Despair, the Seed of Hope
(2 Kings 4:1-7)

People of the world look at only despair and become frustrated. However people of faith look at hope in the midst of despair and move forward with faith. No matter how hard situation approaches you, we must not be frustrated nor give up life. We should challenge with the faith of absolute positivity.

1. The desperate situation of the woman (2 Kings 4:1)
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets came and cried out to Elisha. The woman’s husband already passed away. And his creditor came to her, threatening her that they would take her two boys as his slaves unless she did not pay the debt. She was facing a desperate situation. Without experiencing the pain of poverty, none can understand this hardship. Innumerable people around the world as well as in Korea are suffering due to economic difficulty. Poverty and curse are not the will of God. As effects of sin, these came to humans.

2. The hope left for her (2 Kings 4:2)
Hearing the desperate situation of the woman, Elisha asked her what she had. Then she said that all that remained at home was only a little oil. Faith makes you see the possible out of the impossible. It is seeing things that are not as if they were. God is looking for a man of faith. What is needed for us today is the faith of absolute positivity. We should not fix our eyes on the problems but on the Lord. Holding on to the word of promise, we should proceed with the faith of absolute positivity.

3. The circumstance in which God works (2 Kings 4:3-7)
Elisha told her to go around and ask all her neighbors for empty jars. He also told her to borrow as many jars as possible, shut the door, and pour oil into all the jars. Here Elisha is demanding the faith of absolute positivity from her. Although she had just a jar of oil, she was supposed to borrow jars from all her neighbors and pour oil into them. From human perspective, this is beyond understanding. However the woman obeyed the words of the Prophet Elisha without question. Faith begets obedience. God answers his children with obedient faith and blesses them. When the woman obeyed like this, miraculously the oil stopped flowing after she filled all the borrowed jars. As in this case, when we obey with faith, God does solve all our problems.

Despair can be the seed of hope in God. God’s blessings will be given to us according to the measure of our faith. I bless you and pray that you will become a man of great faith when despair comes to you, and that you will experience miracles and have your problems solved through obedience with faith of absolute positivity.