God Always Provides

Most of us are blessed with both a mommy and a daddy. But in today’s Bible story, we find a woman and her sons who are very sad. The woman’s husband, the children’s daddy, has died. What’s worse is that the woman had no money to pay her bills. She was afraid that the people she owed money to (they were called “creditors”) would take her sons and force them to be slaves because she couldn’t pay them!

In the woman’s village, there was a prophet named Elisha (a prophet is someone God speaks to in a special way). The sad woman came to Elisha and said, “My husband who was your friend has died! Now I am afraid that the creditors will come to take my children to be their slaves!”

Elisha said, “What do you have in your house?” The woman said, “The only thing I have left is one small jar of oil.” Elisha told the woman to go to all of her friends and neighbors and borrow as many empty pots and containers as she could find. He told her to bring them all to her house. Elisha said, “Once you have all of the empty containers in your house, shut the door. Then you and your sons take your one jar of oil and begin filling the empty containers.”

The woman and her sons did what the prophet told her to do. They brought all of the empty containers into their house, shut the door and began to fill them. It took a while because there were so many empty pots! But no matter how many pots they had to fill, their little jar never ran out of oil!

When the last container was filled with oil, she went back to the prophet and told him that she had obeyed everything he told her to do. Elisha said, “Good. Now, take all of the oil to the marketplace and sell it. Then you will have enough money to pay all of your creditors and you and your children will be safe.”

The woman was so thankful to God for this miracle that saved her and her children! But God performed this miracle for her because she obeyed what the prophet told her to do.

Just like God took care of the woman and her children, God promises to take care of us. It is important that we obey Him, that we trust Him and that we listen to Him in all things. Sometimes we may feel afraid, like the woman and her children; but fear is not from the Lord. When we trust in Him, God always gives us peace because we know He will take care of us.