“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 small jar of olive 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 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)
There will be days when you think nothing is left. You will think you have no more energy! You will face a predicament where you think you have done all you can do. Your situation seems to have both your hands tied securely and there is no obvious solution in sight. On some days, you may think you have run out of resources or reliable help at times. When any of those days or similar days show up; when you face these potent predicaments and stunning situations; when you think there is no help available; when you think nothing is left in all these occurrences, think again! You are better off than you think, for there are some things you can do.
Here are just some of the things you can do, based on the opening, profitable scriptures: (1) Let the faith that has been present in your home continue to be demonstrated. Your faith will have a positive impact on others in the house. (2) Call on God’s representative. The representative could be your pastor, a fellow saint, someone who you know trust God in all things, one of the saints that just went to a “How To Workshop,” one of the inspired writers of the books of the Bible, or it could be Jesus. Yes, of course you can call on the ultimate representative of God, our friend like no other, Jesus. Tell Jesus all about your troubles. He loves to hear from you, and He loves to help you and He loves to have you remember that the Lord is a very present help in times of trouble. (3) Look past the obvious, that which you can see, and act on faith as instructed. Remember, we walk by faith and not by sight. “We walk” means we keep pursuing what we need when we think nothing is left. (4) Follow the advice of God’s representative without question and without wavering. (5) Don’t be ashamed to seek help from your faith community. We encourage one another! (6) Keep working on replacing what you described as “nothing left.” Can’t you see, if you just look at what you barely have left or don’t have at all, and you do not look at what God has, you will be about ready to give up? Don’t do that! In your own specific way, follow the example of the woman above, and keep pouring. (7) When you have done all you can do, wait on the Lord and see how He will make a way out of no way.
Praise God! Isn’t God good? Has He ever supplied your needs before, at a time when you thought you had nothing left? Well, my friend, trust God! For He can, and He will do it again! Be uplifted today and lift up your hands in praise too! Praise God for how He will keep His promise to take care of you! Take the advice in the lyrics below! Be blessed!
Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you.
Beneath His wings of love abide. God will take care of you.
God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way.
He will take care of you! God will take care of you.
No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you. Lean, weary one, upon His breast
God will take care of you!
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King