Bible Study Series: \”Bad Stuff Happens To Good People\”, 2 Kings 4:1-7

PC Study Bible Data

BAD STUFF HAPPENS TO GOOD PEOPLE

BUT GOD

2 Kings 4:1-7

INTRODUCTION

(o-ba-di\’-a) (‎±obhadhyah‎, more fully ‎±obhadhyahu‎, \”servant of Yahweh\”):

The steward or prime minister of Ahab, who did his best to protect the prophets of Yahweh against Jezebel\’s persecution.

Obadiah was one of God’s flowers. He served the Lord. But he died

leaving his wife and two sons destitute. He owed money to a creditor.

The creditor had the right to take his sons as slaves to pay the debt.

His wife lived in a community that did not come to her rescue.

Her neighbors may not have known her situation or knew, but would

Not help. We are presented only with her desperate condition.

GOOD PROPLE FACE BAD SITUATIONS

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.\”

A. Some say Obadiah borrowed money to support the ministry of God.

     1. When he died, his wife was left with nothing but debt.

     2. On the surface that may be true, but he left his family with something

         more valuable than a bank account.

B. Obidiah left his wife with a knowledge of God.

     1. His work for the Lord stored up treasures in heaven

         Matt 6:20-21

         But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust

         do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For

         where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

      2. The best thing we can do for our families is to teach them to trust

           the Lord.

      3. By our example, we teach our families to devote themselves to the

            Lord.

        4. Teach your children to go to God in prayer for all their needs.

            Phil 4:6

            Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication   

            with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

TAKE YOU PROBLEM TO THE LORD

V: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 little oil.\”

A. The Lord is waiting on your prayer

    1. He is waiting on you to ask for what you need.

         2 Chron 6:19-20

       Yet give attention to your servant\’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O      

       Lord  my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying

       in your presence.

     2. Your prayers activates God power in your life.

     3. What you have is enough in the hands of the Lord.

     4. The first thing you need to do is put your problem in the

          hands of the Lord.

     5. Your situation is God’s opportunity to perform a miracle

          before your eyes.

         a. He used the staff of Moses to show His power

         b. He used a boys lunch to feed 5000 men plus women and

              children.

            Matt 16:8-10

            You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about     

             having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don\’t you

             remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many

             basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four

             thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

     6.  Do you remember what God has done in your past?

     7. When you have a problem the worst thing you can do is

          to forget that it is God that sustains you.

     8. It is God who puts us in situations where we can learn to

          trust Him.

     9. It is possible, as the wife of a prophet, the woman’s trust in

         God had never been tested.    

    10. When we teach our families to trust the Lord, we set them up to

          be tested by Him.

          Prov 22:6

          Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will

          not depart from it.

     11. You and I have to practice in front of our families trusting the Lord.

           a. Obadiah working for Ahab, risk his life to save 100 of God’s   

               prophets from Jezebel’s persecution.

           b. God needs no reminder, but He loves to hear the testimony of your

               service.

       12. God loves families. He will not leave them begging bread.

            Matt 19:29-30

            And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or  

            Mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred

            times as much and will inherit eternal life.

WAIT ON THE LORD FOR DIRECTIONS

V:3 Elisha said, \”Go around and ask all your neighbors 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.\”

A. The number of jars she collected was the measure of her faith.

     1. At this point the woman had no idea what she would do with the

         jars.

     2. Sometimes, what God tells us to do may not make sense.

     3. She was destitute with a number of jars.

     4. God will bless us, but we must work for the blessing.

     5. God uses you in the miracles He performs for you.

     6. God will bless you with a job, but you have to go looking.

B. When God is working with you, you neighbors don’t

      need to know.

        Matt 6:6

         But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast   

         shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father

         which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

     1. God works with you in private to keep your neighbors from

         casting doubt in your mind.

     2. You need a calmness of mind to do what God ask you to do.

C. Seeing the little oil she had fill the many jars she borrowed

     from her neighbors was the miracle she and her sons witnessed.

    1. Let me suggest that seeds of goodness Obadiah sowed were

        harvested with the filling of the jars with oil.

    2. The treasures Obadiah stored in heaven by his service

         were withdrawn by his wife and sons.

    3. Your bank account may not reflect the blessing God has for you.

FOLLOW GODS DIRECTIONS

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. 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.

A. Once she filled the last Jar she collected, the oil she used

       stopped flowing.

    1. She had jars of oil, but still destitute.

    2. When God is working with us, we must continue listening

         to His voice.

    3. You can have a lot, but don’t know what to do with it.       

LET THE LORD ORDER YOUR STEPS

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.\”

A. Pray without ceasing.

    1. Continue listening for a word from the Lord through out

        your life.

    2. You are never in a situation where you can determine the outcome.

B. God created a market for the sell of the oil.

    1. God brought people with money to her to buy all the

         oil.

    2. God does not tell us how many jars of oil she sold.

    3. What God tells us is she had enough from the sell to

         pay off her debt and enough left to live on.

LIFE IS FULL OF UPS AND DOWNS. IT’S THE TRUST

YOU HAVE IN GOD THAT DETERMINES THE QUALITY

OF YOUR LIFE.

Let me leave you with this acronym ; PLOT

P  pray without ceasing. Take your problem to the Lord FIRST.

L  listen, expecting God to give you directions.

O   obey the commands from God and follow

      His directions immediately.

T    Trust the Lord expecting Him to do exceedingly,

       abundantly more than you can ask of conceive.

Carry your problems to God with thanksgiving.

When you Got a problem  P L O T

Rev. M. Mitchell