Paid in oil

Debt is an ugly thing. It hangs on you, dressing everything with dull brown. There’s an ad on the bus stops in my neighborhood right now that shows a “tap to pay” symbol on a toaster. It reads, “Everything looks different when you’re in debt.” So true. 

It’s bondage that is all too common, all too familiar, to my generation. We bought a promise with interest that if you get a good degree and work hard, you’ll get the spouse, the house, and the two kids in the suburbs. Most of us millennials, and Gen Z after us, took out the loans and hit the books. But now, 5, 10, 15 years later, we’re finding that instead of a white picket fence, we have student loans and, at worst, unemployment. Sound familiar? Sound dismal? 

Yeah, it does, I’m sorry. Joel and I spent eight years and three apartments and every penny to pay off our loans, only to have the last bit forgiven and refunded to us — then demanded back two years later. We know. We put everything on hold to do it, too. Even serving the Lord. 

I sat through a series recently that was incredibly well done on financial wisdom. It was for children, and it rang so true. Debt, savings, earning. God has a lot to say on financial wisdom, as the love of money is the root of all evil. But using money well is also a source of tremendous good. He knows that, and tells us right off the bat what principles to live by. Give generously, save studiously, avoid debt, work hard. It is good and solid and true. 

But I went home and flopped on my couch. Knowing without looking at the state of my own finances, that after a year and a half of unemployment, it is still not great. I asked my husband, “Did we mess this all up?” Serving God has never seemed (financially) wise.  

He looked at me, and with a wry smile said, “Rachel, God paid the widow’s debt with oil.” 

And in one sentence, I remembered. 

Remembered that the God we serve is not limited. By anything. The widow and her sons were facing slavery. And Elisha came and told her to borrow all the jars and vessels she could. From all the people she could. And start filling them. And filling. And filling. Can you picture the whopping joy in that dark stuffy room as she and her boys poured liquid gold, more and more, up to the brim, over and over? Imagine the laughter. The shock. The freedom. This mama would keep her precious boys. 

I remembered that God set the world in order. With principles of earning and saving and owning and lending. Principles that are true to life…and good. Then He steps in and upends them with His appalling generosity. He raises dead people that should be dead. He forgives sinners that should be stoned. He knows what should be — and lets us watch Him overflow the system with grace. He pays debts with oil and taxes with coins from a fish’s mouth. Why? Because He can. It’s all His anyway. And…because He paid our moral debts with His own life, will He not take care of the rest?

Are the principles the same? Yes. Should we work and earn and spend and save and avoid debt? Yes. Those principles still stand. But the widow? The disciples? They were never the same. Living in a harsh world of hard and fast rules, they were freed from their bondage. They were sons and daughters of the King Himself. They found generosity they didn’t deserve. Over and over again. And will they ever be the same? No. Humbled, then filled, bursting with gratitude, they live in freedom. Not fear.

He did it over and over again. “Do the sons owe taxes?” He asked. He upended the natural with the supernatural. With grace. I suppose it's easy to think that stuff like that doesn’t happen today. But, I know many who would disagree. Many with an embarrassed smile admit that what they have, they shouldn’t. It’s His. They proved themselves incompetent over and over and He still used them. Still taught them. Still took care of them. Still blessed them. Fed them yes, but gave them abundance they generously passed on to others. Some of them are wealthy and you’d never, ever know. Because they know it’s all His. 

So, dear friend my age or younger that is overwhelmed with all the burdens of modern life and the cost of it all — this is for you. Attitude, not the bank statement, matters. If “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). We serve a God (that sets the rules), pays our debts, and says “Come, follow Me.”

And Him? He’s no one’s debtor. Lay it all on the table. The bit of oil left, the fish, the bread. The debt. Whatever you have. Lay it on the table and commit it to Him. And then obey Him with it. Walk in freedom and peace because He is in control. And He has enough. 

The cost of modern life can’t stop the kingdom from advancing. He still wants you to be a part of it. Satan wants us to retreat in fear — we don’t have enough! We’re in debt! But God says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” and “Follow Me because you are Mine.” Welcome the stranger and give to those who ask. Answer the call and trust Him with your every need. Book that trip to the mission field. Host the event for the church. Or — rest with your loved ones and trust Him with Sabbath. 

Don’t let the dismal state of the world dampen your confidence in the God that paid debts with oil, taxes with fish, and your sin with His own blood.