Step by Step

I love the stories of faith in  1 & 2 Samuel, the Kings and Chronicles.  Today I was in 2 Kings 4.  Most of us know the story of the Shunamite woman, her husband and young boy –  remember?  Seven sneezes and the little tyke came back to life.

Today I read the story just before it.  I’ll summarize, then you can go read it for yourself.

The wife -the widow- of one of Elisha’s colleagues came to him one day.  Life was bearing down on her.  With no income now that her husband is gone, the creditors were threatening to take her boys as slaves to make good on her debt.   Not a good day.

I noticed as I read today that Elisha didn’t lay the whole plan out in front of her, front to finish. Rather, he led her through the process one step at a time.

What do you have in the house?

A jar of oil.

Go gather some vessels – not a few.

Ok, we’ve done that, now what?

Now go in the house, you and the boys, and fill the vessels from your jar of oil.

Ummmmm OK.  (Scripture doesn’t say what she said under her breath as she walked back to the house.  I know what I’D have been tempted to say.)  Okay, boys, do what the man says….Wow, would you look at that?!!

Ok, Elisha, now what?

Now sell the oil, pay the creditors, and you three can live on the rest.

There’s a sign on her front yard that very afternoon:    Oil for Sale  FRESH

One step at a time.

Kind of builds the trust, doesn’t it?