From Cherith To Zarepath! Series

1Ki 17:2-11 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, (3) Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. (4) And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. (5) So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. (6) And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. (7) And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. (8) And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, (9) Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. (10) So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. (11) And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

There is so much to talk about that I will have to try limiting myself to one subject! Yeah right! So hold on to your wallets, purses and handbags…the collector has come to town!

I have been involved in the Elijah Chronicles for a long time now. So rather than an outline there may be a good cook-up, metemgee, or pepperpot with something good for you somewhere in there!! So let's plunge in!

Elijah went to the brook Cherith at Yahweh's command!

There he was fed with bread and flesh by ravens at Yahweh's command until the brook dried up at which time he was given new marching orders.

Press the pause button here! Wait! Why did he even have to move?

Had Yahweh's resource of bread and flesh been exhausted? NO! Php 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Could not Yahweh have commanded that the brook remain filled? YES!

So this divine providence by Yahweh could have continued therefore? YES! AS LONG AS HE WANTED IT TO!

But Yahweh had other plans...plans that included a "random" widow and her son living in Zarepath a little town in Sidon a country to the north of Israel. Its ruler is king Ethbaal who is, would you believe it, the father of Jezebel queen of Israel and wife of King Ahab!

Note: Elijah had no choice in who the widow should be. God in His sovereignty made the decision...Elijah simply obeyed Yahweh! Elijah's diet moved from heavenly bread and flesh to flour and oil. Seems like a step down isn't it? But God ordered it to preserve a widow and her son.

There are times when we have to step out of our comfort zone in order to minister effectively as God wishes.

1Ki 16:30-33 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. (31) And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. (32) And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. (33) And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

The very name Ethbaal means 'baal is with him' and he is reputedly the priest king whose daughter seems to have been an ardent and zealous acolyte of her father promoting baal worship in Israel. The irony is that Yahweh sent Elijah right into the heart of the evil queen’s homeland as though thumbing His nose at one and all of the lame gods of Sidon!

I believe that Elijah could have spent the entire three and a half years in solitary Cherith, supplied by heaven in a spectacular way.

But Yahweh wanted him to move on up! Our lives are not isolated but closely connected with the world around us. We are in this world but not of this world and as long as we are in this world we need to let our light shine for there is no other light that leads to eternal life and salvation. I fear that many of us will shed buckets of remorseful and regretful tears because of the time we wasted on trivialities which could have been profitably spent on knowing God and making Him known. Rather we became experts at all kinds of trivial stuff and great exponents, disseminating useless knowledge.