II Kings 4  The Lord works through Elisha to perform 4 miracles.

1 - A widow, whose husband had been one of the faithful prophets, was in dire trouble.  A debt was owed and she had nothing to pay it with, so her 2 children would be taken as slaves.  Elisha asks her if she has anything at all... and she has one jar of oil. The prophet tells her to borrow as many vessels as she can, go into her house, shut the door, and begin filling the vessels.  They obey and they fill enough vessels from her one little jar that she can pay her debt and have enough to live on.

This miracle is similar to the time that Elijah had helped the widow and her son, where the grain was multiplied until the famine was over.  It is also similar to the time when Jesus took the few loaves and fishes and multiplied those to feed over 5000.

2 - Elisha would pass by a certain house quite frequently.  The woman of the house would always invite him in for a meal.  Eventually, she and her husband built a room for him to stay in whenever he passed that way, which must have been frequently.  Elisha wanted to repay her kindness , but she asked for nothing. However, Gehazi, Elisha's servant, noticed that the woman had no son and the husband was old.  There would be no one to care for her if her husband died. So, Elisha blessed her and said she would have a child.  And she did.

3- When the child was "grown" - but still young enough for her to hold him on her lap - he became sick and died. The woman went immediately to Elisha at Mount Carmel.  She wouldn't tell him what was wrong until she was close enough to take hold of his feet.  Elisha sent Gahazi to lay his staff on the child as quickly as possible and he and the woman came after him.  Gahazi was unable to revive the boy, so Elisha went in and prayed.  He laid upon the boy and breathed into him.  He paced,, he prayed and he laid on him again. Then finally the boy sneezed 7 times and opened his eyes.

This is similar to a time when Elijah raised a child from the dead also. His mother was the widow who had been helped with grain that was multiplied.

4 - Elisha goes to Gilgal, where one of the schools of the prophets was kept.  There was a famine there and the people had nothing. When Elisha tells them to make a stew they found some wild gourds to use.  It turned out that these were poisonous gourds.  Elisha had them throw in some meal, and then it was good.  Meanwhile another man sent 20 loaves of barley bread to Elisha from another place.  Elisha instructed them to feed the people with it.  Those 20 loaves multiplied enough to feed over 100 men and have some left over.

Again, these miracles remind us of the miracles of Elijah and fore-shadow the miracles of Christ.

Perhaps these miracles are recorded for us so that we can see a pattern of how God works, for this is truth:

God takes what little we have, and when we give it to Him - He multiplies it to meet our deepest needs. 

When we show kindness to His servants...He will reward us.   "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward." ( Matthew 10:41-42)

God cares deeply for widows and children.   James wrote, " This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."  Deuteronomy 14:29 "...the alien, the orphan, and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do."  And Psalm 146:9 says " The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow; Be He thwarts the way of the wicked. "   This is definitely God's will for us - Isaiah writes, " Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan, plead for the widow. " ( Isaiah 1:16-17)

The Lord holds our lives in His hands; He holds life itself in His hands.  Elijah and Elisha understood that.  They knew that prayer is heard and answered by our God Who can do anything!  There is nothing that is impossible for Him.  Jesus showed us this truth in every miracle He did and every Word that He spoke.

Father in heaven,  grant to us the faith to believe and to act according to that faith.  May we give You all that we have and trust You to provide for our needs.  May we show kindness and compassion to those that You send forth to serve.  May we care for those who have great need, the widow, the fatherless, and the foreigner.  May we know that You are God and may we by faith pray for the impossible to be done for Your glory and honor. Amen