Use What You Have

2 Kings 4 (NIV)

The Widow's Oil

 ¹ 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 little 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 afterward 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."

I am not writing about oil because of spills ( BP or Kalamazoo), however it is pretty timely! 

I am thinking of this story because of the message of using what you have.  When asked what she had, the widow responded she had nothing except some oil.  From the response, it's easy to see she is focusing on the nothing....not the except or focusing on what she does have.  When she uses what she has, she is given more.  The limit becomes one of how many jars she has to fill up.  Elisha even told her to plan big and not just ask for a few.

During these tough economic times, it is easy to look around and say we have little or nothing.  What we do have is not always monetary.  We may have family and friends that are willing to stand with us through the feelings of fear and frustration of not being able to provide for our family the way we would like to.

We live in a time of bigger, better, more.  We need to realize that sometimes we need to use what we have to get to where God wants us to be.

God deals in exceptions.  Even if we have nothing, EXCEPT God....that can be enough.  Time to change our focus from what we do not have to what we do have.  Even when it seems we have little or nothing, that exception is something when it is in the right hands.

Father in heaven: So many times we limit you on what you can do and want to accomplish in our lives and through us to bless others.  Help us to realize that you are not a God of limits, you are a God of more than enough.  Help us know that often we don't need more, we need to use what we have and are already blessed with.