When All I’ve Got is All I Need

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest (II Kings 4:1–7, KJV).

II Kings 4 speaks of a certain woman. A time ago, this certain woman was the wife of a son of the prophets. There was an element of prestige to their manner of living. However, her husband died and left her with a sizable amount of debt. A creditor came knocking on her door, and was prepared to exercise his right to take her sons as indentured servants to work of the incurred debt.

As a mother in a desperate state, she goes to the man of God for help. The prophet Elisha asked her what she had in her house. And, her response? Nothing but a pot of oil.

The olive tree was the most abundant tree in the Mediterranean, and its oil has chief value. All throughout Scriptures, we see evidence of the many uses of oil in cooking, lighting lamps, making soap, religious ceremonies, weaponry (once heated), and in anointing oil.

While oil was of extreme value, the woman had little esteem for what she had in her life. In her circumstance, the woman failed to see that the oil in her home had the same value it always had. Her situation didn’t change its value; it was still worth something!

Elisha told the woman to get as many vessels as she could find, and to start pouring the oil. Because of her desperation for her sons, she obeyed the man of God. She shut all of her doors. She had to keep out the world and any element of disbelief. Then, she began the work of pouring the oil.

Once the oil was poured, and every vessel filled, Elisha told her to sell the oil. She was to take what she had and ensure someone else got some of it. And, with the money she’d earn from selling the oil, she’d have enough money to pay off her debts and live on it the rest of her life. What she thought was irrelevant, turned out to be exactly what she needed.

God has placed treasures in His church that are meant for His children. These treasures have vast uses and are priceless to the church. Oil has great significance to the child of God. The oil poured on the heads of prophets to anoint them for ministry symbolized the presence of the Lord. The Holy Ghost—the oil of God’s anointing—was meant to saturate (endue) us with God’s presence and power.

There are too many of us today who think we need something else. The world looks like it can offer us much more than what we have, and we walk away from the oil of God’s presence. Today, we need to realize we have everything we’ll ever need in Jesus. God gave the riches of His glory to the saints (Ephesians 1:18).

We cannot discount what God has already given us. When we stand on and value what He’s given us, we will see how it will always meet our every need. The hour has come where we cannot stand idly by and watch the enemy of our souls take victory. We still have oil and we still have His name! It’s time to start revival with what we have. It’s time to take victory with what we have. Because what we have is all we need!