Ask God.

We're going back to the Elisha today. We're looking at 2 Kings 4:1-7 today. 

“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.” (NLT)

A man who worked with Elisha had died, leaving his widow owing money to creditors who were knocking at her door, and would actually come and take her sons from her. 

To prove how broke she actually was, she told Elisha that she only had a little bit of olive oil left. 

Elisha gets involved and preforms a pretty sweet miracle- go get as many jars as you can find— don’t limit yourself here— get as many jars as possible— and when you come back home close your door and begin pouring the oil into the jars. 

The oil was flowing so well, that they were looking for more jars, but when they found out there wasn't any jars left, the oil suddenly dried up. 

The Widow went to Elisha, told him that the oil had dried up and the Prophet told her to sell what she needed to sell, and then to live on what was left over. 

Pretty small, but awesome miracle.

She didn't have enough money at the end of the month. 

She was going to get evicted, her sons taken from her and she would be alone. The ultimate insult. 

But, the Lord provided for her. She had enough oil left over to live on. 

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? At the end of our rope? The bottom has fallen out of, well, everything. 

What have we to give? Not much. But, God can take what we have, use it and multiply it for His purpose. 

(I remember reading about Jesus doing so in the New Testament, when he fed over 15,000 with a few sardine sandwiches.)

God wants to work in your life. God wants to use whatever you have to help others. So, just be obedient  and listen to Him, and if you have a need, go to Him.

Tell Him what you need, and ask Him to provide for you what you need. It might not be in the form of olive oil, but it could be a dinner from someone you know. 

It could be in the form of a smile from a co-worker. It could be meeting your need in another way that you never would have thought possible. 

Our God is the God who provides. Take it from a person who has been there, God will show up, right on time, with what you need. When you need it.