I was reading II Kings 4 and it occurred to me that there was a bit more to it than a miracle. Will try to unpack it as much as I can in a 4 part series.
“One day the wife of one of the seminary students came to Elisha to tell him of her husband’s death. He was a man who loved God, she said. But he had owed some money when he died, now the creditor was demanding it back. If she didn’t pay, he said he would have her two sons as his slaves” – II Kings 4:1 (LB)
Some of the things I picked out –
🔳The now-deceased husband was educated (seminary student) but that didn’t mean he had the appropriate financial education. That you understand Bible/ financial modelling doesn’t mean you know how to manage your money.
🔳It’s good to follow and worship God but that may not necessarily remove you from the consequences of a lack of financial education or bad financial decisions.
🔳It appears he carried his wife along in his financial decisions given she was aware of the debt. Which is a good one. But could she have signed off on it, knowing those terms?
🔳He signed off on a loan agreement but did he even recognise/understand the terms that were in the fine prints.
The overarching lesson to me was this – Life happens and those you leave behind would have to deal with the consequences. So as much as possible try have things tidied up.