Silly

Have you ever felt God bumping you in a certain direction, and you convince yourself that it must not have been God.  It had to have been last night’s burrito, because God would never ask me to do something so silly.  Would He?

As I was reading in 2 Kings the other day at breakfast, I came across a story that I have read several times, but, for whatever reason, it jumped out at me and I can’t get it out of my mind. (how’s that for a run-on sentence…my high school english teacher just rolled her eyes)  The story I am talking about is 2 Kings 4:1-7.

The Widow’s Oil

¹ 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.”

Here is my problem with this passage.  Here is a woman who has lost her husband.  She is a widow.  And, the creditor is coming to take her boys as slaves to settle the debt that her husband left when he died.  She apparently has nothing to give other than her sons to settle accounts.  She is scared.  She is hurting.  She is destitute.  She needs help.  So, she turns to Elisha, God’s prophet.  And what does God tell her to do through Elisha?  To start a recycling business.  God tells her to go door to door collecting old jars.  Can you imagine her confusion.  If I were her, I would be saying, “Jars?  REALLY?  With all due respect here, Elisha, I don’t think you understand.  My boys, the only thing I have left in this world, are about to be taken from me.  With my boys gone, I will have no one to take care of me.  This is my life on the line here.  And you tell me to collect jars?”

Does this seem like an odd request to anyone else?  And, he tells her to not ask for just a FEW!

Then, get this, she is supposed to take all the jars she has collected, as many as she could get, and go into her house and shut the door.  I am sure shutting the door was not a problem for her.  She probably didn’t want the neighbors to see what she was up to lest they call for the men in white tunics with the padded chariot.  Then, she is supposed to pour oil into all the jars.  She knows how much oil she has.  She knows she doesn’t have enough to fill ONE jar.  Let alone the collection that she has accumulated from her neighbors.

And here is the part that amazes me:

She pours

She pours not knowing what will happen.  She pours what little she has and watches God work a miracle with it.  She pours with all her might trusting God to use all that she has left in the world and make it enough.  If there is no God, she would have poured out the last possession she had.  This is faith.  This is trust.  This is something I need to learn from.

And, this is a repeated theme in the Bible.  How many times have we read about Jesus or God taking what little someone could provide, and making it enough.  But, it only happens when that person is willing to give up all they have.

The fish and bread that the little boy gave to Jesus was not nearly enough to feed the 5,000.  It probably would have left the boy wanting more.  But he gave it anyway.  He gave it to Jesus and watched Him make it enough.  It wasn’t enough until He touched it!  The widow’s oil was not enough until God touched it.  But, those things would have gone untouched if they hadn’t been given in the first place!

What are you holding onto?  What has God been asking you to do that you dismissed as silly?  What do you feel God pushing you towards that is just too big for what little thing you can bring to it?  He can’t make it enough until you are willing to give it up.  He won’t touch it until you give it!  I don’t know about you, but it is time for me to risk looking silly in order to gather some jars!

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