God Provides More than the Request

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” 2 And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4 Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” (II Kings 4)
God is establishing Elisha as the new prophetic voice for God's people.  In this chapter we are told a few incidents He used to do so.  What is also key to understand is how God often does things.  Just as Jesus did when He ministered on earth, Elisha here goes beyond the request. He provides enough to not only buy back her sons, but to continue to provide for them all, so they do not end up in the situation again.  God does that. We often only see the symptoms; He sees the root cause. His answers may seem odd at first. She asked for the price of redemption, and Elisha asked what she had to contribute.  She expected money and he gave her oil.  God always knows what He is doing. He provides what we need and beyond, if we allow Him to do things His way, not ours.