Out of Oil

My An Arkie's Faith column from the September 6, 2023, issue of The Polk County Pulse.

I'm so thankful for my customers and the business I've been blessed with. Mena is a beautiful place to run a business. So many of my customers feel more like friends. I enjoy visiting with my customers and learning their stories.

I have been particularly blessed the past few weeks as customers have brought produce from their gardens. It is encouraging when customers tell me that they enjoy reading my articles. Several have made special trips to my shop to say they enjoyed and appreciated a specific article.

One customer who made a special trip to see me is Tom Cody. When I worked for him some time ago, I got to know him and learned about his fascinating life on the railroad. I was so interested in his stories, that I wrote about him in one of my articles. When he stopped by my shop to visit, he gave me a stack of hand-typed stories that he had written. 

As I read through Tom’s stories that evening, I was struck by how personal they were. They made me feel like I was riding the rails. When Tom gave me his stories, he permitted me to share them with my readers. One story resonated with me, as I have often experienced mechanical trouble. 

“It’s hot, real hot, and the bell starts ringing. There is a dead engine back there somewhere because we are losing speed. The train is heavy and without just that one engine we cannot pull the hill. Our amps are climbing in the lead engine, and we know we are in trouble. 

It isn’t his job as a brakeman to know how, but if he is worth his salt, he has learned how to start downed units. So out the door, walk the catwalk and cross engines sometimes in excess of twenty-five miles per hour, and search for the culprit.

Third engine back lights on, ‘hot engine,’ but it is still working. On back to the fourth, the engine is dead. The low turbo pressure light is on, the governor button is out, and the sight glass is half empty. I isolate, reset, and then try a restart.

Bingo, at least the batteries are okay, and the engine whines at idle. The blast of heat is nearly unbearable. I step back and watch the governor safety button. Damn, it popped out again, and the mechanical monster goes silent.

I monkey along and walk all five units, looking inside engine compartments for just one pint container of governor oil because that is all the engine needs. Engine straining at maximum rpm, turbos whine, heat and noise, which is worse, both exceed the bearable… I can not find oil.”

The Bible has several stories about running out of oil. We find one of those stories in Matthew 25. “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten young bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Now five of them were wise, and the other five were foolish. The foolish ones took their lamps but didn’t bring oil for them. But the wise ones took their lamps and also brought containers of oil.

When the groom was late in coming, they all became drowsy and went to sleep. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Look, the groom! Come out to meet him.’

Then all those bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. But the foolish bridesmaids said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps have gone out.’” Matthew 25:1-8 (CEB)

Running out of oil can be a disaster. But running low on oil can also be a problem. In 2 Kings chapter 4, we find the story of a widow running out of oil. The widow came to the prophet Elisha and said, “’My husband, is dead. You know he honored the Lord. But now the man he owes money to is coming to take my two boys as his slaves!’ Elisha answered, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?’ The woman said, ‘I don’t have anything there except a pot of oil.’ Then Elisha said, ‘Go and get empty jars from all your neighbors. Don’t ask for just a few.’” 2 Kings 4:1-3 (NCV)

Interestingly, Elisha didn’t tell the widow to ask her neighbors for food or money. Instead, she was to ask for containers. Imagine with me what her neighbors were thinking. “What is she going to do with all these containers?” I imagine that the widow was wondering the same thing herself. But she believed in God, and she trusted God’s prophet, Elisha. 

Once they gathered the containers, Elisha told the widow, “’Go into your house and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and set the full ones aside.’ So she left Elisha and shut the door behind her and her sons. As they brought the jars to her, she poured out the oil. When the jars were all full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another jar.’ But he said, ‘There are no more jars.’ Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told Elisha. And the prophet said to her, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay what you owe. You and your sons can live on what is left.’” 2 Kings 4:3-7 (NCV)

If we put what little we have in God’s hands, it’s not limited by our capabilities anymore; it is only limited by how much we think God can do. It is determined by how many containers we have rounded up. In the widow’s story, the oil stopped flowing when there were no more jars.

In Luke 18:27 (NKJV), Jesus says, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” The widow and her sons were in an impossible situation. Their cupboards were empty. But God had a way to take care of their impossible situation. The only thing that limited them was the number of jars that they had borrowed.

God gives us what we have and then tells us that if we use what He has given us, we will have what we need. He has given each one of us talents and gifts and strengths and abilities. The widow's story teaches us that we must make them available to God; even though they seem small and insignificant, He can do great things for us.

Gentle Reader, all things are possible when you place them in God’s hands. If you run out of oil, ask Him to handle your situation. God doesn’t need what we have to produce more for us, but He is looking for us to trust Him with what we do have. “The wise have a generous supply of fine food and oil in their homes, but fools are wasteful, consuming every last drop.” Proverbs 21:20 (VOICE)