One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the LORD. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”
“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. 4 Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. 6 Soon every container was full to the brim!
“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.
“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.” 2 Kings 4:1-7
Out pastor shared this story last Sunday. There are so many lessons to be learned from this scripture. God is such a great story teller. He recounted real life to us in the Bible and it has blessed throughout the ages. Here are some key points I received from this account in 2 Kings.
1. Just like the creditor, there are powers out there that want to steal our prize possessions. Our loved ones, our comfort, our joy. We let fear consume us and forget we have defenses against our “creditors”.
2. We all have something in us that God can use to thwart our enemy. It may seem insignificant to us – a small bottle of oil so to speak. But offering it and being willing to obey God on how to use it can alter our circumstance more than we could imagine.
3. God is gracious to teach us lessons of faith. Often, he wants us to share it with someone else. Our personal miracles are great opportunities to give God glory. This widow was instructed to go in with her sons and shut the door. What a wonderful time of discovery it must have been for her sons – to witness the miracle with no one in the room to challenge it. The sons must have needed to see the working of God in their lives.
4. As our Pastor said, the oil will keep flowing as long as there is a vessel to pour into. There is no shortage of “vessels” out there that need the precious oil of the Lord. It is our job to bring them into the flow of it.
Stay in the flow of his anointing today. It may alter your circumstance, or at the most, alter the way you see God working in your life. Then share it with someone else.
Lord, make me a willing vessel and release your anointing to flow in me.
I do forget, sometimes to 'share it with someone else'. Thank you for reminding and motivating me:)
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful and poignant post, Jan. I like what you say about keeping in the flow of it!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Carla
http:/writingtodistraction.blogspot.com
Thanks Karen and Carla, it's important to keep it flowing - I certainly can feel it when Im out of it's path.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan,
ReplyDeleteWhat's always struck me about this particular passage of scripture is that the oil flowed as long as she had empty jars to put it in. I think the key is to empty ourselves and, as you pointed out, keep the oil of the Holy Spirit pouring into us.
Lovely post.