(2 Kings 4:2 NIV)
.
I was sitting in my makeshift office one day lamenting over my financial state. After being laid off from a job I held for eight years, I had decided to go into business. My office is in one corner of the basement of my childhood home behind a folding screen. I have a laptop I bought on an installment plan, a borrowed monitor, a smattering of office supplies, framed pictures, and a cookie jar. I also have a cork bulletin board; it was a treasured find. Several notices are stuck to that board with thumb tacks, but one item stands out. It is an orange butterfly made from sheer ribbon and glitter.
I am convinced that everyone has a small jar of olive oil somewhere, even if they have to do a little work to find it. This idea came to me while reading about the account of a widow and her olive oil (2 Kings 4:1-7). Her husband died leaving an unpaid debt. The creditor was on the way to take her two sons as payment.
Can you imagine the scene and her deep despair? At the same time she is grieving her husband's death, she is also dealing with the emotional turmoil of his debt and the impending seizure of her children. She cried out to the prophet Elisha for help. I believe she had seen him before because her husband stayed within the company of prophets.
Elisha wanted to help her, but he needed something to work with her to help her build her trust in God.
"How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" He asked.
"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a small jar of olive oil."
"Never underestimate the power of something because of its size!" I reminded myself.
Elisha put her to work. He told her to go around her neighborhood and ask for empty vessels. He told her to get as many as she could. He gave her instructions to take every vessel, go behind closed doors with her sons, and pour the contents of the small jar of olive oil into each empty vessel.
I can imagine that she had vessels of all sizes, but I wonder how she reacted when she began to pour into the first one. I can imagine her as she cried, laughed, and danced as she poured and poured and poured. When they filled the last vessel, the flow of the oil stopped.
Elisha told her, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."
I may have a scrap of an office in a corner of my mother's home and my income may be low, but God has kept me. Every time I reach for a vessel, the oil flows. God continues to grant me favor in business, and although my client list is small, I pour into each one with all that I have. And, you know what? Month after month, the size and quantity of those vessels increases.
You may be going through a desert place on your journey. You may feel like an empty vessel. I pour into you to remind you that God has given you at least a little olive oil. Seek it with passion; find empty vessels and pour until every vessel is filled. God will take care of the rest.
He finishes everything well.
© Robyn F. Johnson & Heartlight Inc.
Robyn F. Johnson grew up between Baltimore, Maryland and York, Pennsylvania. The daughter of a pastor and an administrative assistant, Robyn was always surrounded by sermons and letters. She is an author, speaker and freelance writer determined to use her writing to open eyes to spiritual truths and win hearts to Jesus.
View the full article
