Borrowed Jars

All of God’s revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience…Obey God in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already. ~ Oswald Chambers

This quote from Chambers popped up in my “time hop” memories today…and I have been wrestling with it all day.

Has God ever whispered to your spirit to do something that sounded downright crazy? Several years ago, I was driving down a country road headed to a school our education program was serving. I passed by the house of a lady I knew and the Spirit immediately whispered, “Turn around, go back and pray with her.”

Nope – that wasn’t going to happen. Surely she would think I was some kind of spiritual nut-job or think I was being nosey. I went another few miles down the road and the nagging persistence of the message would not go away.

I finally turned around in obedience, went to the house and found the woman. We did the small-talk thing for a few minutes and then I spilled the beans about what God told me to do.

At that particular moment, our prayer time didn’t seem significant.

She did not divulge any life-threatening illness or confess any hair-raising sin. But later, as this person’s life unfolded before me, I could definitely understand why God sent me there. I am not at liberty to even share why, but trust me, it was a God-mission.

It is disquieting to think that our own disobedient actions may be the very reason God has not moved in critical situations in our lives. God does not need us to do anything; however, He sometimes requires us to participate through obedience.

The widow woman found in 2 Kings 4 had met her day of desperate need. Her husband was dead and left her in debt. Her creditors had come to claim her two sons for payment. She had nothing left in the house but a little oil. When she cried out to the man of God (Elisha), he gave her some strange instructions.

He told her to go borrow jars, empty jars from all her neighbors…and not too few.

How in the world would borrowing jars from her neighbors help her impossible situation?

What if this widow had not obeyed? What if she had been too embarrassed or proud to let her neighbors know she even had a need? She would have missed her miracle!

You see Elisha told her to take what little bit of oil she had and pour it into the empty jars she had borrowed. And when one was full, her sons would hand her another and another and another…until all the jars were filled. And then the oil stopped. Elisha told her to go sell some of the oil and pay her debts and then live off the rest.

If this widow had not done the first nonsensical step in obedience – to borrow jars – the miracle of the multiplying oil would not have happened.

Here are a few other “what ifs” to ponder:

• What if Noah had never picked up a tool to start building the ark? (Genesis 5)
• What if Esther had said “no” to being in the Miss Persia beauty pageant? (Esther 2)
• What if Gideon had refused to come out of hiding in the winepress when God called him? (Judges 6)
• What if Abraham refused to leave his home and set out on an unchartered journey? (Genesis 12)
• What if Naaman had refused to dip in the muddy waters of the Jordan? (2 Kings 5)

Obedience to what God is calling us to often seems out of the ordinary, nonsensical, or downright terrifying. Listen to what God is whispering to you. It unlocks the next step in your journey of faith.

Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
    empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
    not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
    is far worse than fooling around in the occult. 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (MSG)