Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
““Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.””
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, November 7, 2018
by Rev. Stefanie Fauth, Clergy Stuff
God can provide in even the most dire of situations.
It doesn’t mean that we can just pray and all our bills will be covered this month - but God has a funny way of showing up when we are in need.
We see it most often when families have a new baby. They are running short on sleep and energy - and friends and family have a habit of showing up with food and baby clothes and diapers or just the offer to hold baby while you take a quick nap. It’s not quite the same as a financial windfall, but it’s sure helpful when you are in the trenches of child rearing!
We also see it around the holidays - donations to food-shelves and charitable organization dramatically increase around Thanksgiving and Christmas - because when you feel the excitement and love of the Holiday Spirit, you are moved to give so that others might have some joy, too.
What about the rest of the year? Cold and dark January, when work is scarce and a family struggles to pay the heat bill. Or the summer time when schools are not providing free meals to families with limited means?
This abundance of God isn’t always a mystical, multiplying of oil to sell for money incident - the abundance of God is often carried out by the hands of believers.
By all means, share when the Christmas spirit has you feeling joyful - but don’t forget that many are in need all throughout the year.
Notice where you have been given an abundance - and be sure to share what God has given to you!
Narrative Lectionary Daily Reading:
2 Kings 4:1-7
Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.” Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.” He said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.” So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There are no more.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.”
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