What Do You Have?

One of the wives of the sons of he prophets cried out to Elisha, "your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared The Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves,"

Elisha asked her, "what can I do for you? Tell me what do you have in the house?" 

She said, "your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil."

Then he said, "go and borrow empty containers from everyone- from all your neighbours. Do not get just a few. Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full to one side." So she left.

Then after she had shut the door behind her and her sons they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring. When they were full, she said to her son, "bring another container."

But he replied, "there aren't any more." Then the oil stopped.

She went and told the man of God, he said, "go and sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest." 2 Kings 4:1-7

God had instituted a system where family became involved and helped widows. During times of apostasy these family mores were overlooked and harsh selfishness prevailed. The woman in this story had a husband who had followed The Lord and been his servant yet he had debts and had made no provision for his demise. Even so his wife knew what to do. She went to Elisha, the man of God and asked for help and God provided, miraculously.

We live in a time of apostasy. Families do not take in relatives or care for their elderly well, being too consumed with their own lives. I am grateful that my family does this well. My elderly mother and I live with a brother and his wife in a large house. We co-habit well together. The family dynamic functions well if allowed.

In the story above Elisha asks what he can do and then has a thought. He finds out what the woman has. She only has a jar of oil. He uses what she has. 

God asks us, "what do you have?" We all have something and all He asks is that we use what we have and He will take it and multiply it to be a source of blessing. We do not need to fear, He had a plan. Amen!