May 27 - Nº 147 2 Kings 4:1-7, 38-44; 6:1-7
Elisha was the leader of a group of men known as the School of Prophets. They lived, learned, and worshiped together. Not all of them had a supernatural gift to predict what was going to take place, but they were all training to be religious teachers. One of these prophets died, and his wife came to Elisha and said, “You know that my husband honored God. But now he is dead, and a man he owed money to has come to collect it. Since I don’t have any money, he is going to take my two sons and sell them as slaves!” Elisha asked her, “What do you have in your house that is valuable?” “Nothing,” she replied. “All I have is a small jar of oil.” Elisha told her to borrow all the empty jars she could from her neighbors. When she had collected them, she was to go inside her house with her sons and close the door. “Pour the oil into the jars,” he instructed her. “When one is full, set it aside and fill the next one.” The widow and her sons did exactly as Elisha had instructed. When the last container was full, the oil stopped flowing. She ran and told Elisha. He said, “Now, go and sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left over.” A short time later, there was a famine in the region where the school of prophets was located. Elisha told his servant to put a large pot on the fire and get ready to cook some stew. One of the men went into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine that was full of gourds. He picked as many as he could carry in his garment. He cut them up and put them into the stew not knowing they were poisonous. When the stew was ready, some of the prophets tasted it and realized what had happened. They yelled, “Man of God, watch out! There is death in the pot! Don’t eat it!” Elisha immediately said, “Bring me some flour.” He threw it in the pot and said, “Now serve it.” It was no longer poisonous, and everyone was able to safely eat the stew! Another time, a man brought Elisha 20 small loaves of bread made from the first ripe grain he harvested. Elisha told his servant to give them to the prophets. “But there will not be enough,” his servant replied. “We have 100 men and there are only 20 small loaves.” “Give it to them.” Elisha instructed. “The Lord says, ‘There will be enough, and you will even have extra.’” Sure enough, after they had all eaten, there were leftovers! As the school grew, the prophets decided to enlarge their facilities. Elisha went with them to chop logs from the trees that grew near the Jordan River. As one of the men was cutting down a tree, the head of his ax fell into the water. The man was upset because he had borrowed the ax from a friend. “Where did it fall into the river?” Elisha asked. He cut a stick and threw it in the water right where the young man pointed. Miraculously the heavy iron ax head floated to the surface, and the man was able to reach out and grab it. Over and over, God chose to demonstrate His supernatural power through Elisha.
God’s power supersedes all our physical and scientific laws. That makes Him a God of miracles! He will never ask us to accomplish anything that He cannot complete through us—no matter how impossible (or trivial) it may seem! Elisha taught the prophets that they could trust God to meet all their needs. Do you trust God with all your needs?
