#80. The Lord Pays and Provides
Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
II Kings 4:7
While there are many trials in life we must bear, there are also events in our lives that seem too good to be true. I still look back with amazement on my engagement that my now wife said “yes” to marrying me. I often reflect on the way the Lord has afforded protection to my family even during times of great loss. As I sit here writing, I marvel that the Lord would show such kindness to this wretched sinner for so many years. And what greater mercy in all of life that the Lord not only paid the debt and penalty for my sins but also gave me eternal life. What wondrous love is this?
The widow just witnessed a great miracle of the Lord alone in her home with her two sons. Her one last jar of oil filled countless vessels of oil. That which was of very limited value was used by God to create a quantity of oil of great value. It was such a great miracle that she did not know what to do, so she went back to Elisha to tell him. Elisha instructed her to use this miraculous kindness of God for her own provision: Sell the oil, pay the debt, and live with your sons on the rest of the proceeds.
We were introduced to this widow as she faced a major problem: Her sons would be taken into slavery. The reason for the problem was the debt her family owed. With this overwhelming burden before her, how could she have imagined being released from her debt, much less how she would support herself and her children if her debt were paid. And here is what the Lord did: He gave her an abundance of oil so that the debt might be paid in full. But He also gave her more than enough to pay the debt. He gave her enough to live with her sons without fear of poverty or starvation.
How can we think about this verse without considering the gifts of the Lord in the greatest mercy of all, the sending of His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and rise from the dead on the third day? What happened with that greatest of events in history? Jesus Christ paid my debt. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree…’)”. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin…” (II Cor. 5:21).
The payment of debt is a major part of the accounts of the widow and the work of Christ. But we must remember, the proceeds from the oil did not only pay the family’s debt, and the life, death, and resurrection of Christ did not only pay the debt and curse of my sin. It also gave life! “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish…” (John 10:28). “These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:13).*
When you remember the widow in Israel in the days of Elisha, remember her for her exemplary faith in the Lord; and remember that the Lord not only miraculously provided the payment for her family’s debt but also provided for the substance of her family’s life. Remember that when Jesus died on the cross for you and justified you, He not only paid the debt and pardoned all of our sins but He also gave eternal life. To God be all praise and glory!
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*Christians often define Justification as Christ pardoning our sins by paying our debt, even suffering the wrath of God and dying in our place. That is true. However, it is important to remember, that the payment of debt alone did not make us righteous and is not all there is to justification. God also gave us eternal life by imputing the righteousness of Christ to us. If we limit our thinking on justification to pardon and payment we are missing the full gift that has been given to us and we are missing the full work that Christ did for us in His life, death, and resurrection. Let us commit to memory that “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone” (Westminster Shorter Catechism A. 33).
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