Economic stress is not new to mankind. The human picture swings from abundance to lack and limitation, and vice versa. But the divine economy has a right use for every right idea, and in that economy no idea is ever impoverished or wasted, but always fulfilled. The Bible is filled with accounts of various human needs being met by means of some glimpse of this divine economy.
One such instance was that of a widow whose two sons were to be sold into bondage, as she could not raise the money to pay her creditors. She thought she was destitute. Elisha, the prophet, inquired what he could do for her. Then he asked her what she had in the house. He saw the woman's need and awakened her thought from fear and lack to the expectancy of good. He awakened her to see the oil she had as evidence of God's present, infinite good. The woman may have understood in a degree that in reality she had never been alone, unloved, burdened, or impoverished— never separated from God, the source of all good. The pot of oil had been there all along. "Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration" Science and Health, p. 592— this is how Mrs. Eddy defines "oil."
Elisha said to the woman, "Go, borrow thee vessels . . ., even empty vessels; borrow not a few." II Kings 4:3.
