Do you focus more on what you don't have than what you do?
Imagine being a widow in ancient Israel. Your husband has died. You have two sons, with no way to provide for them, and creditors are coming to your door, threatening to take your children away as slaves.
How would you feel? Helpless? Afraid? Desperate?
This is the situation that a woman in the Bible finds herself in. She calls out to the prophet Elisha for help:
“Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” – 2 Kings 4:1 NIV
Elisha doesn’t offer sympathy or financial support. Instead, he asks her one simple question:
“What do you have in your house?”
The widow responds, “Nothing at all… except a flask of oil” (2 Kings 4:2)
Elisha doesn’t seem to be discouraged by its smallness. Instead, he instructs her to collect as many empty jars as possible and start pouring oil into them.
The woman does as she is told, and with every pour, the oil keeps flowing. It doesn’t stop. Jar after jar fills up. The more she pours, the more the oil multiplies. When there are no more jars left, the oil stops flowing.
Her miracle is complete. Her sons are saved. The debt is paid.
“What do you have?” Elisha’s question is striking. And also applies to us.
Instead of focusing on our lack, God asks us to consider what we do have, however small it may seem.
Often, we approach life with a sense of scarcity:
- “I don’t have enough money.”
- “I don’t have the right skills.”
- “I don’t have time.”
- “I don’t have faith.”
The widow didn’t know how the oil would multiply. She didn’t even know if it would. But her obedience, even without understanding, opened the door to God’s miracle.
This text comes from the e-book Miracles in Motion. If you’d like to reflect on this story some more, please download the e-book for free. It outlines great life lessons you can draw from this miracle as well as intriguing questions to reflect on. I highly recommend it!
