Key scripture – “Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:1-7).

One of the reasons why we do not see what God is doing in our life is because we expect God to fit our template. God has a definite way that He works and the story about the prophet Elisha and the widow helps us to understand how He works.

Here is the first thing: we all face times of desperate needs. We will all have seasons of adversity. In this story the widows adversity was, her husband had died and the creditors had come to take her two kids. She was terrified and she did not know how she was going to survive.

The tendency of most people who are going through times of desperation is to think God has left them high and dry. They say, “I worship God and try to serve and obey Him and these are the thanks I get? Where is God now?” The answer is, He is very close, even when you are not seeing it. Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saved the crushed in spirit.” Here’s the point: There is a way that God is near when we are going through hardship that is unlike any other time in our life. Did you know that? Does God answer our prayers and do it when we want it, not always. Does He give us exactly what we want, not necessarily. But God sees, God knows, and God answers and He gives us what He knows we need and what is good for us, not what we think is good for us.

Here is the second thing: So you have a desperate need, and you ask God to take care of it, but the next question is, “How is the solution going to come?” Here is the answer: God needs only what you have to solve the problem. No matter what difficult spot you are in, no matter how big your need is, God needs only what you have. “And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you?” Then he asked her another question: “Tell me; what have you in the house?” Her response to the first question was silence. Sometimes we are in such a difficult place we don’t know what to say. The situation is so torn up and twisted you can’t even conceive what the answer should be. No problem. God knows your need and loss for words. When you put yourself on your knees before God and say, “God I can’t imagine how this could ever be solved?” Have no fear, God already knows.

The widow did not know what to ask for or what to do so Elisha says, “Tell me, what you have in the house.” Underline that, “In the house.” Her response was, all I have is a jar of oil. This was not like Pennzoil it was a kind of perfume or cooking oil. This is all she had of any value. So often when we are in a desperate place, we look at our health, our finances, our job, or our career and we say to ourselves, “I have nothing! There’s nothing here!” But we are wrong. God needs only what you have. It may seem you have little; but it’s not nothing. God’s answer to your situation is coming through something you already have. God will multiply and expand it. God will even use you to bring about the very solution you’re looking for.

If God needs only what I have, then what do I have? I have the Word of God, a massive storehouse of insight and wisdom; I have prayer, which gives me access to God and His resources; I have some good Christian friends who love and care for me and pray for me; I go to a church that takes prayer seriously.

The Third thing is: God does only what we can’t do. Elisha told the widow, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels; and not too few.” God had her collect the empty vessels and then He had her go from jar to jar filling the vessels. God was teaching her and us this lesson; Do what you can do then leave the rest to me. Do everything you can, then when you come to the end of that lay the rest down before God, LEAVE IT ALONE, and wait on Him, and God will provide, how He wants to, and when He wants to.

How will you know if you are trying to hard and trying to do what God wants to do for you:

a. You feel tired and spent rather than filled with peace and contentment. When you are forcing it and you are agitated you are trying to hard.

b. You are pressing in a way that makes other people scratch their heads. You need to settle down and remember we’ve done our part now let God do his part.

c. If you are praying to God and telling Him how He should do it and when He has to do it, instead of what you need Him to do, you are trying to hard. You can pray about what you want God to do but don’t tell Him how to do it and when He has to do it. When you pray how and when prayers, you are trying to hard. Prayer should focus on what we need, and leave the timing and the means to God.

d. You are trying to hard when you are losing your joy over this one thing and failing to see all the rest. You get focused on one thing, “This thing, God. This has to change. I gotta have this problem solved. I’ve go to get married. I’ve got to have a child. I’ve gotta have this job. I will not be happy until it happens.”

Fourth thing is, God fills only what we offer. This is the primary point of this text. Did you know that God fills only what we offer to Him? When you turn your needs over to God, because you have stepped out in faith, you need to understand how God works. If you are using what you have and you are doing what you can, this final thing is essential: God fills only what you offer, so what have you given God to fill?

The widow in the story could have used all kind of excuses for not going around and collecting the vessels from her neighbors. She could have said, “I am to busy, or to depressed because I just lost my husband. I don’t want people to laugh at me if God does not come through. or I will collect just two jars and see what God does.”

If you are doing that, stop it. Look at what the text says, “So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing.” God flows into the receptive empty places by His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is the One who brings you answers to the prayers you pray. God keeps giving Himself as long as we bring Him that into which He can pour Himself. When we stop bringing, He stops giving.

What empty place do you need to offer up to God right now? But you say, “It is easier to not even want it anymore.” No, it isn’t. Keep waiting, keep wanting, keep longing, keep praying, keep inviting, and keep holding up that empty place to God. He will come and fill it.

What empty place are you holing up to God? Take a moment to talk to The Lord about your life. Form a little cup with your hands in your lap as an expression of your faith to God. What does that empty place represent? The Bible says, “Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.” (Psalm 66:5). For countless generations The Lord has filled up those empty places that people of faith have held up to Him: family, finances, health, every form of desperate need, and every reminder of emptiness. God has done awesome deeds for those who have trusted and waited on Him. They have tasted and seen God is good. Remember – He is working even when we can’t see Him.

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, thank You that You are a faithful Creator and a good, patient, kind, and long suffering God. Forgive me for trying to squeeze You into a mold. I humble myself before You and I offer my empty places to You. Fill my vessel with your presence and Your spirit. I cannot do it without You. Forgive me for thinking that I have to see what You are doing before I believe You are doing something. Forgive me for limiting Your ways and Your thoughts to what I can think and do. You are not like me because You can do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what I can ask or think, and that is why I need to give everything to You and trust You to take care of it in Your way and Your time. Help me to walk by Faith and not by sight. Thank You that You are Patient, Good, and always Faithful. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.