In the book of 2nd Kings chapter 4, we read of the story of a widow who approached Elisha for help because her late husband’s creditors had come calling and were going to take her sons as slaves. Elisha asked ‘How can I help you? What do you have in your house?’ to which she replied a jar of oil. Elisha then had her borrow jars from neighbors and fill them all with oil from the small jar. Then she was to sell the oil, pay what she owed and she and her sons were to live on the rest.
This last instruction, is what I want to focus on. Yes, there was a miracle of the jar of oil filling many other pots and not running dry until there was no more pot to fill which is amazing. In addition to that however, the last instructions exemplifies how God answers our prayers in the sense that we always have a part to play. Let’s take a closer look at the instruction.
Sell the oil, pay what you owe and you and your sons live on the rest. Why didn’t God just cause money to flow so she can just take it and pay the creditors? Wasn’t that all she wanted?
In as much as God does not share His glory with man, He always wants us to participate in the process since we are in partnership with Him. So, He gives us a part in the ‘play’. So, on this stage of life, He will always act out His part but if we don’t act out ours, then we might not see the manifestation of the answer to our prayers.
So, imagine if the woman refused to borrow the pots from neighbors or pour the jar of oil into the pots or sell the oil, maybe because it didn’t make sense or she simply just wanted a quick fix and didn’t want to be involved in the process or it was too much work and would require a lot of effort that she didn’t think she could undertake? I’m almost certain her sons would have been taken as slaves, not because the solution wasn’t available but because she refused to participate in the process.
The other thing to note is that even though the woman was only concerned about her immediate need which was to settle the debts, God was focused on much more – the longer term. It’s like God was thinking, so, you pay off your debts and then what? What of tomorrow, and 5, 10, 20 years down the line? Your husband, who was your provider is no more so how will your needs be met? And instead of just answering her prayer, He did more than even she could ever ask or imagine. He provided capital to start a business that would sustain her family. She experienced the mercy of God, and many times, this is exactly what we need, God’s mercy!!! This is because most times we pray based on the immediate need we are focused on and we act like that is the ultimate need when in fact what the ultimate ‘real’ need is different from what we are asking. This is where we need to pray that the mercy of God will step in and help us pray aright and even when the answer doesn’t look like what we prayed for, we should trust it and the process provided we are certain that it is from God.
May God grant us the grace to completely trust Him and always do our part and may we experience His mercy in our prayer lives, especially at every decision point in our lives in Jesus name.
Remain connected,
Bolaji Ajayi
And the word became flesh 