Now the wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves. Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value] in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said, Go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels - and not a few. And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full. So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil. When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying. Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.
2 Kings 4:1-7 AMP
- The prophet that was dead feared the Lord. This means he was a good man who worshiped the Lord and sought the Lord. Yet, he had debt. We know that debt is a bottomless pit. No matter how much income you have, your debt will continually drain it. His debt, however, did not nullify the fact that he loved the Lord and served Him faithfully. Obviously, Elisha agreed that he was a man that feared the Lord.
So, you may have debt. I would suggest you do what you can to get rid of it. You do not want to put more stress on your family than is necessary. Besides, you are supposed to be the lender not the borrower. You are the head and not the tail. You are blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. Yet, don't let your debt tell you that you don't love the Lord!
- The provision this widow and her sons needed was in their house. It was a common, staple item in any household. In the hands of the Lord, this common item became a lifetime of provision, and she already had what she needed to see this provisional miracle take place in her life.
The miracle you are looking for may already be in your house. Maybe it's a common item or physical thing. Maybe it's a talent or a gift you have. It may be that very thing that you keep trying to suppress or get rid of. It may be hidden and just needs to be uncovered. It may be lost but just needs to be found. Maybe you forgot about it years ago because you never thought it would happen, but now is the time.
- When Elisha asked her what she had in the house, she said she only had a jar of oil. This means either they were dirt poor, or she had already sold everything else off trying to rid herself of this debt. I'm thinking they were not likely dirt poor. I imagine she had done everything that she possibly could think of to try to pay this debt including selling everything of any value she had.
Listen, you may have done everything you could possibly think of to take care of your situation or circumstance. You may have done all you know to do, but it just wasn't enough. I'm telling you, when you get to the end of everything you have and everything you can do, you are in the right place for God to do a miracle in your life! There are certain instances and situations that no matter what you do it's just not going to change the situation. God's just waiting on you to let Him show you what He's got!
- The oil in this passage represents 2 things: the concrete blessings (provision) of the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, I believe that this passage contains such a broad range of pertinence. It can deal with individuals or it can do with a body of believers. It can deal with financial provision or spiritual provision. It can relate very well to ministers in their task of ministering the Gospel to empty "vessels" who need the Spirit.
I could go on and on, but I will continue tomorrow.
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