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 Kings 4:1-5
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.”
Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 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.”
She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
Hundreds of years before Jesus turned jars of water into wine, before His head was anointed with oil, before blood and water flowed from His side while He was on the cross, Elisha performed signs, wonders, and miracles that foreshadowed the ones done by Jesus.
The widow was in danger of the creditors taking everything, including her sons. Yet, through Elisha, God had an abundance for her. She kept pouring oil, and the oil kept pouring out. Jar after jar of olive oil was filled. By the end, she had enough to pay the debts and enough to live on. God was her provider.
The prosperity gospel has ruined large sections of the American church. It is a false gospel that is materialistic and empty. Yet, we can become so cautious about not falling into the trap of the prosperity gospel that we can forget that God does care about our financial situation. He does want to be our provider. It matters to Him whether the creditors come and take everything away. He wants to provide for us in our time of need.
The other truth the emerges from this story comes from the oil. In the Bible, oil was used for a few different reasons. First, there were the practical reasons. Oil was used in cooking, as fuel for lamps, and as a medicinal balm on skin that’s been injured.
Secondly, however, oil was used to consecrate people and items that were to be set apart. Oil was used to anoint kings and priests, to set them apart for a unique purpose. It was also used to consecrate items in the tabernacle as holy and set apart. In this same way, in the New Testament, people were anointed with oil before they received prayer for physical healing (Mark 6:12-13 & James 5:14-15). It was a way to mark them and set them apart for healing.
This same language of “anointing” is used when talking about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; 2 Cor 1:21-22). Jesus was not only anointed as priest and king with oil but also with the anointing of the Holy Spirit and power.
So oil has this multi-faceted connotation in the New Testament of consecration and healing through the power of the Holy Spirit. This gives new meaning to the 2 Kings passage above. The oil of the Lord, the filling of the Holy Spirit, gets poured out in increasing measure. There is always more oil. Each empty jar gets filled to the brim. God always has more oil for us, more of the Spirit, more healing, more consecration. There’s always enough…more than enough.
If you need financial provision, God wants to provide. But most of us need more than just money. We need more of God’s Presence in this time. We need more of God’s peace and comfort. We need more of His power and healing. We need more of the tangible reality of the Holy Spirit flowing in us and through us. We need our empty jar to be filled with oil.
Jesus said this:
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.“
Luke 11:9-13
Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Fire and Light 