Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2063
“Even empty vessels; borrow not a few.” 2 Kings 4:3.
IT is needful that we read the whole story—“Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the Prophets unto Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead. And you know that your servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said, Your handmaid has not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow vessels abroad of all your neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when you are come in, you shall shut the door upon you and upon your sons and shall pour out into all those vessels and you shall set aside that which is full.
“So she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her. And she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her sons, Bring me yet a vessel. And they said unto her, There is not a 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 live, you and your children on the rest.”
The best of men may die in poverty—here is the widow of a Prophet left in destitution. We must not hastily censure those who leave their families unprovided for—circumstances may have rendered it impossible for the breadwinner to do more than supply the pressing wants of the hour. Yet assuredly it is sad to see the widow of so worthy a man in such straits! A widow, and especially the widow of a Prophet of the Lord—our concern for her is tender.
Her husband had been among the persecuted and having been, by oppression, deprived of all that he had, it came to pass that when he died he left his wife and children in distress—from which I gather that holy men may be in the worst of circumstances and yet it will be no proof that the Lord has forsaken them. We may not judge a person’s character by his position in life. Certainly, poverty is no sign of Divine Grace, for there are many who bring themselves to it by their own wickedness. But on the other hand, wealth is no sign of Divine favor—for many there are who will have their portion in this life, only, and have no inheritance in the life everlasting.
As a general rule, piety is more often found among the poor than among the rich—and in persecuting times it is almost of absolute necessity that a clean conscience should involve poverty. Let this encourage any here who are just now very low in circumstances. You are where Prophets and saints have been. God can lift you up and would do so if it were really for your good. Be more concerned to act like a Christian in your present condition than to escape from it. Remember, however poor you are, your Master was poorer and that whatever else you have not, you still have a share in His love.
Seek to be rich in faith if you are poor in all besides. You can honor God much in your present condition. You can learn much in it, you can prove much the Divine faithfulness and you can exercise much sympathy towards others. Therefore be not impatient. Since other men both greater and better than you have trod this rough road, bow before the determination of God’s Providence and ask for Divine Grace to be patient under your affliction.
This sorrowing widow, when she found herself in great poverty and likely to lose her two sons, went to God in her trouble. She hastened to God’s Prophet, for that was the way in which broken hearts would then speak to God in special trials. And it was a way with which, as a Prophet’s widow, she was well acquainted. But now we have another Mediator, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and every Christian in trouble should take his burden to his God in Christ Jesus. We readily enough tell our friends and neighbors and it is natural we should, for the human mind wants sympathy.
But faith would teach us that there is no sympathy equal to that of the Man Christ Jesus and there is no power to help equal to that of the heavenly Father. Let us, therefore, never forget to unload our burden at the foot of the Cross.
We should first tell our troubles to our best Friend. We should go to Jesus first, to Jesus with child-like reliance upon His power to help. The woman went to the Prophet. Let us go to our greater Prophet, even Jesus our Lord, without hesitation or delay.
God was pleased to ordain by His servant a way of escape for the poor woman. The little oil that she had in the house was to be multiplied till there should be enough, when sold, to pay her debts with—from which I gather that if in our distress we take our trouble to God He will deliver us. This woman is not a solitary instance—she is one of a great multitude for whom the Lord has worked graciously. It is the rule of God’s Providence that His children should cry to Him in the day of trouble and that He should be gracious to them and deliver them. Rest assured that the Lord, who daily provides for the millions of fish in the sea and the myriads of birds in the air will not suffer His own children to perish for lack of the things of this life.