What's in Your Hand? 2 - The Tale of Three Widows
A widow from a land called Zarapheth struggles to provide for she and her son. Life is hard. A famine has overtaken the land and she has next to nothing. The tiny woman goes into town to gather sticks to make a small fire so that she can prepare a meal for the two of them with the last of their food. “I’ve been very unfortunate,” she says wiping away a tear. “The husband of my youth has died leaving me and my son destitute. He is so thin and weak. I cannot bear to watch him waste away right in front of my eyes.” The ground before her blurs through her tears when a man, a stranger, asks her for a drink of water. There is a well nearby. Before she can even reply he adds to his request. Could she give him some bread from her hand?
Her reply is bitter. “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar, and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” (I Kings 17:12) The Lord HIS God, not hers. Whether it’s because she is not an Israelite or because she feels rejected by the gods, her words are shot through with despair.
Perhaps this was opportunity rather than an offensive request.
The man, the prophet Elijah from the foreign land of Israel says, “Don’t be afraid, go and do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’”(vs. 13-14)
What a request! Would he deny her family their last meal? But what did she have to lose? A glimmer of hope flickered in her heart. Perhaps this was opportunity rather than an offensive request. This man spoke with authority about his God. Maybe, just maybe this God cared about even a Gentile widow woman and her son. Hope building, she runs to her home and makes two cakes, one for the man of God and the other to share with her son…”and she and her household ate for many days.” God provided for the prophet, the widow and her son until the end of the famine. What was not enough multiplied into more than enough.
The second widow was much the same. A generation later, and the widow of a prophet, her family was in danger of being enslaved. Her husband, a godly man, had debt and died before he could pay it off. The debtors had come over and over again pounding on the door threatening to take her sons as their slaves as payment. “Where is God?” she wonders. “Already, I am left without a husband to provide and protect us. And now He wants my sons too?”
Sometimes it takes our community to show us our gifts; the things that are most important.
Before bitterness flattens any hope, she runs with her questions to the man of God, Elisha, the prophet Elijah’s protege. He likely heard about the woman in the first story from his mentor. When she tells him of her dilemma he says, “…what do you have in the house?” (II Kings 4) or in today’s language, “What do you have on hand?” She answers, “Only a small jar of oil.” Sometimes it takes our community to show us our gifts; the things that are most important. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees because it’s all so familiar and ordinary. But he shows her what is in her hand. She has oil!
Oil had a myriad of uses in that time: currency, cosmetic, medicinal, for cooking, for illumination. She only has a little, but this little goes a long way. Elisha instructs her, “Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors…do not get a few.” (II Kings 4:3) And so she gathers her precious boys, and says, “We must do what the prophet says! Run over to all of our friends’ and neighbors’ houses and ask them for empty vessels! Get as many as you can. Quickly now!”
And they run as if their life depends on it because their life depends on it. Back and forth, from house to house, out of breath, hope rising that obeying the prophet will have good results like the old story their father had told of the widow giving the prophet the last of her food. And finally when they’ve found all the empty vessels they can, their mother closes the door behind them and begins to pour…and pour…and pour. The entire family witnesses the miracle together. More oil comes out than could have been contained in the jar and yet it keeps pouring. Jar after jar is filled until she has enough to pay the debt AND live comfortably on the leftovers. God not only provides for the current need, but for the future need as well.
Hundreds of years later, the last widow came hobbling up to the Temple. She had a penny. It was the last money she had. She had been told the story of the two widows. She wanted to give all that she had to God. Jesus observes her. He says, “This poor widow put in more than al the contributors…” (Mark 12:43) I’ve heard a lot about when you give it’s multiplied back to you. The power of generosity…how you can’t out give God and how He takes care of those who trust Him in their giving. But this time, reading this story, this widow taught me something new. Our gift is multiplied AS we give sacrificially! He said she gave MORE out of her poverty than those who gave out of their abundance. This means that when I stand in front of a non-profit building adorned with the signs of family foundations, or bricks etched with donors names and I wistfully wish I had the money to make a difference like that, that God multiplies my $15, my penny, and in His economy multiplies it as a gift, not just as a seed for my future! Yes, God will give back, but let’s not forget that He multiplies what is in our hand too! Our little bit makes a big Kingdom difference!
As we enter into this giving season “do not despise small beginnings.” It just might be that you give more than anyone as you give sacrificially. And yes! As you give you are opening a door to the beautiful future He has prepared for you. So, what’s in your hand? A loaf of banana nut bread? A small business idea? A penny? Let your gift multiply, both in the giving and the gift your receive in return.
