Focus Chapters:

• 2 Kings 2
• 2 Kings 4

Standout Verse(s):

THE ACTION

2 Kings 4:1 NLT

One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”

THE REACTION

2 Kings 4:2-7 NLT

“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.

And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”

So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim!

“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.

“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”

Observation (s):

1. The widow considered her little flask of oil as inconsequential, “nothing”.
   
   

   “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

   “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.

   
   
2. God saw the potential of the little oil and maximised it.
   
   

   And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”

   So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim!

   
   
3. The oil only stopped pouring when all the jars were full.
   
   

   Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.

   “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

Application:

I love fried dumplings. I enjoyed baked products. However, we rarely consider the secret agent in these products. That secret agent causes them to increase exponentially, in size. Yeast or baking powder is the little that becomes much. When yeast or baking powder is in the midst of the batter, it becomes the activating agent that catalyzes the little’s transformation into much until it reaches its limits or fills the pan.

God is the yeast in our lives. When God is in the midst, our little has the potential to become much. The widow classified her small vial of olive oil as “nothing”. What we oftentimes consider as inconsequential can be maximised by God to give us a big blessing! When the widow watched how God used her little to make much, even she became a believer, demanding more jars so that they could be filled. The little oil only stopped pouring when there was nothing left be filled. Just like with baking, with God, our yeast, in the midst, our little will expand until it has reached the limits God has set or our needs are met.

Do you have an urgent need like the widow? Let God be the yeast in your life. With Him in the midst, your little can increase exponentially.