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.”
The widow’s husband was a servant of God, he served the Lord fervently while he was living, but when he died he left nothing for the family but debt.
The creditors were coming to take her children as slaves.
The widow in her distress cried to Elisha, the prophet asked “what do you have in your house?” and she replied “your servant has nothing there at all” she said, except A LITTLE OIL. “The small oil” that she had in her house was what God used to bless her, but she never noticed it, she did not count it important. She was told to go and borrow empty jars from neighbours; she was instructed to be pouring the small oil into the jars. The woman did as instructed even though it seems senseless. She filled all the empty jars with the oil, she paid up her debt and her family was able to live on the rest.
Like the prophet asked the widow, we need to ask ourselves the same question “what do I have in my house/ life?” you cannot be totally empty, is either you did not notice it or you did not count it important like the widow. You may be ignorant of what you have, but if you prayerfully seek the face of God, He will lead you to what will make a positive change in your life.
God can only bless you with what you have; it is what you have that He will multiply for you. He is an all sufficient God, He has the power to bring new thing into our lives, but He wants us to take note of that “small or trivial” provision He has made available for us. It was the rod in Moses hands that He used to perform wonders. The rod was an ordinary rod; but when the power of God came upon it, it became an extraordinary rod.
That ordinary thing you have that you count as nothing, when the power of God comes upon it, then you can be sure of extraordinary breakthrough!
In Genesis 13:14-15 the Lord said to Abraham to lift up his eyes and all the land he saw will be given to him. This means that what you see both in spiritual and in physical, you can possess.
Nothing is too small to make a big difference in your life. Nothing is too small for God to work with and make it an extraordinary thing.
Don’t underestimate your potentials, that small thing that you did not see as important or useful, can be your way to breakthrough. That unnoticed item, idea, gift or talent can be your own “LITTLE OIL” that God will use to put an end to poverty and frustration like He did for the widow.
Prayerfully ask God to open your eyes to see your own “little oil” in the corner of your house that will launch you out to limelight. The widow’s breakthrough came from that little bottle of oil that she counted as nothing.
Do not underestimate what you have, do not condemn yourself; great things may come from small beginnings. Remember that the MIGHTY OAKS CAME FROM THE LITTLE ACORNS.
