When I consider news of recessions, lack of financial stability for families or countries, and job scarcity, I’m often sent back to the Old Testament, where I encounter one of the most effective economists the world has ever known. The biblical prophet Elisha left a record of healing work that provides us, to this day, permanent solutions that apply to worldwide and individual economic conditions.

In Second Kings, chapter 4, a widow approaches Elisha and explains that she has a large amount of debt, that she has not been able to restructure this debt (the current focus of many economic efforts worldwide), and that as a result, the bankers are going to take her two sons as collateral. The situation would take away her ability to secure income in the future, since her sons would not be earning wages for the household.

Elisha asks the widow a question that has brought a leavening spiritual perspective and healing to many households: “What hast thou in the house?” The widow names her most valuable asset: oil. (This was oil used for bodily ointment and possibly for burial purposes.) Elisha then instructs the widow to identify and focus on her most valuable asset, not on a garage sale of unwanted debris. The most valuable asset—one that would also be valued by others, restoring the perfect economic balance between supply and demand!

It is interesting to note that the woman already had the perfect economic solution in her very own house—or, interpreted spiritually, within her own consciousness. She just needed to see or recognize it. The prophet’s question, “What hast thou in the house?” was asked not only for the widow, but for us as well. “What have you of greatest value in the house, in consciousness, that you can give?” Considering this question helps us identify and remove feelings of fear, helplessness, or victimization—elements of “scarcity thinking”—when praying about finances.

The apparently complex engineering of a perfect economy is well within the capability of God, the supreme power, to accomplish.

Elisha then continued to instruct the widow: “Go out and collect empty containers.” This step brings the whole community into the economic solution, thereby blessing all. It illustrates the interrelatedness of God’s ideas in demonstrating supply. Finally, the widow’s sons return to the house with every container they could round up. (I have often wondered if they really looked hard enough—because the miracle that follows is only limited by the number of vessels collected.) The perfect solution was on hand to wipe out lack for the rest of their lives. How many today would like to benefit from this condition of permanent supply in their lives?

Next, God pours forth the solution—the oil. There must have been a perfect market at a perfect price for the containers of oil, right at that time, because each one was sold, again illustrating the perfect balance of supply and demand. Then Elisha directs the widow to pay the debt and to continue to be a seller of oil, living off what was left in the house. This must have been a brand-new business for her, but there’s no indication that it was anything less than a perfect one.

I have often thought back to this story in my prayers about supply and for our economy, but I had never thought much about how critical the buyers of oil were to the lesson. When the oil was offered to them they bought it, completing the round of perfect balance. This illustrates that the apparently complex engineering of a perfect economy is well within the capability of God, the supreme power, to accomplish. Guided with instructions from Elisha, God’s messenger, the widow accomplished what had seemed impossible. The same precise, divinely inspired guidance is available to each of us today, to guide us out of debt or scarcity.

I’ve seen abundant evidence of this divine guidance in my own family’s economy. To take one example, during a devastating real estate downturn a number of years ago, we were forced to sell our house at a price far below what it was worth. I prayed consistently, acknowledging the presence of divine Principle, God, as active in our lives and governing our experience. I humbly asked how I could better express Principle. I felt guided to go ahead with another real estate transaction, and on this transaction the full amount of our loss was recouped and we were left in a stable financial condition.

The founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, expanded my understanding of the story of the oil. She wrote, “God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 307). This aptly describes what happened to the widow, and the truth of this statement was demonstrated repeatedly in Mrs. Eddy’s life, including at times when she had no home of her own.

I’m continually inspired by the story of Elisha helping the widow, because the account addresses every dimension of financial healing: focus; recognition of one’s most valuable asset or skill; the understanding that relief is available when we turn to God; a refusal to be victimized by debt or a suffering economy; acknowledgment that supply is spiritual and necessarily unlimited; and more. Elisha met each limiting suggestion head-on and proved that divine intelligence guides any individual, family, or nation to whole and full supply
—in Bible times, and right at this moment.