Nothing Except
Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice.
Psalm 51:8 (NLT)
Several years ago, when my first husband and I were separated, my Christmas forecast was miserable. I wasn’t getting child support and I was flat broke. After paying bills and buying diapers, my calculator displayed a measly fifteen dollars left over for the entire month. How am I going to make it? I wondered.
To distract my thoughts, I got busy making matching robes for my daughter and niece out of old bath towels I no longer used. As adorable as they were, I still had nothing for my son.
To be honest, when my bank account was full, it was easy to be happy, but when I was broke, despair ruled my emotions. It’s hard to walk by faith, I sighed.
Struggling with discouragement, I flipped open the pages of my Bible for a quick game of Bible Roulette. As fate would have it, my Bible opened to the story of the widow’s oil in 2 Kings chapter 4.
This can’t be good, I thought. I had heard this story before. This lady was in worse shape than I was. She was a stay-at-home mom too. (What other kind of mom was there back then?) She relied on her husband for everything but now he had passed and her creditors were coming to repossess her assets. The problem was that she didn’t own anything of value—no real estate, vehicles or jewelry. Her only possessions were her two sons. So she ran to Elisha for help.
You may not be a widow but you can probably identify with her anxiety, especially in today’s economic crisis. Maybe you’ve lost your job or your marriage. Maybe you’re widowed or worried. Maybe you’re angry or depressed.
I have often wished that Christianity worked like a good luck charm, but unfortunately, God doesn’t promise that bad things will never happen to us. He does, however, promise that when they do, He will provide an answer.
I knew that in the midst of my crisis, God had a plan. He wanted to show me that He was faithful even when I had nothing. But first I had to give God something…my trust. So did the widow.
“What do you have in your house?” Elisha said.
Her answer was hopeless: “Your servant has nuuu-thing there at all.” The Bible doesn’t emphasize the word nothing, but I’m convinced she theatrically enunciated that word, letting her voice trail off like her nothing was the biggest nothing ever.
I can just see her fidgeting in exasperation and clinging to Elisha’s arm. But instead of a promise of relief, an uncomfortable silence lingered. Finally his gaze grew so awkward that the widow bit her lip. She felt compelled to continue. “Well, nothing…except a little oil.”
Sometimes it takes an outsider to get us back on track. If we look at our circumstances, they will lie to us. They deceive us and cause us to be overwhelmed. Elisha knew her perspective was wrong. She viewed the little bit of oil that she had as nothing. To her, it was so small that it wasn’t even worth mentioning. But God views the little we have as more than enough. And He knew that the widow’s miracle would not arrive until she gave away the little she had. Neither would mine.
We were at the grocery store when Garrett's eyes brightened. “Mommy, wook at the boo-ta-ful Kwis-mus trees.”
“Mom, they’re only fifteen dollars,” said Brittany. “Can we get one, pleeease?” The next thing I knew I was shoving my entire Christmas budget into the back of my station wagon.
Often, God requires us to give away the very thing we think we need the most.
The same thing happened to the widow. Elisha told her to ask all of her neighbors for empty jars that she could fill. He asked her to give away the only thing she had to others. He didn’t tell her what the outcome was going to be. She would have to learn to trust.
As the widow poured out her oil, it then became her provision. The very thing she gave away became the thing that sustained her. Sometimes we need the lack. You see, without a nothing except experience, we have no need to cry out to God. We don’t need God for the stuff we can handle. We need God for the stuff we can’t handle.
My situation was similar. After I spent all I had, God provided for my needs. The day before Christmas, an acquaintance brought over a ham and all the trimmings plus gifts for my children.
In my time of emptiness, God was more interested in showing me His faithfulness and he didn’t mind taking me through a season of lack to demonstrate it. Without a season of lack, I would never have learned how to experience true joy.
Maybe you are in a crisis situation and searching for relief. Maybe your bills are piling up and you don’t know how you are going to make it. God has the answers. In your own sufficiency, there is no room for a miracle, so surrender your plans to Him. He wants to turn your lack into provision. Remember, heaven’s math is radically different—it takes release to bring increase.
What is your nothing except? Step out in faith and trust God to multiply it.
Brittany & Mariam's Christmas towel robes
Posted on
Mon, December 15, 2008
by Christy Johnson
filed under