On 2 Kings, chap. 4:1-37. by H. P. barker.

I wish to speak to young Christians this evening, as well as to older ones, and to show, first, the wonderful grace of God to the needy, and then the way to make some returns for the grace which has been received ; for it is of no use to speak of serving the Lord or showing gratitude for His benefits until we have first tasted of His wonderful grace.

Now in the opening of this chapter we have the incident of the destitute woman, with only a pot of oil. She has had four most unwelcome visitors come to her house. First, Death knocked at her door and laid hold of her husband, taking him out of the land of the living and crushing her heart.

Then came Debt. The poor woman got up to her eyes in debt; so much so that her creditor came to press his claims, and would have carried off her sons to sell them to settle his claims.

Another visitor was Destitution, for she had parted with all, and had nothing left but a solitary pot of oil. Poor soul ! Death, Debt, Destitution ! And now another, Despair, followed quickly on the heels of the others. She was at " Wits' End Corner," as we say. What a subject for grace to deal with! How empty, how helpless, how hopeless she was. It is to such an one God delights to show the riches of His grace. But see what Elisha, the man of God, did. Oh, the munificence of grace ! Finding that the woman had this little pot of oil, he" bade her go and borrow of her neighbors all the vessels she could-pots, pans, basins-both large and small ; all empty vessels, everything she could procure that would hold oil.

She sent her sons after them, and they brought the vessels to her. She kept on pouring and pouring out of the little pot, until all of the vessels were filled. " Bring another vessel," she cries; but there is not another to be had. Then the oil stayed. Not that God set any limit -the only limit was the capacity to receive the blessing. And Elisha said, " Go, sell the oil, pay thy debt, and then live of the rest." This is what the grace of God has done for us who believe in the Lord Jesus. First of all, God cancels all our indebtedness, points us right to Calvary, and says to us, " There your debt was paid." He has provided for the full payment of our whole debt. Not only that, but as says that little couplet,

" Tis not enough to help the fallen,
But to support him after."

That's what Christ has done. He not only gets hold of us, but raises us up from the dunghill and seats us among princes ; not only cancels all our debt, setting us free from the crushing load, but gives us a sufficiency for the rest of our lives.

Now we come to the second incident of the chapter, telling how we may make response to God and extol Him for His wonderful grace. There is only one way to show your gratitude to God, and that is by the obedience and service of love to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice, first of all, that this Shunammite woman gets a wonderful impression of Elisha, the one through whom all the blessing is to come to her. She welcomes him. We read, " She constrained him to eat bread … as he passed." I think that Elisha here, as elsewhere, is a picture of the Lord Jesus. Now, if you want to show your gratitude to God for all His grace, the first way to do it is this :to appreciate the Lord Jesus.

There is nothing too wonderful for God to do or to give one who appreciates the Lord Jesus Christ. What God looks for in your heart above everything else is not only to appreciate the grace, but the precious One, our Saviour, Jesus, who has brought it down to us. He loves to be constrained. The margin of your Bible gives the right thought (equivalent to the Hebrew original) which says, " She laid hold of him "-she would not take " No," for an answer, as we say. The Lord Jesus loves to be " laid hold of " like that. It reminds one of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, to their home in the country village :" He made as though He would go further." But they " constrained Him to abide with them," Does He not say, " If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me ? '"

Now, as Elisha turns in and eats bread in this woman's house, she says to her husband, " I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually." She '' perceived." Oh, that we had eyes to perceive the blessed Lord Jesus as He passes by. I often find people who study the Scriptures in a rather critical spirit, seeking for the minutest details. But, remember, if a telescope is given you, it is not only to look at it, but by it at the wonderful things it reveals. If God has given us a telescope to view the heavens, let us not stop at the mechanism, marvelous as it is, but view Himself. The Scriptures are both telescope and microscope through which God is revealed, where we learn His glories, and get acquainted with His glorious perfections. We may collate every word of Scripture, memorize every word, study it in Greek, English and Hebrew-all very useful in order to see every little jot and tittle-but we must find the substance of it all ; it bears testimony to Jesus. Unless your soul grows in the knowledge of the blessed Saviour through your Bible-study, it has missed its object. God help us then to learn of Him, and be more conversant with Him through our studies.

Now this woman asked her husband to make a little chamber on the wall for Elisha, the man of God; so she prepared a chamber for Elisha, to have his company continually. And, dear young Christians, if our lives are to be blessed with the company of the One who redeemed us, we must prepare for His company, and that not in a haphazard fashion. We must let ourselves out into it. It will mean sacrifice of time, of pleasures, of ambitions. Let us have purpose of heart to follow the Lord; for it is those that seek who shall find, and it is only " the diligent soul that shall be made fat."

And how are we to prepare ? What does this little chamber speak to us of ? Every item of furniture speaks of something. First, it was built " upon the wall." Do you have communion with the Lord Jesus in the secret of your heart ? Your chamber must be built on the wall. What does the wall speak of in Scripture? It is that which shuts out what does not belong inside, and shuts in all that belongs there. While it stands for separation from the world and its crooked ways-from all that is not of God, from the godless and Christless-it shuts us in with the blessed Lord Jesus. You cannot have a companion of the world and of Christ in your little chamber on the wall. May not this explain why it is so many Christians keep on such a low level ?

In a certain museum, just inside the door, is a little glass case in which hangs a plain steel key. It lies not at the bottom of the case, nor is it suspended from the top but it hangs as if suspended in space. You look and wonder why it does not fall. That is just the point- why does it not ? If you stoop down and look, you discover at the top of the case a magnet, which draws the key towards itself. But on close observation you see a hair holding the key to the bottom. The magnet pulls the key upward to itself, but something holds it down. Now, you and I are the key. This world is the glass case. Up there a powerful magnet draws our souls upward to Himself who is going to have us soon-all who are His own-to be with Him forever. Meanwhile something hinders, something is holding us back, something like the thread pulls us down to this world. You know what it is that is holding you down. It may be some thing innocent in itself, but holding you down and keeping the Magnet from having His full power with you. It may be some earthly ambition ; it may be a little love of money ; it may be hidden sins, something or other, that is holding you down. May God break that thread or hair, whatever it is, that is holding you ; may it be snapped to-night. I sometimes wish for an after-meeting -not so much after a gospel meeting as after a meeting like this-when we all may get down on our faces before God, asking Him to show us what it is that is holding us down-what it is that hinders the freshness, the joy and power of the Holy Spirit among the people of God.

Coming back to our little chamber :there is in it a bed. I think it speaks of restfulness, the very opposite of worry. If, in your little chamber, there is a load of worry about things, I do not think the communion and company of the Lord can be much enjoyed. Turn away from the bustle of this world to be alone in that quiet chamber with Him. Oh, for these times of quiet communion with God :

" Rest and holiness there find,
Fashioned like my Saviour's mind."

Then there was the table, which speaks of communion and restoration-both sides of communion. The stool, 1 think, means restfulness through the day, as the bed speaks of restfulness during the night. We cannot always be shut in quiet communion with the Lord. We go out into the busy world. Even there we can carry with us the atmosphere of the sweet retreat while engaged in our service, as the little hymn says :

" Go forth and serve Him while 'tis day,
Nor leave our sweet retreat."

Lastly, a candlestick is in the chamber on the wall-a light of testimony, seen by others and bringing fruit to God. May God help us thus to shine. As this woman prepared for Elisha this little chamber, so will the Lord Jesus come where there is a prepared heart and where there is a desire for His company.

Elisha is not going to leave all this kindness unrewarded. He sends Gehazi to call the woman, and asks her what he shall do for her. She seems satisfied simply to " dwell among her own people ; " but God gives her a son in answer to Elisha's request ; and the mother's affections become enwrapped about this child, her only child, the darling of her heart. The boy goes out with his father in the field ; he is suddenly stricken with pain, and is carried home to his mother, who watches the little life ebb away. Poor heart, what will she do ? Immediately her thoughts turn to the man of God. It appears that Elisha was far away, and the question arises :Why was he not in the little chamber just when he was most needed ? Had she become so wrapped up in her boy that she had forgotten the man of God ?-so wrapped up in the gift and forgetting the one through whom the gift came ?-taken up with the blessing, and forgetting the Blesser ? Sometimes it is like that.
I take this as the reason for a great many of God's wise dealings with us, mysterious as they may seem. He sees that we are wrapped up with our blessings, and takes them away so that our hearts may turn afresh to Himself, the Giver. Well, this woman wants to go to Elisha, and her husband, a strange sort of man, who can understand religion on the Sabbath day, but cannot understand it on any other day, says :" It is neither new moon nor Sabbath." All she answers is, " It shall be well "-but not a word about her trouble. God help us to be more like this woman-able to speak and sympathize with others in their troubles, and say nothing about our own !

She goes straight to Elisha. Elisha asks, " Is it well with thy husband ? Is it well with the child ? " and she answered, "It is well." May God enable us to say, whatever trial comes knocking at our door, " It is well." He soon finds out, however, that the son God had given her was dead, and tells Gehazi to take his staff and lay it on the face of the child ; but she cleaves to the master -not to the servant. He alone is competent for her deep trouble, and she cleaves to him. So she says, "As Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." She had gotten back to the source of blessing again.

My dear young brother and sister, your great business is thus to cleave to your Lord. Someone says, " I thought He held on to me." We are not talking about that side of it now. A good man will always exhort you to cleave to the Lord, and tell you also that He will cleave to you. Barnabas rejoiced when he saw the grace of God to the Gentile believers, and exhorted them with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord. We must not be one-sided. While it is true that the Lord holds on to us. we are to cleave to the Lord and not turn aside to any other.

Elisha arose and followed the woman, whilst Gehazi applies the staff in vain. When Elisha was come into the house, behold, the dead child was laid upon his bed. Having shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord, Elisha lay upon the child ; put his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, his hands upon his hands, and stretched himself upon the child. He identifies himself with the dead. That is what our Saviour did for you and me.

And I have often thought that it is a wonderful lesson for Sunday School teachers. Have you, Sunday by Sunday, sought to identify yourself with your scholars so as to plead for them with God ? You want to see these children born again. You want not only to interest them-in Bible stories, learning verses, and singing hymns, but you want to see them saved. Well, then, prayerfully and earnestly identify yourself with the children you teach. Just laying the staff on the face of the child will not answer the need. Aim at these dear children being born again, and be at the Saviour's feet for the children entrusted to you.

God help us when we come to God with our petitions, to do so with the sense of the great glory of Him in our souls. We are connected with Christ as those for whom He has wrought the wonders of His grace. As such, we may indeed expect God to hear our petitions and grant our prayers.