What Now? // Make it Make Sense
Read Time 10 mins, 20 seconds
Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.” Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil.” He said, “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers. Get as many as you can. Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers; set aside each one when you have filled it.” So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil. When the containers were full, she said to one of her sons, “Bring me another container.” But he answered her, “There are no more.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. She went and told the prophet. He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”
2 Kings 4:1-7 NET
It’s no secret that black Americans have experienced systemic setbacks that have led to economic hardships. Centuries of chattel slavery led to the entire economies of countries being supported by the uncompensated forced labor of African slaves. As people experienced the trauma of being ripped from their homes and families as their names and histories were erased, others grew richer and richer.
Slavery, sharecropping, convict leasing, and Jim Crow kept black Americans in a cycle of debt, re-enslavement, exploitation, and restricted access to education and jobs. Literacy tests that even modern law professors have a hard time passing were administered to anyone whose grandfather didn't vote. This led to a world where black people could technically vote but were barred from doing so. This lack of political voice led to more lopsided laws.
While home and land ownership have traditionally been some of the best ways for families to build wealth, broken promises of reparations, redlining, and housing discrimination further held black Americans back from financial growth. In 1865, we were promised land and the tools to work it, but President Andrew Johnson was a southern sympathizer and overturned the order to give land back to Confederate owners. In more recent history, banks would literally draw red lines around black neighborhoods to determine who they wouldn’t give housing loans to. And when blacks did get homes, the property value of equally sized houses in black neighborhoods was appraised at significantly less than white ones.
Housing discrimination then and now, job discrimination then and now, and the lack of land ownership have continued to have effects, as school systems are typically funded by the taxes of the neighborhoods around them. Low property taxes mean low school funding, lower teacher pay, and weaker infrastructure. It means fewer after-school activities and enrichment programs. These educational disparities directly lead to differences in earning potential, crime, and economic prosperity. We can’t deny the issues.
I don't even need to bring up the health and stress disparities that come with living in food deserts or areas with higher pollution, nor the impact of mass incarceration and the war on drugs. These issues have led to the median wealth of a black family in 2022 being $44,100, while the median wealth of a white family was more than six times greater at $284,310, according to the NCRC. It’s like we have been hit with something we had no choice in avoiding or not. Economists at the Institute for Policy Studies have actually said it would take black America 228 years to catch up to white America after the continual setbacks of slavery and racism. That's almost as long as the Declaration of Independence is old.
What Now?
While this condition can feel like a weight you never asked to carry, and it doesn’t make sense as to why we have been allowed to go through this, we must learn to play the best game with the cards we have been dealt if we are going to make a better tomorrow for ourselves and the people coming after us. We can't get soft now. We cannot give up and just allow this current to sweep us away. I can imagine this strain is what the woman in this story felt, but we can learn much from her response.
In a world where men controlled the finances, her husband had amassed great debt and then left her to deal with the consequences after his death. She is dealing with the grief of her husband, the pressure of looming debt, and the prospect of her children being taken from her. It seems like she is being hit from every side, but she doesn’t give up or throw in the towel.
She does three things we can learn from. She has the audacity to acknowledge the challenges, the desperation to reach out for help, and the faith to follow advice. We're going to organize these steps under Admit, Ask, and Advance.
Admit
First, the admits the problem. She doesn't ignore the challenges or mistakes. While she is grieving and burdened, she doesn't seek to erase the history because it makes her uncomfortable. She faces it and doesn't let her feelings get in the way of her finances. We must do the same if we are going to move forward. Stop trying to ignore and make excuses for what is wrong. Admit it.
Ask
I love that this woman is desperate enough to ask. So many of us suffer in silence, but the bible says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We have to be desperate enough to reach out and honest enough not to sugarcoat what happens. We have to consult God and ask what He says about our issues. This woman doesn't try to avoid embarrassment; she reaches out with the truth because she knows God can’t heal what she doesn't reveal.
Advance
She doesn't just tell the prophet what is wrong; she has the faith to follow his advice moving forward. It's easy to get stuck at this step. We would rather follow our feelings because God’s path out of the hole may be uncomfortable. Success takes strain, and accomplishment takes courage. God wants you to have an abundant life. That is Jesus’s mission. But we have to have the faith to follow what God says concerning the path to prosperity.
What do you have?
I want to lay out some practical steps that the Bible outlines for abundance, specifically in the area of finances. The prophet asks the woman what she has, and while she doesn't think she has enough, all through the Bible, we learn that all you have is typically all God needs.
This leads the women to take an assessment. She is led to take inventory. If you are trying to gain financial peace, the answer isn't simply making more; it's valuing and stewarding what you have. This is why the first step may seem simple, but it's optimal. You need to make a budget.
A budget is simply a plan, and without a plan, the people perish. A budget is putting a name on your money before it decides for itself. In the largest survey of millionaires ever conducted, it was found that the average millionaire still uses a grocery list. While they have the money to seemingly get what they want, they follow the biblical principle that states that without a plan, people perish. You need to, too. How much do you actually make? How much debt do you actually have? How much do you typically spend? Awareness is the first step in advancement.
Many of us haven't taken the time to take an inventory of what we have. Many of us don’t know the difference between Net and Gross income. We don’t really know how much we can expect to make, and we don’t know how much we consistently spend. It’s been said that many Americans underestimate how many subscriptions they actually have.
I implore you to look at bank statements from the last three months. Don’t guess what you spend and make. Actually look. That once-a-week Taco Bell run may be adding up a lot more than you realize.
Get out of debt.
Your biggest wealth-building tool is your income, but many of us are drowning because our paycheck is eaten up by debt payments. The average monthly amount put towards debt payment in America is $1,597. The average car note is $745.
While many of us are so stressed, pressed, and broke that we can't retire or support an emergency in our lives, the money that we’d need to have a little more peace is tied up in a lack of patience and discipline. That DoorDash you got on Klarna may be interest-free, but it's eating up your monthly income. That car may be nice, but at the rate you're going, you're going to pay $10k more than it's worth before you actually own it.
If someone were to put the average debt payment into the S&P 500 at the average return rate, they'd have $316,000 in 10 years, $1,046,000 in 20 years, and $2,900,000 in 30 years. That kitchen remodel you're still paying off is stopping you from retiring, and this is how bad it is. In our story, this woman's debt is threatening her kids. Nowadays, we have something called reverse inheritances, where instead of giving their kids money, parents are moving in with their kids and expecting to be brought on as a financial burden because they didn't plan their own retirement. The Bible says that a righteous man has the discipline and foresight to set an inheritance for his children's children, not leech off of them.
How?
I would encourage you to check out Dave Ramsey, his radio show, and the Financial Peace University program to learn the baby steps my wife and I have used to pay off over $60k and counting of student loan and car debt. I know many other couples and individuals who are able to live and give like no one else because they followed these steps. (More Here)
The first baby step is $1,000 in savings as an emergency fund. This is not all you will have in savings forever; it's just a fund set aside so that real emergencies or issues don’t derail you during this process. After you set aside $1,000, you embark on the debt snowball.
In the debt snowball, you are asked to list out all debts from smallest to largest, without considering the interest rate. You then pay minimum payments on all of them, but attack the smallest debt with everything else you can put on it. Remember the budget I talked about? See if you can cut eating out. Ask yourself if you really need Disney+, Hulu, Netflix Premium, and Amazon Prime. Get odd jobs and see how much more income you can make, and how little you can spend. Cook instead of eating out. Delete FanDuel. Make it a challenge and put everything on the smallest loan.
As you can imagine, it will go relatively quickly. Sometimes you may have enough lying around outside of your $1,000 emergency fund that you can pay off one or a few in one swoop. When you pay off the first debt, take what you were paying on it and apply it to the next lowest debt. Then, after you pay that off, take everything you were putting on that one and apply it to the next one. Do you see how the amount you're paying will continue to grow simply by stewarding the income you already have coming in? This builds momentum and allows you to actually see progress as debt is eaten away.
This woman does a similar process. She takes what she has, and God stretches it to apply to each debt one by one. One jar at a time, she digs herself out of a hole and brings peace to her family. You can do the same thing if you’re tired of living in fear and stress.
Shut the door
I love that the prophet tells her to shut the door during this process. Broke people talk the most and will complain and critique you for even trying to do better. They'll tell you that your loans will be forgiven without doing any research to know who does and who doesn’t qualify for it. They'll tell you that debt will always be there because they’ve never imagined or seen someone with freedom. They’ll act like the Bible was joking when it said the borrower is a slave to the lender and that you are called to be free. So shut the door.
You won’t be able to go on every trip, and that’s ok. You won’t be able to have every amenity, and that’s ok. You may not eat out as much or have as many excuses, but it's worth it. A lot of my demographic is young, and while this is written for everyone, I want you to realize how free you could be if you have discipline now. You have time. Allow compounding interest to do its thing. The Roth IRA contribution limit for people under 50 is $7,000 a year. You could retire as a multimillionaire if you live according to the Proverbs now. Free up space to do what you love by cutting what really doesn’t matter. Live like no one else now so that you can live like no one else later. Poor is normal, and you don’t want that life.
I'm not a financial consultant. So if you have any more questions on what this may look like for you, I'm always down to tell you what I know, but I'd advise you to reach out to a trusted professional who is aligned with your biblical goals for money. The prophet asked the woman what she wanted. I'm asking you the same thing. What do you want? Do you want freedom? Do you want to be able to pay off people's school bills or fund ministry at a high level? Do you want to open housing programs or feed people when SNAP benefits are paused? Do you want to be an answer and not just an intercessor? Do you want to release your burdens and start being a blessing? God wants to use you. But you need to admit your need, accept His help, and then advance in your adventure.
Send this to as many friends as possible and commit to attaining financial freedom. Finances about facts, not feelings. It’s about mindset more than mere money. Let’s lock in and shut the door together.
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