The touching account in our chapter of a poor widow who could not pay her debt is very sweet and precious. God never loses sight of the individual. He knows all about us and He delights to have us call upon Him in time of need. In this connection we could take the poor widow here as a picture of a Christian mother who cries to the Lord on behalf of her children. She feels her own utter helplessness, perhaps having no husband to help, and with sorrow of heart she sees her children being led away in the paths of sin. The widow in our chapter had had a husband who feared the Lord and she called upon the Lord to come in and answer the desire of both their hearts for their children. This is very lovely, for the Lord delights to have Christian parents claim the promise, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31). He does not want our children to be turned aside into the world. He wants them to be saved, but we may be sure they are the special target of the enemy’s attack. He wants to break up every Christian home and ruin its testimony. May we who are parents be in real earnest on behalf of our families.
Notice here that the widow had a great debt, and it was because this debt was not paid that the creditor was about to take her two sons into slavery. Surely this reminds us of our great debt of sin — a debt we could never pay, nor could we set ourselves free from the power of sin. Yes, we were in slavery. What a hopeless condition we were in, and indeed, if the one who reads these lines is unsaved, you are in this position right now. Are you concerned about it, as this widow was? Do you feel the solemnity of your position with judgment hanging over you? Cry to God right now, asking Him to meet you in your need, just as this woman called upon Elisha, the prophet of the Lord.
Elisha then asked her two questions. He asked her what she would like hire to do for her and also what she had in her house. How searching are these two questions for those of us who are parents! What is our greatest desire for our children? Is it for worldly success? Is it to see our children stand first in their classes and get high positions in the world? It was not so with this woman, but rather that the debt might be paid and that her two sons might be delivered from slavery. Then in reply to the prophet’s second question as to what, she had in her house, she could say, “Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil.”
Oil in Scripture is a well-known figure of the Holy Spirit, and it would remind us here of that verse, “And take... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Eph. 6:1717And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:17). What an important thing to have the Bible in our homes and to read it; and yet how often it is neglected. We do not fully realize what a treasure the Bible is, just as this woman did not realize what a treasure she had in that pot of oil. Alas, there are many who have a Bible in their homes, but they have never learned from its blessed pages the wonderful truth of redemption. They have never learned how the Lord Jesus paid sin’s debt on the cross, when in those three hours of darkness He bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)). Yes, the Lord Jesus exhausted all the judgment for all who believe — blessed Saviour!
ML 12/02/1956