just a little oil left
2 Kings 4:2-7....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". Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. 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." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 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. 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."
This is the story of a widow who was in danger of losing her sons to slavery. Her husband had died and she could not pay her debts. She went to the prophet Elisha with her problem and he gave her a plan. The plan involved a miracle that offered sustaining provision for her family.
I love this story. I love it so, so much. I have loved it for a long time. It was the story God prompted me to meditate on and use as a metaphor for my first trip to India.....and the oil that filled the jars was financial and prayerful and allowed me to make life-changing memories there. My family changed after that trip. Claire received a deep and lasting love and restlessness for missions and for children. We started an international adoption journey that ended with our adoption of Josiah! The oil kept filling until all the jars were full.
A jar is a vessel and has a purpose. Jars are for pouring out. The oil for the widow was a means to an end and when she sold it she could provide for her family. It is common in the life of a Christian to have this lifestyle of filling your jars and pouring them out.......sitting to receive the life-saving stuff so that we can again be called out to stand up and walk into the next thing that will pour out the oil.....and then feeling emptier again and longing for that time of filling to come. Maturing Christians can sense when the jar is emptier and fuller and hopefully can take responsibility for going to find the Elisha in our lives to point us in the right direction.
Today when I read this story I am struck by the phrase "what do you have in your house?" I read it with fresh eyes today and it makes me wonder. What do I have in my house? What do I have to use to get to the oil again? I happen to have an almost empty jar of peanut butter. We don't ever last very long here without peanut butter. I automatically checked the pantry to see if there was another jar and thankfully there was......but it is a symbol for me of the emptier nature of my inner self right now. I'm due for some filling. I am not completely empty and dried up......there is a bit left in there to start with but it is definitely time to make sure that more peanut butter (or spiritual oil) is ready and waiting for fresh filling.
Tomorrow I get to pack up and go to the Okoboji Bible Conference for a few days. Precious and Josiah will come along because they don't have daycare and there are kids activities at the conference for them. It isn't vacation, really, because we don't have reservations at a wonderful lodge or cabin for our family to gather. I am staying with good family friends who are freeing up a bedroom and bathroom in their home for the kids and I for a few days. By the weekend I will head to my dad's house and the family will hopefully join us Saturday night for a meal. It's less a vacation and more of a jar-filling trip. I will sit and listen, take notes, read scripture and receive teaching and worship and pray and rest. The little kids will get their jars filled by having healthy activities to do that are God-honoring, and also spending time with mama who can reset all the buttons of their sweet hearts and minds and bodies if given enough time. We will not have distractions from work, or cooking or cleaning or tending to other issues. I can be present with them for several hours a day, and tuck them in to sleep each night for a few days.
I have some things around the house to gather up before I can get the jars filled with oil. My bible, my journal, my phone charger, some comfy clothes for sitting in......and of course I'll make sure the new jar of peanut butter is visible in the cupboard for the rest of the family this week. They will be just fine til I get back.
This is the story of a widow who was in danger of losing her sons to slavery. Her husband had died and she could not pay her debts. She went to the prophet Elisha with her problem and he gave her a plan. The plan involved a miracle that offered sustaining provision for her family.
I love this story. I love it so, so much. I have loved it for a long time. It was the story God prompted me to meditate on and use as a metaphor for my first trip to India.....and the oil that filled the jars was financial and prayerful and allowed me to make life-changing memories there. My family changed after that trip. Claire received a deep and lasting love and restlessness for missions and for children. We started an international adoption journey that ended with our adoption of Josiah! The oil kept filling until all the jars were full.
A jar is a vessel and has a purpose. Jars are for pouring out. The oil for the widow was a means to an end and when she sold it she could provide for her family. It is common in the life of a Christian to have this lifestyle of filling your jars and pouring them out.......sitting to receive the life-saving stuff so that we can again be called out to stand up and walk into the next thing that will pour out the oil.....and then feeling emptier again and longing for that time of filling to come. Maturing Christians can sense when the jar is emptier and fuller and hopefully can take responsibility for going to find the Elisha in our lives to point us in the right direction.
Today when I read this story I am struck by the phrase "what do you have in your house?" I read it with fresh eyes today and it makes me wonder. What do I have in my house? What do I have to use to get to the oil again? I happen to have an almost empty jar of peanut butter. We don't ever last very long here without peanut butter. I automatically checked the pantry to see if there was another jar and thankfully there was......but it is a symbol for me of the emptier nature of my inner self right now. I'm due for some filling. I am not completely empty and dried up......there is a bit left in there to start with but it is definitely time to make sure that more peanut butter (or spiritual oil) is ready and waiting for fresh filling.
Tomorrow I get to pack up and go to the Okoboji Bible Conference for a few days. Precious and Josiah will come along because they don't have daycare and there are kids activities at the conference for them. It isn't vacation, really, because we don't have reservations at a wonderful lodge or cabin for our family to gather. I am staying with good family friends who are freeing up a bedroom and bathroom in their home for the kids and I for a few days. By the weekend I will head to my dad's house and the family will hopefully join us Saturday night for a meal. It's less a vacation and more of a jar-filling trip. I will sit and listen, take notes, read scripture and receive teaching and worship and pray and rest. The little kids will get their jars filled by having healthy activities to do that are God-honoring, and also spending time with mama who can reset all the buttons of their sweet hearts and minds and bodies if given enough time. We will not have distractions from work, or cooking or cleaning or tending to other issues. I can be present with them for several hours a day, and tuck them in to sleep each night for a few days.
I have some things around the house to gather up before I can get the jars filled with oil. My bible, my journal, my phone charger, some comfy clothes for sitting in......and of course I'll make sure the new jar of peanut butter is visible in the cupboard for the rest of the family this week. They will be just fine til I get back.
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