord, we pray that throughout 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.840 the course of today, as we live out our faith 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.559 in your son Jesus Christ, that we would be confident 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.840 of your presence with us each and every day. And 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.160 we're grateful Lord for this reality. Lord, we love you, 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.440 and we commit this day to your care, and we 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.319 thank you for all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.