One of the favorite Old Testament stories is the one involving Elisha, a widow, and a lot of jars. The story is really simple. The woman's husband was one of the prophets but has died. She has two sons and a creditor is coming to take her sons to pay the debts she has. Elisha tells her to borrow jars and God will use the little oil she has to fill all the jars she gets. She gets a lot of jars, God makes a lot of oil, and she is saved from her creditor. That's the story. You can find it in 2 Kings 4.
It's a great story. The story illustrates not only the kindness and power of God, but the kindness and charity of Elisha.
But we have often made it so much more. We see sermons and devotionals and notes telling us that this story teaches us "great truths" about faith, about faithfulness, about confidence, about "getting enough jars," etc. etc. It actually doesn't teach us any of that.
What it teaches is that God told her what to do and she did it and she was blessed. There is no "faith" in the story, just obedience. Now, we try to make everything to be faith so we say "well, she believed enough to be blessed," but, actually, she just did what she was told. For all I know, her faith was entirely in Elisha.
Some sermons will tell us that she "should have gotten more jars," usually said with a very serious voice that gets everyone to agree, but that is nonsense. She received all she needed. She was told to borrow a lot of jars and she did. She received enough to pay her debt and to live on going forward. Who seriously thinks God's goal was to make her rich but she blew it? Only a modern person would think that she should have had the goal of being rich.
We have to get over our desire to find great truths about our personal lives in every story of scripture. Scripture is "revelation," meaning it reveals God. It's purpose is to fulfill God's plan to reveal to us "the mystery of His will" and the nature of His dealings with us. Put simply, scripture is not really about you at all. It is about God.
We need to get beyond the idea that we are the center of scripture. Scripture teaches us about God. And it teaches us that, in this particular circumstance, God glorified Himself, glorified Elisha, and blessed this poor widow and her sons. He is not telling me to "get more jars," but He is telling me about my Savior, my God, and my King.
Isn't that enough?
It's a great story. The story illustrates not only the kindness and power of God, but the kindness and charity of Elisha.
But we have often made it so much more. We see sermons and devotionals and notes telling us that this story teaches us "great truths" about faith, about faithfulness, about confidence, about "getting enough jars," etc. etc. It actually doesn't teach us any of that.
What it teaches is that God told her what to do and she did it and she was blessed. There is no "faith" in the story, just obedience. Now, we try to make everything to be faith so we say "well, she believed enough to be blessed," but, actually, she just did what she was told. For all I know, her faith was entirely in Elisha.
Some sermons will tell us that she "should have gotten more jars," usually said with a very serious voice that gets everyone to agree, but that is nonsense. She received all she needed. She was told to borrow a lot of jars and she did. She received enough to pay her debt and to live on going forward. Who seriously thinks God's goal was to make her rich but she blew it? Only a modern person would think that she should have had the goal of being rich.
We have to get over our desire to find great truths about our personal lives in every story of scripture. Scripture is "revelation," meaning it reveals God. It's purpose is to fulfill God's plan to reveal to us "the mystery of His will" and the nature of His dealings with us. Put simply, scripture is not really about you at all. It is about God.
We need to get beyond the idea that we are the center of scripture. Scripture teaches us about God. And it teaches us that, in this particular circumstance, God glorified Himself, glorified Elisha, and blessed this poor widow and her sons. He is not telling me to "get more jars," but He is telling me about my Savior, my God, and my King.
Isn't that enough?
RSS Feed