So she left. 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 me another container.”
But he replied, “There aren’t any more.”  Then the oil stopped.
She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest.”     2 Kings 4:5-7 HCSB

This is the historical account of a woman who was the widow of a prophet. Back in those days if the husband died owing debt, it was the responsibility of the sons to pay the debt. If they could not pay the debt, they would be taken into slavery. This widow comes to the prophet Elisha and tells him that her husband, a God-fearing man, has died. Now his creditor is coming to take her two sons into slavery. Elisha asked what she had in her house and found that she had a jar of oil. He told her to go and borrow empty containers from all of her neighbors and pour oil into each of these containers and set the full ones aside. This brings us to our Scripture passage for today. She had one jar of oil. But note that it says that her sons kept bringing containers and she kept pouring oil into them and filling them until she ran out of containers. She had so much oil that she had enough to sell and cover her debt and also enough for her and her sons to live on. Wow!

This woman found herself in an impossible situation. See, in those days a widow without a son had no one to care for her and also had no one to be her heir. This was considered a tragedy. She had two sons, but both were about to be taken away to pay their debts. But there were two things this woman had that could not be taken away, faith and obedience. She went to Elisha because she believed that God had a plan and this prophet, Elisha, would be the one to give her that plan. When Elisha told her what to do, she didn’t look at him and say, “That will never work” Or “Why on earth would I do that?” Or “That sounds like a ridiculous plan.” Or “I don’t want to trouble my neighbors.” No, she obeyed. She did as Elisha told her to do.

I love the explanation given in my Ryrie study Bible. It says that God’s supply was as large as this woman’s faith and obedience. What about you? Are you asking for God to supply great things, but giving him very little faith and obedience in return? Are you letting your fear overtake your faith?

I looked back to a blog I wrote back in September 2017 I titled, Trust and Obey. I remembered that this was when I was going through some very difficult times. I was struggling and there would be struggles coming that I knew nothing about at that time. But I trusted God. What choice did I have? These issues were way too big for me. I put all my trust in Him. I just focused on loving Him with all my heart. I will admit that for a while I resisted being obedient because I didn’t feel I could do what He was calling me to do. But I trusted in Him, and He provided all I needed.

What if God supplied what you needed according to your faith and obedience? Would you have an abundance, or would you be seriously lacking? Would your oil be in short supply, or would it be overflowing?

I have come to love the song, I Need Thee Every Hour because I have learned that its words are so true. I need God all the time. I need His presence in my life. I need an abundance of His love and His provision. I trust in Matthew 6:33 that tells me if I put God first and focus on Him, He will supply all that I need.

This widow found herself in an impossible situation, but she knew that with God all things are possible. He turned her one jar of oil into enough jars for her to sell and repay their debt and also for her and her sons to live on.  He wants to be there for you. He wants to supply what you need. Will you let Him? Will you simply put your faith in Him and be obedient to Him?

Consider the alternatives.

Have a great day!