2 Kings 4:1-7 A certain woman…cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” This woman’s situation was dire. She was probably hesitant to pour out that little bit of oil that she had. Most likely she wanted to hold onto it tightly. I would have. Elisha asked, “How can I help? Let’s see what do you have? What do you have in the house? “ She replied, “Nothing…except a jar of olive oil.” This sounded all too familiar to me, in fact it sounded just like me sometimes. While her circumstances were dire, she did have a little oil. It may not have been much but it was something. I tend to over exaggerate my problems. I tell myself, “I don’t have enough… I don’t have this and I don’t have that…I aint got nothing!” Listen, this is how our ever present enemy likes to whisper in our ear. ‘You don’t have enough…look at what they have…why don’t you have that? Why don’t you get to do that?’ In these situations he gets us to compare ourselves to others. Just like Eve…she could have every tree in the garden except one…but it was that one that did her in. It took her down. Let’s not second guess God. If He says NO to something, it’s for a reason. It’s because He is our Dad and he knows what’s best. We always think we know what’s best, but we don’t. Our Dad has infinitely more wisdom than we do. Elisha said, “Bring me some empty jars. Take yours sons and shut the door behind you. What I’m about to do will not make sense in the natural realm.” God will fill the things that we bring to Him. But He can only fill them IF we are willing to place them in His trust. If not, we will continue to come up empty. We may not have much; but what we do have we need to give Him. Elisha said, “Don’t bring me just a few jars. Bring me a lot! Ask big things from God… it honors Him! DON’T UNDERESTIMATE GOD! BRING MORE THAN WHAT YOU THINK HE CAN DO! Bring higher expectations! Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we think or ask…to Him be the glory It is important to note: He used what she had. She didn’t need anything else. She had the oil and that was it. It wasn’t much, but all she had was all she needed. Sometimes we are always looking to what we don’t have, instead of looking at what we do have. Give God what you have…the widow did and He supernaturally multiplied what she had. She offered it willingly. She didn’t hoard what she had. SHE POURED IT OUT! It was in the giving that it was multiplied. If she held onto what she had it would’ve stayed the same. Time, money, gifts, talents, love, forgiveness, grace, energy…all of these things can be more in the hand of God. God is the great multiplier. When you give He will NEVER leave you lacking. Sometimes we may find ourselves saying, “I’m not wasting my time on that. I’m so busy, I can’t possibly do that. I don’t even have enough to pay my own bills, how could I possibly help?” And the list goes on. He takes the little we have and multiplies it. He sees the heart behind it. Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." I just don’t have it in me to forgive, to love, to go out of my way. It’s just that simple. If you do it anyways and give what you have, God will use your willing heart…He’ll multiply what you have and use it in ways you won’t believe. God help us to trust You with everything. We give you the little bit that we have and ask you to multiply if for Your Kingdom. Increase our faith. All that we have is a gift from You. It does not belong to us. We want to be good stewards of everything You’ve placed into our trust. Amen.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:21:19 +0000
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