Have you ever looked for something, not knowing exactly what that something was? A sensation of tugging and pulling in an uncertain direction, but you cannot put your finger on it. It begs for your attention and about the time you throw your hands up in defeat you discover it right under your very own nose.
I wonder if this is how the widow we read about in 2 Kings felt. We meet her as she is scrambling to figure out the situation she had been left with. She was frantically searching, knowing she had to do something, but could not put her finger on what she was looking for. Her husband had died and suddenly she was thrown into a desperate need for funds to repay a debt the man had left behind. It seems unbelievable to think her only option may be to give her own children as payment. Not willing to give up easily, she cries out to Elisha asking if he can point her in a more reasonable direction of securing the necessary means of paying the debt. I am sure she was ready to throw her hands in the air the moment he asked the question, “What do you have in your house?” (2 Kings 4:2) She had nothing. There was n-o-t-h-i-n-g. The house was empty, it was simply her and her children…except that one little, tiny jar of oil, but what good would that be?
As the short seven verses continue, the woman and her sons gathered all the jars in the neighborhood as instructed by Elisha, closed the door behind them, and with great hope began to pour. The oil flowed until the last collected jar was filled to the brim. As the last drop dripped from the small jar, Elisha instructed them to sell all the oil and pay off the debt. This miracle not only paid the debt and let the children remain with their mother, but it also provided an abundance of funds for the family to live on. God knew what the cry of her heart would be, provided, and blessed her with more than she had even asked for.
I read a quote of Priscilla Shirer the other day that said, “Sometimes we wait impatiently on God when He is patiently waiting on us, waiting for us to recognize what He’s already given as part of the answer to our problem.” How quickly we are consumed with the evidence of what is not there, rather than working with the gifts and blessings He has already placed before us. Like the widow, I too am quick to search for solutions to my problems without giving a second glance at the things right under my nose. I impatiently go ahead of God and seek out my own answers and band-aids to my problems. Yet God is patiently waiting for me to recognize the things He has already gone ahead to put in place for me, even before I knew I needed them.
What is in your house? What pot of oil have you neglected to notice? Maybe the answer you have been praying for is already in plain sight. That little, humble something on the back shelf of your mind may be the beginning of the most amazing move of God you have ever witnessed.
“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
Becky Ossefoort