On Faith and Miracles (2 Kings 4:1-7)

The Widow’s Olive 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 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.”

My Reflections on 2:Kings 4:1-7

2 Kings 4:1-7 Faith and Miracles: True faith is the key to experiencing miracles. Faith like that of the widow in this passage.
v.1 Brokenness,despair and faith. The widow first had to come to a point of brokenness. She had to be broken for her to realize that she needed a miracle from God to save her from her troubles. This is one of the things led her to seek Elisha and ask for a miracle. Interestingly, another factor that led her to seek Elisha was the faithfulness of her now dead husband as she mentions in the verse that "your servant (my husband) feared the Lord. This shows me that when people see us living out our faith it helps point them to the source of our faith.

v.2 Humility and Acceptance of our own limitations. Elisha asked the widow "What do you have in the house?" To which the widow replies,"I have nothing but a jar of oil." This for me illustrates the widows humble acceptance of her own inability. Much in the same way that in order for us to experience God's saving grace, we must first come to accept our own inability to pay the price of our sins and accept that it is only through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that we come to salvation. (Ephesians 2:8-9 " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.")

v.3-7 Acting, Obeying based on Faith. Elisha asked the widow to go and borrow several vessels from her neighbors. This must have seemed strange to the widow. She must have even been ridiculed by her neighbors for borrowing vessels when they knew she had nothing to fill them with. BUT THE WIDOW obeyed. This reminds me of what is said in Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
God through Elisha could have simply just filled out the one jar of oil that the widow had. However, to demonstrate His power and to reward the faith of the widow he filled several vessels. More than enough for the widow to pay off her debts and live out her life with her children. Which also reminds me of Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

My prayer is that if like me, there are current situations in your life where you find yourself broken, or helpless, or out of options or at your rock bottom, we respond in the same way the widow did. And in doing so, receive our miracle and experience God's faithfulness and power and know that God is real, true and LIVING God who is able to deliver those that faithfully depend and call on Him. May we experience Him just like the widow did in 2 Kings 4:7 and as promised in Ephesians 3:20