Today what really stood out to me was the miracle of the widow's oil. This dear woman, a widow, was about to lose her two sons to slavery because they were in debt. Elisha first asked her, "What do you have in your house?" Her reply, "I don't have anything in my house except a pot of oil!" So he told her, gather all the oil pots you can from your neighbors and all around the village, and then close your door and fill them from what you have. After she had done this, she miraculously was able to fill all those borrowed pots with oil. Her excited response was to run back to the prophet. "Now what? What do I do?" and he told her, "Go sell the oil, pay the debt, and live on the rest."
There are two key principles we can learn from this story.
1. First God expects us to use what we have. If we use what we have, He will give us more!
2. This women received as much oil as her faith allowed. I imagine that if she had realized what was really going to happen, she would have gone even farther looking for MORE containers with which to fill with oil. However, what she did find, God filled…and then the oil stopped!
These are profound lessons that God wants us to take to heart today. Of course, in Scripture, we know that oil represents the Holy Spirit.
Listen to what the Desire of Ages says about the Holy Spirit:
"Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples...Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace of Christ, and He is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive." Desire of Ages, p. 672.
"Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples...Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. It is given according to the riches of the grace of Christ, and He is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive." Desire of Ages, p. 672.
Review:
- Bible Thought: Use what you have…and act in faith with what you do, and God will give you more!
- Blessing: Thankful for waking up fresh, forgiven and forgiving… God is good!
- Battles: That I not try to "be the Holy Spirit" to those that I love, but that I allow God to do His job, and I stick with mine. :-)
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