Elisha & the Widow’s Oil

2 Kings 4:1-6

God keeps bringing this scripture to me at the last month of the year 2025. So I asked myself: What may God want me to understand that I’m not fully getting? God often speaks in repetition so we know it’s Him. First, I heard this story from Minister Tremaine Allison,  then through Bishop Carey Conor, and now this morning from Pastor Dr. Cynthia James. I’m led to reread this story for myself because God speaking in threes is also a sign of confirmation.

Here’s what I gathered from my own study: God sent Elisha to this woman because He never leaves us alone for long. I am a testament to this truth — God always sends someone. Why? Because we are not called to isolation.

In this story, the widow went straight to fear — fear of losing her children the moment her husband died. But notice what happens: Elisha asked her what she wanted him to do, and instead of waiting for her response, he gave her an assignment. He told her exactly what to do. God didn’t just give her oil — He gave her an assignment that led to the overflowing of oil. The woman didn’t have time to sit in fear because God distracted her with a purpose she didn’t yet know would bear fruit. Elisha brought her strategy — a divine plan — to multiply what little she had.

She had nothing left except one jar of oil, but God sent Elisha to give her a way to multiply it. Bishop Carey Conor says that when we ask God for help, He responds immediately. She asked, and God responded immediately, sending a prophet through Elisha to ensure that what she needed wasn’t delayed. Sometimes prayers get caught in the spiritual realm, but God knows how to connect us with the right people who can get a prayer through. I feel like running just thinking about it!

God was able to multiply the empty jars. What seems empty to man, God knows how to fill. God gave her emptiness increased capacity.

So my message from this story: God knows how to increase emptiness. God knows how to increase little. God knows how to stand in the gap. He is the Alpha and Omega — is anything too hard for God? Ask Him for help, and He will send provision, because He never leaves the anointed alone. His Word says, “I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging for bread.”

Multiply the help God gives you. What starts small, God can multiply, and the woman was able to live off that provision forever. Her husband’s death did not dictate whether she and her sons would live or die. Why? Because God is the ultimate provider, not man. That’s why there is a hierarchy: God, husband, children. When the husband died, God was above him. God is eternal and everlasting. Someone else’s death or lack does not determine the fruit God has for you — even if you are married to it.

God has sent me an Elisha — someone to help my writing reach the women and daughters who are on their last jar of oil. God put a word in me to tell them: His provision never runs out. It doesn’t just sustain; we can live off it. I thank You, God, for the gift of writing to be food for those who are hungry, a light for those walking in darkness.

God, help me not be bound by someone else’s finances or lack. I ask You for help and for wisdom to steward what You give me well, producing multiplication from it. Let me never depend on man, because You, God, are my ultimate resource. You’re not a way — You are the Way. I prophesy multiplication over my writing. Let the oil drip from every letter until it reaches the heart of the one You intended, God.