Don’t Ask for Just a Few

2 Kings 4:1-7

Key Verse 4:3

Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few.”

This passage teaches us that God is the God of abundance, but in order for us to experience His blessings overflowing in our life, we must follow certain rules. Let us look at them.

First, the wife of a man cried out (1)

Look at v. 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.’” Let us put ourselves in her position for one moment. How must she have felt about herself, her two sons, her husband, Elisha, and the Lord? Most likely she must have felt unlucky to have been the wife of such a poor husband. She also might have felt sorry for her two sons, because they were to be sold as slaves to her creditors. She might have loved her husband and even revered him. But at the same time she might have felt bitter towards him, for he failed to fulfill his responsibility to take care of his family financially. Elisha could have paid her husband a salary or at least provided him with “relief funds,” but obviously he did not do that.  Apparently Elisha himself lived off of other peoples' incomes. It seemed that Elisha was goofing around doing nothing but reading the Bible. It seemed he did nothing to improve the financial conditions of his disciples either. A question also might have arisen in her mind concerning the Lord and his words of promises, especially the promise of provision. She might have heard the words of promise as something to the effect that as one seeks first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, all “other” things would be added, but clearly this did not happen for her.

When we think about what she said, it appears that the Lord had been treating her unfairly. But we know that the Lord is not unfair. He is fair to everyone. In addition, all of the words of his promises are true: no promise is empty. Why then did this happen? We can find an answer to this question when we think about the way the Lord helps his children. He loves his children. So he desires to give what is best to them. One of the great gifts the Lord God desires to bestow upon his children is to teach them faith. In order to plant in them this faith, it is not uncommon that the Lord God puts his children in a needy condition such as a famine. We see the Lord doing the same thing in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When we examine the lives of the patriarchs of faith, we see the Lord allowing a famine to occur in their lives to teach them faith in the Lord who provides. When Jesus heard that Lazarus fell ill and was dying, he intentionally waited two more days, allowing the situation of Lazarus' family to deteriorate to the worst possible scenario. Why? It was because Jesus wanted to teach them resurrection faith. Likewise, the Lord God loved the woman dearly. The Lord found her worthy of receiving “faith” training so she would grow as a woman of real faith. This faith is very important, for if she learns this faith, then she can live as a mother of many nations, teaching many to walk in His way. She can start out teaching her two sons, so they can grow as real men of faith. In order to produce a man of faith like Samuel, didn’t the Lord God intentionally put his mother Hannah in a needy condition, so that she would struggle to the Lord in prayer, and gain absolute faith in the Lord? 

From this we learn that each time one hardship or another hits us, we better think about the Lord’s special love for us. What difficulty have you run into lately? If you’ve run into one problem or another, remember this: the Lord loves you so much that he has given you some difficulty, so you would become a man of real faith, a true hero of heroic faith. So give thanks to God, for you've received a golden opportunity in your hands—the opportunity to learn faith in the Lord.

Second, what do you have in your house? (2a)

How did Elisha reply? Look at v. 2. “Elisha replied to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?’” He could have stopped at saying, “How can I help you?” But he added something else: “Tell me, what do you have in your house?” Why? We can find an answer to this question when we think about the way Jesus helped his disciples in challenging them to feed a hungry crowd in Mark 6:38a. “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” Jesus challenged them to see the seemingly hard reality with a believing mind. When one looks at a given reality by wearing spiritual eyeglasses called “faith,” one can certainly see a “sign” that the Lord is going to bless him or her with truckloads of blessings, all ready to become manifested from the invisible realm into the visible realm. So by all means, look at the reality with a believing mind. The situation may look grim. But as you look at it with faith in God’s absolute goodness, the situation may look truly “great.” 

Third, a little oil (2b)

What did she say? Look at 2b. “‘Your servant has nothing there at all,’ she said, ‘except a little oil.’” Her reply indicates that indeed she needed “faith” training. She had a lot more than what she said she had. She had her life that was loaded up with lots of good features like strength, the ability to cry out, a mouth to even complain with, and most importantly her two powerful sons who could live as powerfully, if not more powerfully, than both Elijah and Elisha combined. 

But she said, “Your servant has nothing at all.” But being a conscientious woman, she added, “except a little oil.” The word “except’ is kind of subtle because it suggests that it is as insignificant as nothing. But is it really nothing? No. It is really something. To Elisha it is the capital for tremendous blessings to roll in. As this story evolves further, this “little oil” did become the capital to generate tons of oil. In hindsight we can say that by helping her to remember and pay attention to the “little” oil, Elisha helped her not to overlook it, but rather appreciate its real value, for it became the secure foundation for her future life security.  

From this we learn the importance of appreciating what the Lord blesses us with: it may seem small or little, but we must learn to appreciate its value.  In other words we must learn to be thankful to God for all the blessings from Him – I mean all blessings (big or small, little or much). And we must be thankful for them from the bottom of our heart. 

Then the Lord God starts working in us. How? First we must start out by looking at what we have. When we look at it, we can always find something which is equivalent to or a lot more than, the “little oil.” On finding it, we should dearly cherish it, and use it as a foundation for greater blessings. We say this for we need to know how to start out small, multiply what is small into God’s bigness, then finish big. Jacob in Genesis set a good example. Genesis 28 describes how for the first time in his life Jacob left his father’s house for a foreign land. When he left his father’s house, he was penniless. After about 20 years of struggle in Paddan Aram, he became a millionaire. What was the secret? We find a secret in Genesis 28:22. “And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” What kind of stone was it that he chose to use as a pillar of God’s temple? Genesis 28:10-11 describes where he secured the stone. “Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.” The stone was just a regular stone. But Jacob did not think it that way. He used it first as a pillow, and then as a pillar of God's house! And he dedicated it to build a temple. He also issued a promissory note that he would practice tithing. 

The point here is the importance of seeing everything and everyone through the spiritual eyeglasses of faith. Then things, which may look ever so small or little and insignificant, will suddenly look different. A man or woman who may appear to be nobody can be seen as truly important. Faith sees mountains out of a single grain of sand. Faith sees a rock out of sand. On seeing a man named Simon, didn’t Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, see rock in him, and expressed his faith by changing his name from Simon (meaning “sand”) to Peter (meaning “rock”)? 

Faith hears the sound of a heavy rain when the sky is still blue. The Prophet Elijah, the shepherd of the Prophet Elisha, had this faith. In 1 Kings 18 we see the Israelites suffering from drought for three long years. However, on Mt. Carmel, Elijah by faith helped the Israelites to repent of their idol worship. Then by faith he said to King Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees, praying. By faith he said to his servant, “Go and look toward the sea.” His servant went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, and a heavy rain came. 

Elisha, the disciple of Elijah, saw an ocean of oil out of the “little” oil the woman had. Faith sees what the carnal eyes cannot see. A few months ago, Shepherd Jay Irwin went to Bolivia to support the Bolivian UBF Summer Bible Conference. At that time Missionary Jose Ahn also went with him. After the conference, Missionary Joseph Ahn saw that Bolivia is located at the center of South America. So he shared with Missionary Esteban Cho, the director of Bolivian UBF, the prayer topic that Bolivia, which is at the heart of South America, would be a missionary-sending nation, sending 1,000 missionaries to other countries in ten years. 

Again 2 Kings 4:2 reads, “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.’” 

I do not know how much each of you has. But I know for sure that you have a lot more than just a little oil. So I would like to give you a little homework: go back home, sit down, take a pencil and a piece of paper. Then write down all you have and make an inventory. Remember: you are not living in Israel of ancient times, like the woman in the passage. You are living here in Downey. You have so many resources in and around you. Downey Bible Center, the Bible in your hands, a PC, and in case you do not have any PC, don’t think you do not have it. You do have. How do I know? Go to the Downey City Library, which is right next door. There you can get a library card for free. And they have a computer lab. I can continue on and on like this. And in making an inventory, don’t forget this: you yourselves are the most important assets. Of all the assets, you are the most valuable asset, and yet you are the most underdeveloped and underutilized asset of all. In sum, you have already all you need to become a millionaire, for God has already geared you to be that way. Make a mistake about it.  

Fourth, go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars (3-4)

Bold faith produces a bold action plan. Elisha had a bold faith. In vs. 3-4 by faith he gave the woman a bold action plan. Look at vs. 3-4. “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.’” 

Let us think about the action plan in detail. 

(1) “Go around.” This order demands her to overcome her narrow-mindedness and become positive and proactive so she would be “forceful” in going for what God is going to bless her with, and she must go for it with a “GO GET IT” kind of spirit. “All your neighbors,” especially the word “all,” encourages her to be ABSOLUTE in looking “everywhere” for the “vessels” to hold the blessings to come. And “empty jars” refers to vessels. 

“Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.” Similar exhortations are found in many places of the Bible for the members of Jesus’ church. Titus 1:5 for example says, “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” Here “every town” is tantamount to every college campus in every city in every state in every country in every continent on the planet Earth. Similarly Isaiah 54:2 reads, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” In the same spirit, when Jesus came in order to thoroughly bless his disciples, making them true VIPs of all VIPs of all generations, he said to his disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” God’s will to bless his children thoroughly is not just for some special people but for all who are in the Lord, so in Psalm 81:10 the Lord God said to his children: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” 

But living in this world where everything seems limited, we become so narrow-minded that we always tend to “chicken out” and shrink back from what we are challenged to go for. Elisha saw the same problem in the woman. He was concerned that this woman would knock on the doors of a couple of houses, and then stop. So he said to her, “Don't ask for just a few.” What does “a few” mean? A few means a few. One, two, three, four, or less than that, and that is about it. 

“Don’t ask for just a few.” This statement can be read merely as a “passing” remark. But we should not read it that way. Why? It is because this statement deserves special attention, for it holds a very important message. What message does it have? It is this: “Don't limit what God can do for you.” Later the Apostle Paul opened his eyes to how much God can do, so he said in Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Similarly Jesus rebuked a father saying, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for him who believes!” (Mark 9:23).

(2) “Go inside.” “Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.” The previous statement, “Go around…” reflects “how much God can do,” whereas this statement, “Go inside” reveals “how He works.” How does he work? How does he provide for his children? We find an answer to this question in Matthew 6:3. “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” The Bible abounds with words of God concerning God’s “provision.” Of them, Matthew 6:33 is paramount. But many are not convinced about the certainty of the promises found in this blessed Bible passage. One of the reasons is the lack of understanding of the way God provides for his children. And we see the way of his provision in Matthew 6:3. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” A man’s words reflect who he is. This is particularly true for the words of Jesus. Jesus always teaches what he practices, and he practices what he teaches. His teaching and his practice always match. Because he provides for his children even without letting himself know what he is doing, on so many occasions when provision comes to you, you yourself end up not knowing that it is He who provided just for you! Rather you end up thinking that it is you who have provided, when in fact it is He who caused things to fall into your hands! 

“Go inside and shut the door behind you and your two sons!” Because this is the way God provides for his children, she does not need to wait in front of the door, waiting for Santa Clause to come by and drop off a package like a UPS deliveryman. There is no UPS truck coming. There is no Santa Clause to visit. And it comes through an invisible channel called “faith”, not anyone else’s but your faith. So she can keep the door shut without worrying that she might miss any packages from outside.  

“Go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.” This instruction also has to do with a personal prayer offered to God only to be seen by God. We say this based on what Jesus instructed his disciples to do in Matthew 6:5-6, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Here Jesus used the word “hypocrite.” Who is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a man whose outside is different from his inside. What is seen is different from what is unseen. God wants us to be the same inside and out, but first inside and then out. After all, God works inside out, not the other way around. But people always try to improve what is outside, and in doing so, they largely neglect what is inside. God cannot bless this kind of person, for God works first inside out. Where inside is rendered undesirable, the flow of God’s blessings is blocked from inside. It is like streams of water being stopped up at the origin. 

“Then go inside.” This passage says that we need to secure the time for God to work inside of our person. As we saw briefly there is a time for us to work outside. And there is the time to labor inside. And while staying inside, we must wrestle with God in prayer. Let us pray that the Lord would transform us into men and women of prayer, offering prayers first in private, then in public. 

(3) The next instruction is to put the oil in the jars. This is a call to exercise one’s faith. Pouring is an act of faith, for it requires action, which is prompted by faith that believes that the oil will continue to flow as God's servant says. 

The last piece of instruction is “as each one is filled put it to the side.” This instruction requires “continued” exercise of faith, not stopping after one or two jars are filled up. When Jesus came he demonstrated this faith, for he said in John 5:17, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” He is “always” at his work. So there is no reason for us to stop working with Him. 

Fifth, she kept pouring (5) 

What did she do with the action plan? Look at v. 5. “She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.” This passage tells us that she was a woman of faith and “obedience.” Practically it might not have been easy for her to obey the instructions. But Elisha’s bold faith jumped into her heart. So by faith she obeyed. Perhaps as she knocked on each door, some might have said, “Oh, we don't have jars. Sorry.” Without being disappointed she moved on. Then some neighbors might have said, “Yes. We do have jars. But they are not empty.” Then she might have said, “Oh, we can wait a little while. When will the jars be empty?” Then the neighbor might have said, “We don’t know.” Then she had to say, “Okay. Thank you.” Then she moved on. Then some neighbors said, “Yes, Madam. We do have a couple. We will get them to you later.” In this way, she went from door to door, asking for empty jars. Then she came back home. She shut the door behind her, and together with her two sons she might have prayed that more jars would arrive, as many as she asked for. Then, lo and behold. One jar after another arrived. Each time it arrived at her door, she opened the door, let it in, shut the door and prayed more. In this way as all the jars came in she started pouring in the little oil. At first her hands (that held the little jar of oil leaning towards the first empty jar) might have been shaking as the little oil was being poured into the first jar. Her heart almost stopped running for a while. She instantly prayed more. Then, lo and behold. It kept coming out! It was a miracle! It was flowing on and on and on and on and on.… So by faith she kept pouring it in. A great miracle happened! That day she experienced God’s Almighty power! She met God personally. She picked up real faith, the faith that personally believes in God who is truly living, the God who calls things that are not as though they were. Romans 4:17. And as each jar was filled up, she was even singing songs of praise even without herself knowing! And all the days of her life she NEVER sang as she did on “that” day. 

Sixth, then the oil stopped flowing (6)

Look at v. 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.” This passage shows us that the oil stopped flowing when the jars ran out. What does this mean? It means only one thing: God's blessing is only as limited as one's faith is limited; by the same token God's blessing is as unlimited as one's faith is unlimited. When Jesus came he explained this concept by saying to some blind beggars on the street, “According to your faith will it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29).

Seventh, go and sell (7)

The woman must have been exhilarated, so much so that she could have gone out and bragged to the world what the Lord had done for her. But instead the first thing she did was to go and report to God’s servant what the Lord God had done for her. When she reported to Elisha, what did he say to her? Look at v. 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.’” This passage teaches us that God wants us to work hard on what he is going to bless us with, with the express purpose that we would not be debtors but creditors. In addition the expression “can live on” indicates that in order to make a living she was to work with what was left for her own needs. For example, she can use the leftovers as capital for a small business. She can go out, sell it, and with the proceeds, she can buy a sewing machine. With the sewing machine entitled “Singer,” she can open up a small business entitled, “Suzy, the Singer’s Alterations.” With the income she can do many things: she can put bread on the table, buy a Honda Civic for her and her two sons, and she can support her two sons while they go to school, so they can grow as responsible citizens and much more.  

One word: Don't ask for just a few