What’s in your house?
The other day I read this amazing passage from 2 Kings 4 in the first part of the Bible – the Old Testament. It is all about a totally bonkers snapshot moment in a woman’s life”¦ but no doubt one that was a real game changer for her!
Here is the bit I read:
The Widow’s Olive Oil
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.”
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. 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.
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.”
THE HELPFUL QUESTION
Elisha is SUCH an incredible guy isn’t he? He doesn’t give the widow money, or in fact ANYTHING. He simply asks her a question. I think it is a question that God asks us.
“What do you have in your house?”
In other words, “What have I already given you?”
Sometimes it is hard for us to see what we HAVE. We always seem to want what we DON’T have. We think nothing can happen for us until all our “ducks are in a row.”
Sometimes it is hard for us to think about what we HAVE and focus on that.
Lots of things vie for our attention.
What gets in the way of us seeing and using what we have?
Think for a minute about what’s in your hand (And I mean what you have right now, not what you WISH you had, or used to have.) Think about what is in your ‘house’ or your ‘hand’.
Get a piece of paper and draw round your hand.
Look at your five fingers and imagine they stand for 5 things:
1. Your GIFTS
2. Your PASSIONS
3. Your RELATIONSHIPS
4. Your DREAMS
5. Your CIRCUMSTANCES
Write as many things down on the hand as you can. This is what you have right now. This is the recipe God has invented in your life to move you forward. Remember the widow in the story? She only had a little. But God chose to do a LOT with it. More than she needed too!
Now examine those things on your list a bit. How does looking at your list make you feel?
What questions does it bring up for you?
You might think that in some of the areas you are POOR, but actually that’s not true. God has given you everything you need right now for your next step.
What could God do with your gifts?
What could He do with your passions?
What could He do in your relationships?
What could He do in your dreams?
What could He do in your circumstances?
Miracles happen when we take God at His word.
So ask Him again, “What have you put in my hand?” and “what are you asking me to do about that?”