A Pot of Oil

“What hast thou in the house? Not anything save a pot of oil,” II Kings 4:2.

passage before us is a striking object lesson of the Holy Ghost in His all-sufficiency for the supplying of every source of need.

First, we have, in the case of this poor widow, an example of great need. Her situation was one of debt, danger, distress, and of complete helplessness.

Nearly all the great examples of faith and victorious grace which we find in the Scriptures came out of situations of extremity and distress. God loves hard places, and faith is usually born of danger and extremity

Was there, then, nothing left for her? Was she entirely without resources? ‘’Tell me, what hast thou in the house?’’ And she answered, “Thy servant hath nothing, save a pot of oil.” To her that seemed nothing, and yet it contained the supply of all her need.

But that little pot of oil was not a little thing. It represented the power of the Holy Ghost, the infinite attribute of God Himself.

We need not stop to prove that oil is the Sriptural symbol of the Holy Spirit. And so this little vessel of oil represented the presence and power of the Spirit, which every believer may have, and in some measure does have, and which, if we only know how to use Him, is equal to every possible situation and need of our Christian life. But in how many cases is this an unrealized power and an unemployed force?

There is a grim story told of a poor Scotchwoman who went to her pastor in her extremity, and told him of her poverty. He kindly asked her if she had no friend or member of her family who could support or help her, and she said she had a son, a bonny lad, but he was in India, in the service of the government. ‘‘But does he not write to you?’’ “Oh, yes; he often writes me, and sends the kindest letters, and such pretty pictures in them. But I am too proud to tell him how poor I am, and, of course, I have not expected him to send me money.” “Would you mind showing me some of the pictures?” said the minister. And so Janet went to her Bible, and brought out from between the leaves a great number of Bank of England notes, laid away with the greatest care. “These,” she said, “are the pictures.” The minister smiled, and said, “Janet, you are richer than I am. These are bank notes; and every one of them might have been turned into money, and you have had all your needs supplied. You have had a fortune in your Bible without knowing it.”

Alas, beloved, many of us have fortunes in our Bibles without knowing it, or using our infinite resources! The Holy Spirit is given to us to be used for every sort of need, and yet, with all the power oi heaven at our call, many of us are going about in starvation, simply because we do not know our treasure, and do not use our redemption rights.

But she must make room. She must get vessels, and empty vessels, to hold the supply which is about to be revealed. And so our greatest need is to make room for God.

Again, there must be faith to count upon God and go forward expecting Him to meet our need. And so she did not wait till the oil was running over from her little pot. But she provided the vessels in advance and acted as though she had an unbounded supply.

She showed her faith by beginning to pour out the contents of the little pot into the larger vessel.

And as she poured, it continued to flow and overflow until every vessel was filled, and still that little pot was running, and it might have been running still if there had been room enough to hold its multiplying stream.

So faith must go forward and act out its confidence and risk itself by doing something and putling itself in the place where God must meet it with actual help. It was when the water at Cana was poured out that it became wine. It was when the man stretched out his hand that it was healed. It was as the lepers went on their way that they were made whole. It was as the father went back to his home that the messenger was sent to tell him that his son was alive.

There is yet another lesson, the most important of all: ‘’Go, sell the oil, and live thou and thy children of the rest.’’ The oil was but the representative of value, and was convertible into everything that she could need. And so the Holy Ghost is convertible into everything that we can require.

There is a parallel passage in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke which teaches a great lesson. In the one passage it reads, “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.” In the parallel passage in the other Gospel, instead of the Holy Spirit, it reads, “Give good things to them that ask Him.” That is to say, the Holy Ghost gives all good things and He is equivalent to an)^thing and everything that we need.

The oil did not stop until the woman stopped; God was stilling working when her faith reached its limit. And the same God is working still.