I can’t find any good news about the future real estate market. Over a million people have stopped paying their mortgages and the only job creation is in governmental agencies that promise to bring us more government regulations. Most people I talk to feel like the woman in 2 Kings 4—no resources, lots of creditors, no hope. But when I read the story in 2 Kings 4:1-7, I find some principles that can help all of us.

verse 4:1

The woman “cried out.” She had a good heritage in following the Lord. As the wife of one of the prophet’s sons, she had seen God do some miraculous stuff. But now she needed a miracle herself and she wasn’t too shy to speak up.

–God can’t meet your need if you won’t admit you have it. And if you tell somebody, talk to a person who knows God and is mature in the faith.

verse 4:2

Elisha asks her, “What do you have in your house?” It’s a little like when God asked Moses at the burning bush, “What do you have in your hand?” If you are in need, don’t curl up in a corner and whine. Answer the question, “What DO you have? What resources ARE available to me?”

–The very thing God probably wants to use is right in front of you.

verses 4:3-7

God could have used Elisha to just fill up her water pots with oil, but He didn’t. Instead, the woman had to commit herself to an act of obedience that showed she believed and she involved her sons in the process. After all, their lives were on the line as well. The prophet told her to go get some empty jars, “not a few.” Elisha doesn’t tell her how many to go borrow, but he tells her to get a lot of them. We don’t know how long it took for her and the boys to scour the neighborhood and we’re not sure what they told the neighbors when they asked to borrow vessels. But we do know they were obedient and were willing to work.

–The object of any test God permits in our lives is not just so God can supply it. He could drop what you need out of the sky. God’s objective in testing is this: to give our faith an opportunity to be exercised and grow strong through obedience.

There was just enough oil to fill every borrowed vessel. And those vessels were enough to pay the widow’s debts. There are no shortages in God’s economy. Here’s what we can learn from the widow and her sons:

• Cry out to God with your need and share it with a believer who has divine viewpoint.
• Be ready to answer the question, “What resources DO I have?”
• Move out in faith, do the work required and leave the supply to God.

Summer is already over. But I’m still thinking about those warm days—like that Sunday in July when we had our church picnic. I grew up going to church picnics–”dinner on the grounds” as we used to call it.

While preparing food for the July get-together, I found myself humming an old hymn while I flew around the kitchen. I had this strange sense of excitement about the next day’s picnic. And in the middle of stirring up a pink fluff salad I figured out why.

Some of my best memories of childhood are at potlucks “on the grounds.” My parents and grandparents all attended a little Bible church in Independence, Missouri. Back in the ‘50’s my family showed up every time the doors were opened. It was a place where I felt loved—not just by my parents, but by an entire congregation. I never felt more a part of God’s family than at one of those pot luck picnics.

I stopped cooking long enough to go downstairs and find a picture of me and my mother standing under the trees outside our country church. Behind us are Betty, Pansy, Mary and others arranging the tables with piles of wonderful food. My mother is young with a plaid cotton skirt. She’s holding my hand. I’m a little 5-year-old girl with pigtails, a Sunday dress and a big smile. Those picnics were a safe place where a little girl could run and play within the boundaries of God’s people. And that is why I still get excited about dinner on the grounds.

Memories like that, have kept me close to people like that, for over 50 years. At our church picnic in July, I took a lot of pictures of children standing with people who love them. When life gets tough, memories of a church picnic just might keep them connected to a safe place surrounded by God’s people.