ALL SHE HAD . . .

2Kings 4:1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves." 

 2Kings 4:2 So Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil." 

 2Kings 4:3 Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors--empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 

 2Kings 4:4 "And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones." 

 2Kings 4:5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought [the vessels] to her; and she poured [it] out. 

 2Kings 4:6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "[There is] not another vessel." So the oil ceased. 

 2Kings 4:7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you [and] your sons live on the rest." 

This woman was down to her last dime.  She had nothing except a lot of debt and she was about to lose her children.  As a mom, my heart breaks for this woman.  Her husband was in ministry and served the Lord.  Now, not only was he gone but her children would soon be gone also.  No wonder she cried out.  And her cries were heard!  Elisha tells her to gather a bunch of vessels.  It is not recorded whether or not she asked “why”.  She just did as Elisha told her.  After gathering all the vessels they could, she started pouring oil.  I wonder what she was thinking when she filled one jar, then two jars and the oil was still flowing out of the one jar that she had.  I think I would have stopped and taken a peek inside that jar! No record of what she did except that she kept pouring until she ran out of vessels.  Once she was done, she told the prophet. Then Elisha gave her step 2 – sell the oil.  It seems that he did not give her all the instructions at the beginning.  He gave her one step at a time.  As she completed that step, he gave her the next step.  And she was blessed with enough money to pay her debt, keep her children and have enough left over to support themselves in the future.

There are many times that I cry out.  And God hears my cry and gives me that first step.  Sometimes I don’t understand that first step and God has to give it to me again and again.  Other times I want to know all the instructions up front.  Maybe I can skip a couple of steps and get things done quicker.  But God is not concerned with how fast we complete the process but that the process is completed in us. 

This woman had faith and she relied on that faith.  I can learn a lot from this woman.  To have the faith to know that when I cry out, that God hears me.  Not only does He hear me, but He also answers me.  His answer puts me on the right path, one step at a time.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture verses are from the New King James Version of the Bible.