save her two sons from being sold for debt, that is from becoming slaves in order to pay a debt. Elisha asked her what she had in the house, and she answered:
“Not anything. . . save a pot of oil,”
Then he told her to go and borrow all the vessels she could from her neighbors.
“Borrow not a few” was his instruction.
Then she was to pour oil from that little pot of oil until all the vessels were filled.
She procured all that she could, the oil increased until the last vessel was full, and then “the oil stayed.”
“Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest.”
Here was an instance of a woman enriched by the law of God to the extent of her receptive capacity, which was limited. Paul reminds us that our capacity is unlimited and we must be conscious of it.
Let us therefore repeat that our capacity, our true
“contentment,” is our ability to contain all the blessings that the good God pours out upon us.
Let us practice removing every limitation that we have been prone to put upon ourselves as to either receiving or disbursing. We do not need to depend on our neighbors for our increase. The Lord within us is our support; who shall limit us?
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