WHEN

2 Kings 2:5

‘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.’

What really stands out is the woman’s obedience. Not once did she ask why she had to go and collect the jars, be alone with her sons, or stand and pour oil. I’m sure what she was hoping for was simply someone to help her settle the debts. When she began to pour, what she gained was so much more. 

I wonder if she understood the totality of the miracle when she poured. Do you have those times when someone leaves a carton of juice or milk in the fridge with only a drop left in it?  (If you can’t relate then maybe you live with respectful people!) Could you imagine shaking the carton to feel there’s not much but then pouring it out in abundance! God turned the woman’s lack into abundance in a way that she had not expected. Her experience should encourage us to ask God to enlarge our minds in expectation of what he can do for us, in us and with us - in remarkable ways! 

‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us’ ( Ephesians 3:20) 

In the passage, despite the woman filling all the jars she had, there was still more oil to be poured out. The oil only stopped flowing because there were not enough jars, not for a lack of oil supply. With God there is always more. We cannot comprehend all that God can do when we are obedient and align ourselves with his will. Miracles don’t always look like we think they should. Pay attention to the unlikely - do not be afraid of it. Our wisest thoughts and actions do not come anywhere close to God’s. 

Prayer – At the end of this RESET week let us pray that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit, that he would help us with obedience and that we would see an overflow of his presence in our lives and in the world around us.