When Life Runs Dry Series

WHEN LIFE RUNS DRY

I Kings 17

S: Sovereignty of God

C: Trust

Th: Life Can Be Hard

Pr: WE MUST TRUST AND OBEY.

TS: We will find in our study of I Kings 17 how Elijah was able to move forward in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Type: Inductive

I. SITUATION

II. DECLARATION

III. PROTECTION

IV. DEPRIVATION

V. PROVISION

VI. TRIBULATION

VII. RESURRECTION

PA: How is the change to be observed?

• Trust God in all circumstances

• Follow His instruction, even if it does not make sense

Version: ESV

RMBC 05 November 06 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Difficult

There’s a man trying to cross the street. As he steps off the curb a car comes screaming around the corner and heads straight for him. The man walks faster, trying to hurry across the street, but the car changes lanes and is still coming at him.

So the guy turns around to go back, but the car changes lanes again and is still coming at him. By now, the car is so close and the man so scared that he just freezes and stops in the middle of the road. The car gets real close, then swerves at the last possible moment and screeches to a halt right next him.

The driver rolls down the window. The driver is a squirrel. The squirrel says to the man says,

"See, it’s not as easy as it looks, is it?"

Well…

1. Life can be hard.

Many of us learned that in these last few weeks with our October Surprise storm – no electric, water-filled basements, property damage, and loss of food – these are just some of the problems many of us faced during these past weeks.

There have been a lot of difficulties.

And we have learned that life is not always easy.

Sometimes it is illness or disease…

Sometimes it is a family member that is in trouble…

Sometimes it is life just not working out in the way we had hoped.

So…

2. Sometimes we wonder where God is when it is difficult.

We wonder if He is really there.

Has He left us?

Has He abandoned us to just do the best we can?

You might be having a time like that right now.

God seems farther away to you instead of close.

He seems like the far-away God instead of the With-Us God.

Our studies for this week and the following two weeks are named “Life Can Be Hard.”

I believe God directed me to this study during the storm.

One of the disciplines I follow on a regular basis is to read Scripture before I go to sleep.

During the nights surrounding the time of the storm I was in I Kings reading about the life of Elijah, and God seemed to impress upon my heart that I needed to understand the faith of Elijah better.

Though I recognize that I am the one that needs this study, it is my hope that it will be of benefit to you as well.

So here we are, and…

3. We will find in our study of I Kings 17 how Elijah was able to move forward in the midst of difficult circumstances.

As we will discover next week, Elijah is known as the prophet of fire.

The background of Elijah is not really known as he comes from an obscure town.

He just shows up on the scene.

He was not the ordinary type of prophet.

He was a man of volcanic force.

He was a man who had granite strength.

Elijah was one of those men who periodically show up in history and have the ability to lift themselves above the common levels of humanity, yet in doing this they are made solitary and lonely by their very size.

OUR STUDY:

So, as we come to our study, first let’s examine the…

I. SITUATION

(29) In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. (30) And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. (31) And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. (32) He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. (33) And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. (34) In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.