Page 42 - Livin Light Issue 81

THIS WEEK’S BIBLE INSIGHTS ARE BY:
Chris Jervis and are based on 2 Kings 4:1-7 (NIV)
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ON THIS WEEK’S MAJOR THEME:
Mark 6:39-44
1 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 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 small jar of olive oil.’
3 Elisha said, ‘Go round and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 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.’
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 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.
7 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.’
Sunday July 16 - Empty and bereft
“...my husband is dead... creditors are coming to take away my sons
2 Kings 4:1
In recent months and years, we’ve all been through some tough times, and when bereavement is thrown into the mix, together with debt and potential family break-up, the shattering combination of all these disasters leaves a person feeling empty and bereft. Where is God in all this? I can’t imagine how awful this widow’s devastating condition must have been, although such traumas are not uncommon in this fractured world. We should not be surprised that such terrible things happen in a fallen world, and disasters are no respecters of people.
There are those who blindly assume that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, but this simple assessment is unrealistic and unbiblical. The story of Job starts by telling us that he was ‘a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil’ (Job 1:1) and yet his suffering was unparalleled. And of course, Jesus the sinless Son of God was utterly righteous, yet suffered and died for us sinners. The bankrupt widow in today’s passage was empty and bereft, but what she did next was a lesson to us all: she turned her face to God and not her back; she approached God’s representative, Elisha, for help. Remember the words of Peter: ‘Cast all your anxieties upon God, for he cares for you’ (1 Peter 5:7).
Lord, whatever my need – great or small – I turn to you, my gracious and compassionate God. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY