The Lack of Greater Faith Brought God’s Miraculous Intervention to a Close

The widow kept pouring oil, and in a miraculous way God kept multiplying it as long as the jars were empty. But when all the jars were full, this woman said to one of her sons: bring me some more jars, and he said: there are no more jars. Then the oil stopped.

While this woman was busy, I imagine these boys were happy bringing her all the jars they had found. She was simply looking at the next empty jar and pouring the oil, and she had no chance to look around and see everything that was happening. So she got excited about pouring and pouring oil, and when all the jars were full, she said: well, keep bringing me jars. Unfortunately, there were no more jars, and one of her sons told her: no, Mom, there are no more jars.

Those words, “There are no more jars,” brought God’s miraculous intervention to a close. Again, the power of the human realm, of the human word, of the human dimension. It was not as though this oil kept flowing; rather, the human word, the circumstance that there were no more jars to fill, brought God’s power and movement to a close in this case, didn’t it?

It says that she came back and told Elisha what had happened, and Elisha’s words at the end are very beautiful and very instructive. He told her: go and sell the oil, pay your creditors, and you and your sons live on what is left. A beautiful ending, because again, one would like these miracles of God to be more elegant, more economical, more decisive. But now this woman, after all the effort she had made, had to take the oil, sell it in the market, and get a price for it.

Again, as part of God’s process, many times we will have to do things ourselves, even when God has performed the miracle and given the Word of faith. That happens in ministry; it happens in different aspects of life. I have learned so much about how pleased God is to take part with me and work with me, and how important it is for me to be a well-polished, well-worked, well-prepared instrument so that God can use His Power and channel it through me.

The better prepared I am, the more broken, more shaped by God, more polished, more sanctified, and more intellectually capable I am, the better God will be able to use me, because there is a dimension to God that likes to work through what we bring Him, the resources we place at His disposal. The more we give the Lord, the more the Lord can use us.

This woman then had to, I imagine, find people to buy the oil from her, set a price, negotiate with the different people who would buy it, and collect money to pay the creditors—the original reason she had come before the prophet Elisha.

Interestingly, her vision at first was very limited: to resolve her urgent crisis of the moment and prevent her sons from being taken as slaves to pay her husband’s debt. But notice that God blesses her even beyond what she had imagined, and Elisha tells her: “And you and your sons live on what is left.” In other words, there was enough oil not only to pay the creditors but also for this woman to obtain enough money to have something like a pension for the rest of her life and to live on the proceeds from the oil she was to sell.

How wonderful the Lord is. It reminds me of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, where it says that twelve baskets full of loaves and fishes were left over. When God gives, when God answers, He sometimes does so in ways far more abundant than we dared to imagine.

Through this woman’s diligent intervention—taking the initiative, coming before God, using her husband’s credentials, and obeying the prophet’s instructions—God blessed her with a wonderful anointing. Her sons remained free, and she was able to live comfortably for the rest of her life on the proceeds from the oil she sold.

God wants to use His Power on our behalf. God does not want us to lose heart and lie down as though to die. God does not want us to become depressed when difficulties and pressures come into our lives; rather, He wants us to take action and approach the Throne of Grace with confidence to receive the timely help He promises.

May God bless us and make us people as powerful and as exemplary as this wonderful widow of Scripture. God bless you, and I bid you farewell with a blessing for your lives and your ministries, in the Name of Jesus, amen and amen.