November 28, 2023

II Kings 4: 1-7 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “. . . my husband is dead . . . and he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha replied . . . “How can I help you? . . . what do you have in your house?” “. . . nothing at all,” she said, “except a little oil.” . . . “Go . . . ask all your neighbors for empty jars. . . . Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” . . . When all the jars were full . . . Then the oil stopped flowing. . . . “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your son can live on what is left.” (NIV)

God is the God of limitless resources who can provide incredibly for us when we are in need.*

How many of you hate to ask for help? . . . Show of hands . . . For some of you it’s a cultural thing – we Americans are pretty independent (since 1776, as a matter of fact!). For some, it’s a bit of a personality disorder: I don’t need nobody for nothin’. For anyone: is there a scriptural reason why we shouldn’t ask others to lend us a hand?

This story about Elisha and a widow down-on-her-luck resonates with me right now. My husband recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. This woman was probably a lot younger than I am – she has two “boys” so I’m assuming they are still children – but had very few resources. A little oil. I don’t know what kind of oil we’re talking about – cooking? heating? light? – but it wasn’t enough for her and her sons to survive on. Until she asked for help. She shared her problem with a man of God – always a good place to start – and God used him to bless her.

Notice that Elisha didn’t just swoop in and solve her problems for her. He was a prophet, not a knight in shining armor. He empowered her to help herself by introducing her to another resource: her neighbors. She was instructed to ask all her neighbors for empty jars. We don’t know if she got around to all of them; or if all of them had empty jars to donate; or even how many neighbors she had; but she came home with jars and filled them with oil until she ran out of jars. Do you imagine that she thought then of the neighbors she didn’t want to bother? If only I had asked for more jars!

Maybe we, too, limit our blessings: by being afraid to speak up; by not putting out enough containers; by not having enough faith in God’s provision. Perhaps we underestimate the resources that are available to us. The widow had neighbors. Do you have family? friends? fellow church-members? Will you allow them to help? Are you a good steward of what you do have? Are you willing to trust in God’s provision? Are you prepared to receive God’s blessings? Never forget that he is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask – or imagine! (Ephesians 3: 20)

God used what the woman gave him and did more with it than she could have done alone.*