How God Provides In A Drought Series

How God Provides in a

Drought…

The question I want to start out with this morning is..."What do you need more of?" "What is it this morning that you find you have a shortage of? "Maybe you don’t have a shortage of water or food… but you DO have a shortage of patience, maybe you’re in a ’hope’ drought. You’ve lost all hope in the situation you find yourself today.OR… maybe you’re saying…"I need more strength, I’m worn out, exhausted....For others of you, you’re greatest shortage, is a shortage of time. Or perhaps, you’re greatest drought is in the area of finances…"Pastor, it just seems like there’s more month than there is money in our household." Well, whatever the greatest area of drought in your life is this morning… Whatever it is that you’re experiencing a shortage of…I want you to listen very closely... because through the drought that Elijah experienced, God wants to show us how He’s able to turn the little you have… into a lot!

The miracle that we’re going to study today is strikingly similar to the miracle Jesus performed not once, not twice… but 3 different times when he took a few loaves of bread and a few fish and multiplied them for over 5000 people.

Because this miracle is repeated so many times in the bible, I’m convinced that it’s not just something that God meant for us to read about and then put on a ’trophy shelf’ somewhere to be admired and dusted off occasionally.In fact, I believe this miracle is meant to be repeated over and over again, in the lives of needy believers... to meet the problems and shortages that God’s children are faced with.This miracle keeps popping up in scripture, to emphasize a point!!!!! And the point is this... God is able to meet your impossible need!

Now, notice... I said He could meet your NEED.... not your GREED!Think about it… if God can meet the needs of a person like Elijah, (who the bible says is ’a man just like us’)… Don’t you think He can meet any need that you and I have this morning? You better believe it!So get prepared to see God work in your life today as we learn the lessons necessary to see God provide for our own personal droughts.

When we last left Elijah, he was sitting by the brook of Cherith, ("the brook of breaking", as we said last wk.) watching the last trickles of water disappear.Obeying God’s orders, he had prayed for it not to rain and now the drought was affecting him personally. The lesson here is be careful what you pray for! I’m sure he’s thinking… "Okay… now what God? How are you going to get me out of this mess?"

If you’re facing a drought this morning, I want you to see 5 instructions the Lord gave to Elijah in order to provide for his need…(or 5 instructions to get out of your drought!)The 1st instruction is found in vs. 9 (READ)…God was telling Elijah, "If you’re going to have your needs met, you’re going to have to get up and go to Zeraphath".Now we don’t know exactly how long Elijah had been staying at the Cherith Brook, but it was somewhere around 2 years. Granted it wasn’t Monterey, but it home to him!His meals were catered to him daily by "Meals on Wings". And true, regurgitated raven food didn’t taste exactly the way ’Mom’ used to make it… but you got used to it!The point is…he was comfortable! And many times, THAT is the biggest obstacle to having our needs met by God. Our own comfort level. We’d rather deal with the hassles of old problems than the challenge of new solutions. True our present situation isn’t all it should be…but at least it’s familiar!Our marriage isn’t the best… but at least it’s familiar.My job isn’t supplying my families needs… but at least it’s secure. True, my lifes a mess… but it’s safer than changing!Listen! Security is the greatest enemy of success!

And so God tells Elijah, if you’re going to survive, you’re going to have to…

1. LEAVE Your Comfort

Zone…

Write that down, because He may be telling you the same thing this morning.I remember a story Zig Ziglar once told about his childhood. During the great depression, he was a small boy in Yazoo City, MI., and they lived next door to some ’rich folks’. He said, "We knew they were rich because not only did they have a cook, but they had something to cook! Not that we were poor or anything, we had plenty to eat at our house… whenever I would pass my plate for seconds at mealtime, my parents would always say, ’No, you’ve had plenty!"Anyway, one day the rich peoples cook brought over a plate of biscuits. Since they were no thicker than a silver dollar, little Zig asked, "Maude, what happened to those biscuits?"She rared back, laughed and said, "Well, those biscuits squatted to rise, but they just got cooked in the squat!"