“So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” 2 Kings 4:2

It is a human trait to always be after what we don’t have and to tend to underrate what we have. Rich and poor alike, that attitude is commonplace; and this is no new trend since people who lived centuries before us did display similar features. The Bible made mention of a few.

At the beginning of 2 King 4, we have a widow, a two-sons-mother, who depicted her social situation to the prophet Elisha in rather dark colours. Her husband passed away and as she could not pay the family debts, her creditors were considering taking their two children in compensation. When the prophet asked her what she had in her house, she answered: “your maidservant has nothing …” before adding “but a jar of oil”. That was her way of insinuating the oil was much too small to be useful for anything great. In Luke 9:13, when Jesus requested his disciples to feed the crowd themselves, they provided a quite similar reply: “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish” (NLV).

In these two stories, Elisha and Jesus did not bring the abundance people eventually witnessed from stuff taken from outside; nor did they raise the plenty from the vacuum; they merely applied the multiplication power on what was deemed insignificant and too marginal. In fact what people magnified as limits, Elisha and Jesus turned into potentials which, once blessed, became assets.

My brother and my sister, the solution you are looking for is certainly not as far from you as you often think. If only you would stop being far-sighted and become near-sighted, you will surely discover that seemingly small potential the Lord has equipped you with. Once you acknowledge its existence, use it earnestly, value it patiently and develop it passionately, it will first reveal you to yourself and then to the world. That which you now minimalize is going to be the root solution to the problems of the multitude; it will make the lives of many far better and yours ultimately much brighter.

Therefore, the next time you are tempted to complain about having nothing, first scan your immediate environment; you will discover the unsuspected glorious way to your greatness!

Prayer: Lord, please open my eyes to my great potential today! Amen!