A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers  

2 Kings 4:2, “And Elisha said unto her, ‘What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house?’ And she said, ‘Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.’” The elderly gentleman quietly sat on his front porch in rural Kentucky waiting for his Social Security check to be delivered. It was his routine on the third of each month. As he awaited the arrival of the mail carrier, he thought to himself, “Is this all my life is going to be from now on—sitting on the porch, waiting for my Social Security check?” He retrieved a pad of paper from the house and began to write down all of his abilities, all of his blessings, everything that he had going for him. He left out no detail. One of those gifts he inventoried was his mother’s recipe for fried chicken in which she used eleven different herbs and spices. Shortly thereafter, he went down to a local restaurant and asked if he could get a job frying their chicken. Very soon, the elderly man’s chicken became the most popular item on the menu. He then opened his first restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. Soon, he owned a string of restaurants throughout the country. When he eventually sold his franchise to a national organization, he was worth millions. He then became that company’s public representative. The franchise he sold? Kentucky Fried Chicken. The elderly man who refused to allow his life to be defined by a monthly Social Security check? Colonel Harlan Sanders. In our Scripture lesson today, Elisha asks an indebted widow to inventory her home. The only thing she had of any value was a simple pot of oil. Yet a complete reading of 2 Kings 4 reveals how that God took that simple pot of oil, and multiplied it, so she could sell the surplus and pay her debts. Listen, friend, have you inventoried your life lately? It’s easy to list the things you want that you do not have, but why not sit down today and list what you already have. You will find that you have more to be thankful for than you think; and what you already have in your life right now, is what God will use as a tool to bring you from off the front porch of despair, into the blessings that can begin with this new day.