Daily Devotional

Some of you may remember the phrase, "And now for the rest of the story." It was made famous by Paul Havey's radio show that revealed unknown elements about personalities or historical elements, many times ending in a surprise or odd twist.

I feel like that's how the story of Elisha and the Widow's oil plays out. Elisha gives the widow instructions but then waits for her to carry them out before he tells her the next thing to do. It reveals the faith the widow has in Elisha's ability to help her. Let's look at each step she takes in her obedience.

A woman approached Elisha and told him her husband, who was a God fearing man, is dead and his creditor is coming to take her two sons to be his slaves. Elisha questioned her and asked her to tell him what she had in her house. By her answer I'm assuming he meant in the way of something of value, as her answer was "nothing but a jar or oil."

Elisha then instructed her to go gather empty jars from all her neighbors, not just a few but a lot, and take them into her house and pour the oil from her one jar into the jars she collects. She could've thought he was crazy because she knew she only had one jar. How was she going to fill all the jars she collected? But she did what he told her to do.

When she had obeyed, and she ended up with "a lot" of full bottles of oil, he gave her the last instruction. "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest."

Sometimes we don't get the full answer all at once. Sometimes we have to take instruction, carry it out and wait for the next step. The widow didn't question, she just obeyed each step. She trusted Elisha. And then she knew "the rest of the story." Not only did he free her from debt but he provided a way for her to care for her family.

Step By Step  David (Beaker) Strasser
Chorus 1
O God You are my God
And I will ever praise You
O God You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

©1991 BMG Songs, Inc.
CCLI Song #696994 CCLI License #144020

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.