Beloved congregation, it's a good lesson in life to learn that we are dependent on our own. We would like to be independent, independent of other people. To some extent, that does not have to be bad, to want to be independent of other people. to be able to manage your own affairs, but ultimately we are all very dependent upon God. The Lord Jesus said, without me ye can do nothing, and without the Lord indeed we can do nothing. We are very dependent, and it can be in life that we come into circumstances in which it becomes very clear how dependent we are upon God. We just read here in 2 Kings 4 about a woman who was very dependent. She needed help. And we all need help. And now it's glorious to come to the Lord with all our needs, because our impossibilities are God's opportunities. He can save to the uttermost. And that does not only refer to salvation, although that is the most important part, but this saving to the uttermost also refers to the affairs of daily life. And I trust some of you may have experienced that. that you saw God's hand in helping you in things of daily life, and that you realized this was the Lord's guidance. Well, the woman we just read of in Scripture came with her distress and need to the prophet Elisha. And so it's a good thing to bring all our needs before the Lord. Boys and girls, when you're at night in your bedroom, you should pray to the Lord. And you should bring your needs before the Lord, the needs that you see in your life. But above all, there's one need that we all have. We need a new heart. What does that mean? That means that God's Holy Spirit comes and lives in our heart. And what happens then is that you start to love God. And you start to hate sin. And you start to confess that you have many sins before the Lord. You start to see them. And so, boys and girls, we need to pray to God with all our needs. Well, here we see a woman who was in great need. And we consider the miracle of the oil of the widow. We see her misery, her faith, and her deliverance. So in this history we see a woman who is in great distress. She's a widow. Her husband was one of the prophets. That is to say he was one of the sons of the prophets, but that means that he was a prophet. The sons of the prophet were those who were instructed by the prophets Elijah and Elijah. And to reform the apostate ten tribes in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah and later on Elisha, they founded several schools to to train young men for the ministry. And in this way, they wanted to revive the spiritual setting of Israel. And one of these men who were trained in those schools, he had become a minister or a prophet, and he proclaimed the Word of God, but he died. Something happened. And the Lord took him. And what else do we know about this man, this prophet? Well, he feared the Lord. That means he had deep reverence and awe and respect for the Lord. He desired to walk in God's commandments. He had learned to see himself as a sinner before God, and he needed spiritual life that the Lord would grant him. He realized that. And because of this awareness in his life and how the Lord had intervened in his life and showed him God's salvation, therefore, he feared the Lord. Because when the Lord has dealings with your soul, and you experience His loving kindness, you will start to fear God, and to love Him, and to follow Him in return. He had embraced the God of Israel. And the Lord has opened His eyes for the necessity that God must be glorified in our lives. The result was that he became a prophet. And what else do we know about this man? Well, he was married, and he and his wife received two healthy sons. And then we also know something else about him. He was poor. He was a poor person. As such, that's not something to be shamed about, to be poor. Because many of God's children are not rich. And especially in countries where there is persecution, there are many in our days who are not rich, who are actually quite poor, but who fear the Lord in Muslim nations, in China, in more countries. And so, especially in those days, those were the days when Ahab and Jezebel were reigning. And they had caused terrible persecutions, because their state policy was, we should worship Baal. That's how you get fertility in the soil, in the ground, to engage in the fertility rituals in those pagan temples. And if those old-fashioned prophets did not want to agree with that, then we will persecute them. And they had killed many of the prophets. It was a dark time in the history of Israel. And so many of those prophets were deprived of their goods. Some lost their lives. And to be poor does not mean the Lord has forsaken you. The Lord had not forsaken this prophet either. He died and he was taken up into glory. And he is now with the Lord. And we trust that his wife, who has remained as a widow, is also now with the Lord in glory. But anyway, we know this prophet died and he left his wife and his two sons behind in poverty. He must have done everything that he could have to support his wife and children, but he was unable to do so. But his hope was set upon the Lord. He knew that the Lord would show mercy upon this widow and her two sons. but it did not appear to be like that. Because initially this woman remained with her two sons, and from now on she had to take care of her family, of her both sons, and she did everything she could to take care of those boys, but the debts only became worse. And she couldn't pay her rent, she could hardly provide for her children to stay alive, It was a very distressful situation. And then on a certain occasion, the creditor, the person she owned much money, maybe the landlord, came and paid her a visit and said, madam, you have to pay your debt. And if you can't pay, well, then I will take both your sons and they will be my bond men. That means my slaves. And by working for me, they can slowly decrease the debt. And that would take years. As such, this measure was allowed by the Lord in the laws of Moses. In Leviticus 25, when people in Israel could not pay a debt, they could work for the creditor until their debts would be paid. And then, When the year of Jubilee would be there, as once every 50 years, then the slaves would all return home, they were all considered to be free, then everyone received their own ancestral lands back again, and then everyone started back at zero, you can say. And that was an institution among Israel to avoid social unrest and that social injustice and poverty would be avoided. But here the creditor wants to take her two sons along as slaves. They can work for him. And then this widow would have to see that not only her husband had been taken away by death, but now her two boys would have to leave the family and work for years and years for this creditor. Her sons had to be in slavery. Then she would have lost everything she had. She was therefore in great need. And she prayed to God. Obviously, she did. She was a godly woman. We can see that in her whole demeanor. And in her great need, she fled to the Lord. And to whom did she flee then? To Elisha. Because Elisha was the servant of the Lord. He was, as it were, the mediator between God and the people. So she came to Elisha. There was only one way open for her. There was a way that leads above, to God. And therefore, she goes to Elisha. Because congregation life can be difficult, there can be great distress. Sorrow can become too much for someone. There can be afflictions that press a person down. And they can be so severe that you only think about those difficulties. And then you rise in the morning, and you go to bed at night with those difficulties weighing upon you. And you're continually thinking about your distress. There can be problems in your family. or with the children. There can be sickness, problems at work, there can be financial distress, but in whatever circumstances there can be, a person can be in distress. But all these cares of daily life are not even the greatest concern, although we may feel them as a weight were resting upon us. The distress of our soul should weigh heaviest upon us, that we are sold under sin. This is the most urgent distress in our life. Have you seen that distress? By nature, we don't even see that. Your eyes have to be open to that reality, that we have lost God. In paradise, we lost that blessed communion with God. And we need to have that image of God restored in our life. Because the moment will come in our existence when God will ask us, where is my image? And then, if we have to say, well, I lost thy image in paradise, then the Lord will respond, didn't you know that I was willing to give you my image back again? in my son and if you do not reflect God's image then you will not be able to answer anything to God and that will be a most horrible experience that will lead to everlasting darkness having no in the way but not having walked upon that way And this congregation is our heaviest distress, that we need God's image back upon us. We need Christ not only for us, as a payment for sin, we need Christ in us, to renew us, to change us. And God's word is full of that. The apostle Paul, that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection. The apostle knew Christ, had seen Christ several times, but still he says that I may know him. He needs to know him more and more and more. And what David prays, I am poor and needy. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Unite my heart to fear thy name. That's an ongoing struggle in spiritual life to be renewed and changed after the image of God. And that's what God's Holy Spirit teaches us. How is it in your life? Do you reflect the image of God? You can tell by looking at your prayers. What do you pray about? About the crops? About a blessing? about your work, about being kept on the road? Or is your most fervent prayer, Lord, change me, renew me, for I am not who I should be? That's my distress. Although I don't always feel it, but this is my great need. I need to know Thee in my heart. I need to be renewed after Thine image. That's the purpose of my life. And that should weigh upon you and upon me. Well, when you are convicted of this need in your life, then you belong to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Then you need God. And you will see sin as your greatest distress, the defilement, the natural inclination to go against the Lord, to think about yourself, but not about God and His honor. And then the Lord Jesus becomes so precious to you, because there's deliverance in Him. And His name becomes so gloriously wonderful and lovely to you. Then you also cry out, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. And you cannot stop crying unto the Lord. It's your lifelong prayer. Because the need is so great. Well, this widow had also great need in her life. And so she ends up with Elisha, the servant of the Lord. And so she says, Thy servant, my husband, is dead. And thou knowest, Elisha, thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord. And now the creditor is come. to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. So what does this woman do? She lays in all simplicity her need before the Lord. And that's what we also may do. The Lord is not looking at beautiful formed sentences. The Lord is not looking at well-articulated words. Just come with your need in simple words. Explain your need before the Lord. That's what this woman did. She doesn't see a solution. She has no solution. She lays her impossibilities down before the Lord. From her side, there's no expectation. She can't help herself. She would have tried. She maybe took all kinds of side jobs and did whatever she could, but the situation only became worse. We don't know all the circumstances. But she cried out to Elisha. And that's how matters are in spiritual life as well. When the Lord shows you your great need, then you will also try to first improve yourself. You try to help yourself. That's what this widow would have probably done, but her debts only increased. And so your sins only increase. And you may become, instead of a of a person engulfed in unrighteousness, you now seek your refuge in self-righteousness. But it doesn't work. Because you need a better righteousness. And that's a righteousness the Lord Jesus gives. And so it becomes worse with you. And then you see that you cannot help yourself anymore. You're unstuck. And then you cry out to the Lord for mercy. Mercy. From my side, it's hopeless. Well, that's how it was with this widow. From her side, deliverance was impossible. But she had gone in the right direction. She went to Elisha. Elisha being something of a mediator between God and men, and so Elisha, you can see him here as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is the God-given mediator between God and man. He gives full salvation. And the Lord Jesus saves the soul that flees to him. He gave his blood as a full reconciliation. He gives the life-giving Holy Spirit. He alone can save from sin and deliver from the devil's slavery. Calling upon the Lord Jesus is a matter of faith. When you see no way out, you will call upon someone of whom you believe that he can help you. Well, this widow called upon the name of the Lord because she believed that he could help her just like centuries after that. Blind Bartimaeus called unto the Lord in the midst of the distress of his life. Or like the woman with the issue of blood had given all her possessions to doctors who couldn't help her, and then finally she fled to the Lord Jesus Christ. She called upon the name of the Lord. And that's what this widow is actually doing. In her distress, she flees to Elisha. And where does the distress and where do the hardships of our life bring us? Where does our greatest need bring us? Blessed when we see our need and bring our need continually before the Lord, that we see Him as our only refuge. That's faith. When you see the Lord as your only refuge. Sometimes the Lord can bring us into hardships in order to let us flee to Him. And the Lord can bring us into between a rock and a hard place, into impossibilities, so that you would be driven out to the Lord. And so she casts herself down before the Lord, and then Elisha asks her what she does have in her house. Well, the only thing she has is a little flask with oil. This little flask of oil was intended to anoint one's body. It was a hot country, it was needed that that could take place. It was very small, very insignificant. And then Elisha tells her, go, borrow the vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels, and borrow not a few. And the woman believes the word of Elisha and goes out and borrows pots and pans from all her neighbors, as many as she could get. They all had to be empty. It's a very strange request. It's quite something to tell a widow to fill her house with empty pots and pans. But this was a matter of faith, for God's ways are higher than our ways. By faith, this widow had to go out. and asked for these empty pots and pans. But she did this. She believed God. You should try to imagine what this must have been for this woman. She knocked on her closest neighbor's door and asked, Oh, please, neighbor, may I borrow some empty pots and pans from you? And please, as many as you can spare. And so she went from door to door. The people of the village where she lived must have been very surprised. What are you planning to do with all those empty pots and pans? Well, she couldn't answer. She didn't really know. What do you need this all for? Are you going to start a business? For sure she must have been assaulted. People around her must have tried to dissuade her. Neighbour, what are you doing? This won't help you. Her own heart within her must have been in tumult. But faith perseveres. Even if everything seems to go wrong, she holds on to God's Word. Because faith does not consider human possibilities, but faith focuses upon God's strength. And that's how things take place in spiritual life as well. When the soul goes out to Christ, then there are many voices who try to keep us away from Him. and they will tell us to try to improve ourselves, or they will tell us that we are not qualified to come to Christ. Then you could wonder if you would be one of the elect, and can I come to Christ? And if you would not be one of the elect, well, what's then the purpose of calling upon the name of the Lord? Or there are voices who tell you that your sins are too great, Or they will tell you, you don't really know your sins enough. You have to be downtrodden first by your sins, and you have to be at the brink of despair before you can really call upon the name of the Lord. Or others' voices may tell you, well, you've prayed so long, it never helped, so why would you continue to pray? And so there are all these voices who speak to you or come up from your own heart, and they try to resist that life of faith. But faith will be persistent. Faith looks at God's Word. Faith is looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of faith. And that's how it was with this widow as well. Then she had a whole house full of pots and pans. And Elisha told her, then told her something else. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and thou shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. Well, the woman did exactly what Elisha told her. She came into her house, and there she is, with a house full of pots and pans. They're all on her mud floor, where she must have lived. Her two sons are beside her. The door is shut, and she has in her hand a little flask with oil. That's all. She is there, alone, behind her closed door. She must be alone. This is private now. No snoopers allowed. And there she is in a house full of empty pots. She cannot even fill one pot with this little flask of oil, but she obeys by faith. And 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 so the first pot comes, and she has a flask of oil, and she pours it in and keeps on pouring and pouring and pouring and pouring and pouring, and that pot is filled from that little flask of oil. And she tells her older son to put that pot away carefully and the younger son give me another empty pot. And so she kept on filling pot after pot after pot. And when the widow pours out flask from her flask, pots and pans are all filled. And then she says to her sons, bring me yet a vessel. And her son told her, there's no vessel anymore. All the pots are filled. And then the oil stopped. There was nothing left. When there were no more empty pots or pans, the oil stopped. The flask was empty. As long as there were empty vessels, the oil kept running. She must have been overwhelmed by this miracle. While she was pouring, she must have wondered, how can this be? Maybe she tried to look into the pot, there's still some oil there, but she kept on, there's still oil there, kept on going and going. You may know the account of Corrie ten Boom. who was taken prisoner together with her sister Betsy in World War II and she was in the concentration camp Ravensbruck in Germany. And somehow she was able to smuggle into the camp with her a little Bible and also a flask of a little bottle with vitamin drops. And she wanted to keep those vitamin drops for her sister Betsy and herself And when they got their piece of bread, the dark bread, she put a few drops of vitamins on that piece of bread and on her own piece of bread and she wanted to, it was a small bottle, so she wanted to keep it for Betsy and herself. But then all those faces were looking at her and she couldn't resist. So then, all right, I'll give you all a few drops on your piece of bread of that vitamin bottle. And every day again, she did the same thing. And at times she would hold up her little bottle against that one light bulb hanging there in her barracks to see how much was in there, but she could never see it. And she just kept on giving every day again, giving drops of vitamins. Every day the little bottle kept on flowing until one day it stopped and then it was empty. And that was the day when they received vitamin pills from the Red Cross. And later on she wrote about it, how the Lord had repeated the miracle of the oil of the widow. And so the Lord cared for this widow. She received a rich blessing. All the empty pots are filled with that precious golden oil. And what does she do now? Does she say, ha, this is all mine? No. She knows it's not hers. She goes out of the house, closes the door, and goes back to Elisha, to the man of God, to tell him all what had happened. She didn't say, the oil is mine. No, she knows it was all God's grace. She doesn't even dare take it for herself. She has to tell Elisha, for this is God's gift. And now the man of God must tell her what she should do with this oil. She realizes she is fully dependent upon the Lord. And then Elisha answers her in verse 7. Go, sell the oil, pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest. So then this widow would go to the marketplace with those pots of oil and sell them. And she received so much money, she could pay off all her debts, and she still had enough left over to take care of herself and her sons in the future. The Lord had given her full deliverance. She had trusted upon the Lord, and the Lord had not put her to shame. And that's how things are in spiritual life as well. Those who are dependent upon the Lord, they cannot save themselves anymore. The Lord must intervene in their lives, and He is the God who hears, and the Holy Spirit applies Christ to your heart, and you embrace Him, and He becomes everything for you. You discover peace and sweetness and rest and love. It can be under the preaching of God's Word that it all opens up, and you see the King in His glory, or it can be when you're at home, and you're reading His Word, and the Lord comes over in your heart, in your quiet time, and you see something of the loving kindness of the Lord, then there's joy in Christ, then there's love and peace in your heart, And then the soul learns to close with Christ, to close the matter of my unworthiness and my unrighteousness. It's closed with and in Christ, because He is my redemption. He is my righteousness. He is my salvation. He is my all in all. And so, you become fully dependent upon Him. You rest upon Him. and you long to know more of Him." Well, what a beautiful account this is, congregation. And what we see here is a beautiful example of faith. Faith that looks to the Lord. Faith that hopes upon His Word. And faith says, I will hope upon the Lord. When I feel him and when I do not sense him, when I do not feel his nearness, I hope upon the Lord that is faith. Do you know this faith? In the midst of all your distress, do you exercise faith upon the Lord? The widow only had Elisha's word, but we have the word of God. She had to put all her reasoning aside and obey God's Word. And so we are called not to reason, but to rest upon God's Word. And maybe you see no change in your circumstances. Everything seems the same. That's how it initially was with this widow as well. But the Lord says in His words, Seek and you shall find. The Lord says in Psalm 50 verse 15, Does this mean that the Lord removes every burden? No, sometimes the Lord thinks it's better that we continue to bear a certain cross to keep us humble and lowly. But then the Lord is willing to give you grace and strength to bear this cross. And in the greatest distress of seeing that you are a sinner before God, He is willing to give redemption. It's His most delightful work. He will say to them, I am your salvation alone. And there's another practical lesson we can learn here from this narrative. Not just the lesson of faith that's not put to shame, but we see here also the lesson as long as there are empty vessels, the oil keeps on running. As long as there are empty vessels in our life, the Lord is willing to fill them. As long as we bring our needs before the Lord, The Lord is willing to give deliverance. But our problem is that we see so little of our need. We bring so few empty vessels to the Lord. Our misery is not that we see so much distress, but that we see so little distress. While in reality there is much distress in our life, we are blind for it. And that's why we don't bring that distress before the Lord. The Lord is willing to give so much, but we don't believe Him. And that's why we don't lay these needs before the Lord. It's a blessing to become an empty sinner, empty of ourselves, with no other hope or expectation than the Lord Jesus Christ. When you see yourself as an unqualified, guilty sinner, that's how the Lord wants to see you, pleading for mercy, for his grace. and that you may bring your empty vessels before the Lord. And the more you bring, the better it is. So many empty vessels. I need words to speak good of thee. I need love to thee and more love to thee. I need grace for grace from thy fullness. I need to have more insight in the Scriptures. I need wisdom how to deal with my children. I need love for my children and patience. I need strength and grace and all personal things of life. Empty vessels. And as long as there are empty vessels, the Lord is willing to fill them. And what we also see here is the abundance the Lord gives. The abundance. For this widow received so much, she could pay off all her debts and live with her sons from all that remained. And so the Lord cares in daily life. The Lord blesses those who fear Him. He's willing to take care of our daily needs. The Lord is a benevolent God. He is willing and able to give all you stand in need of. your special needs. He is willing even to give you the grace to see your needs. And when He has saved you from an empty life, and He has saved you from all your sins, He will also care for you in matters of daily life. And so you may trust Him also for the future. knowing he will never forsake the works of his hands, and that the Lord will prepare all his people for heaven, and then they may enter into the joy of the Lord, and the oil of joy will never cease there in heaven. Amen. Shall we sing Psalter 388, the stanzas 1, 2, and 3? you