2 Kings 4:1-17

“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” (2 Kings 4:2a, NLT)

Where do we go when we feel spiritually bankrupt? To whom do we cry out when life threatens to gobble us up? This poor widow had been married to a prophet who feared the LORD. But now she was destitute, and her two sons could become slaves to pay the debts. What was she to do? She had the good sense and faith to go to Elisha.

Elisha wisely took her eyes off the situation and put them on what she had in her house. God doesn’t ask us to give what we don’t have. He tells us to bring what we do have to Him. Our little put into God’s almighty hands is more than enough.

She only had one flask of oil. Elisha told her to do something that would require both faith and obedience. She was to gather as many empty vessels as she could and begin filling them. What if she hesitated because she thought this plan seemed ridiculous? She did as she was told and gathered the vessels. With the help of her sons she filled each one with oil, and after she filled the last one, the oil stopped flowing. Now she had enough to pay her debts and feed her family.

As humans, we tend to gravitate to the negative. We worry about the things we cannot control. We become so fixated on what is wrong that we cannot see what is right. Living by faith means that we see the One who is invisible. We believe that He can do for us what we can never do for ourselves. And we believe that He is for us and not against us.

Wouldn’t you like to see more miracles in your life? I know that I would. It begins by taking the raw situation to the Lord. Then we give to Him whatever we have—time, talent, treasure or influence. Finally, we pray and ask God to multiply this for His glory and our good. Why be spiritually destitute when One who is greater than Elisha is with us?