Keep On Pouring

"The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "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 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"
"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."

3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."

5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."
But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left." 2 Kings 4:1-7

As I read this story from 2 Kings I can't help but wonder what it felt like in that house. Imagine being present and witnessing this miracle. Imagine simply knowing this woman! I am certain that everyone in her community knew her. They knew her husband before he died, they knew her sons, and they knew the dire straights she was in. One of the things I find interesting is that no one else stepped in to help this woman. There wasn't a neighbor offering food or bits of anything to help them get by, there was nothing, so this woman did the only thing she could do, she turned to God for help. And boy, did He help!

I suspect the presence of God was very real in that room as this woman poured the never-ending oil from her jar. And notice, of course, that she didn't even question Elisha once, she just did as he told her to do, trusting that God had her back and would see everything right. Oil in those days was such a valuable commodity. It was difficult to produce oil! Seeds, nuts, olives, etc, needed to be pressed by hand, and the precious oil carefully collected and filtered. A jar of oil was very valuable indeed, so imagine how this woman and her sons felt as they watched their house fill with jar after jar of oil. I can't begin to think about the gratitude, the tears that must have filled their eyes as they watched hope pour out time and time again. And not only did God provide enough oil for them to pay their debts, but he provided them enough to continue to live on. God didn't just take care of the present need, he also took care of the needs to come.

This woman put all her eggs in one basket, she had nowhere else to turn, so she turned to God, and with every scrap of faith she could muster, she trusted in Him and His provision for her and her sons. What a testimony she had later on to all her neighbors! The amount of oil she had to sell would have taken weeks and months to press, and here she had such quantity in a shorter period of time. Their neighbors and friends would know that God provided for His servant, and as such, perhaps a heart or two would be turned in his direction.

For that is really the point, isn't it? When God provides for us, and there is no disputing that it was all God, it becomes a great testimony- a sign of God's love that we can share with those around us. The point of a real miracle is to give God the Glory for the miracle. To point to Him and say to others "look what my God can do!"

I pray that I can be like this woman in 2 Kings. That I can follow His instructions without questioning, and that I can be used as a means to further His glory. And I also thank Him. I thank Him because I know that His provision is always there, and he will continue to provide- and not just for the immediate needs, but for the future needs, before I even know they exist.