Article December 19, 1988 Issue

Filling the empty vessels

Whatever form it may seem to take in our experience, our true supply is actually spiritual and comes only from God.

Robert L. T. Holcomb

She was a widow. The creditor had come to collect on debts that she had been unable to pay. She was in desperate straits. So she turned to a family friend for help.

These events could relate to the circumstances of a widow in any number of countries around the globe today—in Ethiopia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Lebanon, or even in one of the more prosperous nations. But the facts are drawn from a narrative in the Bible.

In the fourth chapter of II Kings we read of the widow who turned to her friend Elisha, the prophet of God. In the account Elisha helps the widow in what would still seem to us a miraculous way. The small amount of oil left in the woman's house is multiplied to such a degree that she can pay off her debts. Not only that, there is enough left over to continue to provide for her and her sons.

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