One Small Jar

By: Bruce Nevin Haines

One small jar of olive oil, that is all that she had. We can well imagine that she wondered why Elisha would even bother asking her what she had. Her husband had died and creditors were enroute to take her two sons as slaves since she had nothing else of value. She cried out to him because of her desperate need, in the hopes that this prophet, this man of God would be able to assist her in a tangible and practical way. Instead of offering a direct solution to her situation, Elisha asked what she already had on hand. Next to nothing would be an accurate reply.

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 small jar of olive 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 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

There are days that we are so wrought with discouragement and desperation that we feel emotionally, spiritually, and physically that we also have next to nothing left. We hope and pray, and await some form of rescue. The mere suggestion that we would have what we need already would seem ridiculous. Days that are colored by this amount of discouragement seem to be begging for a miracle to occur. And we would certainly welcome a miraculous form of providence/deliverance showing up at our front door. But there may be a measure of faith, as well as action that may be needed to provide the channel for a miracle to occur.

In the case of the widow, Elisha gave her specific direction regarding the “next to nothing” that she had. It certainly required a measure of faith in this Prophet of God. And it also required action in the collection of jars from all of her neighbors. They would likely be as confused by this as she was. What explanation could she give? I suspect she had none. But she followed Elisha’s instruction anyway. And this faith, and this action were the means of making a way for a miracle to occur. The miracle did not just “show up”. The widow’s obedience and faith were an invitation for the miracle to show up, even though she did not know this ahead of time.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, have faith. God will provide all that you need. But the miracle that we so desperately need may spring from something that we already have. The little that we have may need to be coupled with our faith and obedience to become the miracle that we long to see. It happened when Jesus fed the 5,000. It can happen for us too.