God Provides But We Still Have To Get The Jars

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."

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 little oil."

Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. 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."

She left him and afterward 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." 2 Kings 4:1-7 (NIV)

You know, as I was reading this text today (I'm reading through both Old and New Testaments using the NLT One Year Bible) it occurred to me that God is always faithful to provide what we need, but He still expects us to go out and get the oil jars!

Some times I think it can be easy to sit back and wait for God to provide something in our lives we need or want, saying to ourselves "Well, let's see what God's going to do". We do this sincerely believing we are waiting on God or practicing patience, but what if what we are really doing is expecting God to materialize a "rabbit out of the hat"? What if we move into a place of entitlement, expecting God to give us what we want with as little effort on our part as possible? What if what we are really doing is disguising fear or a lack of faith in what God can do behind a screen of "patiently waiting"? What is we are actually stalling God's blessing? What if we have completely missed the point that some times God wants us to do some foot work first. Take a step of faith toward Him.

Maybe He wants us to collect the oil jars so He can go about the business of filling them with what we need.

Think about it, other than providing manna from heaven and quail for the Israelites in the desert (which shows us how merciful God is to provide even when we have nothing to offer Him) most of the time God's people are asked to check their stuff and see what they have to offer God before He goes about making sure there's more than enough to supply their need. For instance, Jesus, when He fed the five thousand people asked the disciples what they had among them for food before He multiplied it so much that there were baskets of leftover fish and bread.

Faith is not merely a passive act of waiting but an attitude of prepared expectancy.

Have you been waiting for God to do something or provide in your life? Perhaps you should check and make sure you've got some oil jars ready for Jehovah Jireh to fill. 

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