4 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.”
Our approach to God often takes on one of two natures. We approach God with the expectation that he can change impossible situations. However, we approach his claims as impossible to entirely believe. We expect him to turn the water into wine in our own lives, yet we stubbornly refuse to adjust our lives one inch closer to him when he says, “Come, follow me.” The result is a tug-of-war that leaves one feeling stretched and stationary. This approach to God, while understandable, is not supported in the scriptures. The scripture only shows us a God who, though constantly confronted by doubt and suspicion, responds with a confident promise to supply more than we even thought possible. God always desires more for and from us, while we tend to feel paralyzed by not ever having enough. With every passing year we further ingrain the limitations of this world into our foundational beliefs. However, when building faith in God, the first step is to completely remove the old foundation. From this position will we not only take God seriously when he promises to do more, but we will also learn to view this world as God does: limited but aching to be more, have more, do more and accomplish more. Doubt has no place to hide when overwhelmed by the hopes and promises of Jesus Christ.
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