What do you have in your house?

This is the sixth of seven posts highlighting lessons we can learn

from a variety of different Bible characters.

[From 2 Kings 4:1-7]

The woman faces her day with groans of sadness and despair. She is destitute. Her husband - a member of the prophetic guild - has died, and her debts are beyond any ability she has to pay. In fact, the creditor is coming to take her two grown sons…as payment…which means they will be enslaved for the rest of their lives.

She cannot see a way to stave off what seems inevitable: not enough food to supply her needs, not enough money to save her sons. She will lose her sons and become a beggar.

In a moment like this, where can turn? Who is willing and available to help?

She cries out to Elisha. Elisha the prophet. Elisha knew her husband, so he perhaps might consider aiding her in some way.

Thankfully, Elisha does come. Yet when he shows up, he does not arrive with an answer…but with a question: “Tell me, what do you have in your house?” The widow replies, “Nothing…except a small jar of olive oil.”

Elisha then issues some odd instructions:

Borrow some empty jars from you neighbors. Not just a few, but as many as possible. 

Bring the jars home, and start filling them from your little jar of oil.

As you fill up each borrowed jar, set it aside, then just keep on filling. 

This advice, of course, makes no sense. How can she fill multiple jars from one jar? Yet having no other recourse, she does what the prophet asks. She follows through without question. 

So her sons bring the jars and she fills them. They bring more jars and she fills them. Oil continues to flow from the woman’s small jar until every borrowed jar is full. 

And then – when the last jar is full to the brim – the oil immediately stops flowing from her original tiny jar. 

Elisha then urges her to sell the oil. There now is such an abundance of oil that the widow will be able to pay off her debts, to prevent her sons from becoming slaves, and to live off the remainder of the funds for years to come.

It’s a miracle. An unorthodox, irrational miracle. 

It’s an amazing story of the power of God. An amazing story of how this woman’s unquestioning, irrational obedience allows God to show up and do the impossible.

And this miracle hinges on two pivotal moments.

The first one is Elijah’s question: “What do you have in your house?” So often, God begins his work by starting with what we have. He builds on what we bring and what we offer. God may not work if we hold back what we have.

The second key ingredient is the widow’s response. Her small pot of oil clearly is inadequate, yet she offers it without hesitation. And then, without having any real understanding of what God is up to, she goes out and begins borrowing jar after empty jar from her neighbors.

And because of the power of God, the widow’s small pot of oil turns out to be just enough. Every jar she collects is filled with oil as God miraculously multiplies her original offering. As she pours, she never runs out of oil, nor is there any excess beyond what is available to be stored. She gets the exact amount needed to complete the task.

How like God to provide so abundantly…so perfectly…for this woman in dire straits!

How like God to take the little we offer…and return more than we ever could expect.

So I wonder: are you in need today? If so, what do you have in your house? Can you offer it to God and see what he might do with it?