Elisha: Hope for Your Desperate MomentsSample

What is God Trying to Tell Me?

Does it ever seem like God is just not making any sense? What was the point of making the widow put oil in jars? What does that have to do with faith?

Why was this widow required to shut the door before she could pour oil in jars? I don’t know. Jesus did this just before He raised one from the dead. He asked all to leave (Mark 5:40). Perhaps God does not want us to delve into the miraculous—or the supernatural—but keep our eyes on Him and simply do what He tells us to do.

What is the explanation of the oil? How do we know she did not already have enough oil to fill all the jars? Perhaps she had gallons of oil in one large container. Answer: she said that she had “a little oil,” so there was not enough to fill several jars. The most striking statement is this, found in 2 Kings 4 verse 6: “the oil stopped flowing.” That it “flowed” is a reference to the miraculous. When she used up all the jars “the oil stopped flowing.”

The bottom line: God provided her with a way whereby she could make money! He stepped in to do what the widow would not have thought to do. And yet the answer was right under her nose.

She could not manufacture oil. She did what she could with what she had; God did the rest. God did not make money grow on trees. She did not go begging for money; she was told how she could make money and then use it to pay her debts.

This is a reminder of the manna in the desert. It was a miracle food, but it ended when they no longer needed it: