Nothing…except a little oil. "Nothing…except" – which means she has something. By failing to see what she does have, the widow sells herself short. What's worse, she sells God short. Granted, her straits are dire, her circumstances mean, her assets meager; but she does have something: a little oil. The Bible is brimming with stories of God's making much from little: Gideon's army is reduced to 300 men, and God uses them to defeat the Midianite hoards (Judges7); God uses little David and his five smooth stones to bring down the mighty Goliath (1 Sam. 17); Jesus uses a boy's lunch to feed 5,000 people (Matt. 14).
In the hands of our God, even a little can be a lot.