Be Obedient
'One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha
and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he
feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two
sons as slaves.”
“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim!
“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.
“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.” 2 Kings 4:1-7 (NLT)
Even good people fall on hard times. What did the widow lose? She lost her husband, all of her earthly possession, her source of income and soon to be her sons and daughters! What did she have? Nothing. In the natural it appeared that she had lost it all. So she went to the prophet, knowing that God was kind and cared for her. He was her Solid Rock. To the world she had nothing but her sons to give. The world, at this point in her life, offered her misery, a life of loneliness and poverty and even her sons were about to be sold into slavery. Her husband, someone in the ministry, had left her with debts that needed to be paid. What was she going to do? Then she remembered the jar. Wait! I have one thing left. One jar of oil.
One jar of oil, which on the face of it, while in my current state of poverty, can't even be used for what it is intended. If that is all I have, that is all God needs. He sees my worth and finds value in me. He is willing and ready to take what I have to give Him and turn it into a huge blessing when I am obedient. He blesses me and uses my nothings to make room for His somethings. In contrast, if I have so much in the natural that I don't have any room for the spiritual, I am lacking the One most important thing. This is the place where I am tempted to forget about the eternal and to leave my jars on the shelf. Why get involved? When I become too comfortable, it becomes harder to be obedient, and disobedience always leads to a hardened heart and my discomfort.
At times I need to be called out of my comfort zone and be willing to use everything He has given to me. He blesses me so that I can bless others just as the widow did. Seeing that she was not the only one on her block with needs, she was obedient and followed the prophets instructions. Seeing the needs around her helped to take her mind off of her own problems and as her heart softened, her resolve grew. She had her mission and gave everything she had to it and with her one jar of oil she filled all the empty jars in her community!
She gave it all! She did not hold back. She did not understand how giving away the only thing she had left was going to change her situation for the better but she was still obedient. She did what she could and began to pour out the sacred oil. It didn't seem like much at first. What a small thing it was. How simple. Easy enough, but doable and a huge step of faith for God. In the end she became like a warrior in battle, crying out for more. Pouring and pouring. Oil flowing everywhere. More empty jars! Give me more! They kept it up, right up until the end. What a testimony.
She took a step of faith that day. She knew she had the one thing that God could use, and He did. She knew she had value and worth in His eyes and now He had given her a purpose. She shut the door to the naysayers and applied the oil with faith believing that He would do the rest.
Just like the widow, when I hear the call and am obedient, that is when I set my faith free and the Holy Spirit begins to act on my behalf and to overflow my empty jars. Even good people fall on hard times and God in all his glory, multiplies His Glory whenever and wherever the oil is applied. Only when the sons and daughters stopped bringing their empty jars of life to Him did the oil of the Holy Spirit stop flowing.
Just imagine it. After selling the oil, all of her debts were paid, and the widow and her sons lived off the excess for the rest of their lives! Praise God! I bet she did just that, every time she reached into that retirement money nest egg. So many spiritual principles were applied that day by the widow. Hard times bring opportunities for God to bless us when we seek His face and He reminds us what we still have. When we are obedient God provides! God provides! God provides!
“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim!
“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.
“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.” 2 Kings 4:1-7 (NLT)
Even good people fall on hard times. What did the widow lose? She lost her husband, all of her earthly possession, her source of income and soon to be her sons and daughters! What did she have? Nothing. In the natural it appeared that she had lost it all. So she went to the prophet, knowing that God was kind and cared for her. He was her Solid Rock. To the world she had nothing but her sons to give. The world, at this point in her life, offered her misery, a life of loneliness and poverty and even her sons were about to be sold into slavery. Her husband, someone in the ministry, had left her with debts that needed to be paid. What was she going to do? Then she remembered the jar. Wait! I have one thing left. One jar of oil.
One jar of oil, which on the face of it, while in my current state of poverty, can't even be used for what it is intended. If that is all I have, that is all God needs. He sees my worth and finds value in me. He is willing and ready to take what I have to give Him and turn it into a huge blessing when I am obedient. He blesses me and uses my nothings to make room for His somethings. In contrast, if I have so much in the natural that I don't have any room for the spiritual, I am lacking the One most important thing. This is the place where I am tempted to forget about the eternal and to leave my jars on the shelf. Why get involved? When I become too comfortable, it becomes harder to be obedient, and disobedience always leads to a hardened heart and my discomfort.
At times I need to be called out of my comfort zone and be willing to use everything He has given to me. He blesses me so that I can bless others just as the widow did. Seeing that she was not the only one on her block with needs, she was obedient and followed the prophets instructions. Seeing the needs around her helped to take her mind off of her own problems and as her heart softened, her resolve grew. She had her mission and gave everything she had to it and with her one jar of oil she filled all the empty jars in her community!
She gave it all! She did not hold back. She did not understand how giving away the only thing she had left was going to change her situation for the better but she was still obedient. She did what she could and began to pour out the sacred oil. It didn't seem like much at first. What a small thing it was. How simple. Easy enough, but doable and a huge step of faith for God. In the end she became like a warrior in battle, crying out for more. Pouring and pouring. Oil flowing everywhere. More empty jars! Give me more! They kept it up, right up until the end. What a testimony.
She took a step of faith that day. She knew she had the one thing that God could use, and He did. She knew she had value and worth in His eyes and now He had given her a purpose. She shut the door to the naysayers and applied the oil with faith believing that He would do the rest.
Just like the widow, when I hear the call and am obedient, that is when I set my faith free and the Holy Spirit begins to act on my behalf and to overflow my empty jars. Even good people fall on hard times and God in all his glory, multiplies His Glory whenever and wherever the oil is applied. Only when the sons and daughters stopped bringing their empty jars of life to Him did the oil of the Holy Spirit stop flowing.
Just imagine it. After selling the oil, all of her debts were paid, and the widow and her sons lived off the excess for the rest of their lives! Praise God! I bet she did just that, every time she reached into that retirement money nest egg. So many spiritual principles were applied that day by the widow. Hard times bring opportunities for God to bless us when we seek His face and He reminds us what we still have. When we are obedient God provides! God provides! God provides!
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