1 Kings 17:1-9 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
2 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.
I want to call your Attention first of all to verse 7 today.....
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up,......
It doesn’t matter WHO you are.....or What you do......
We all have times when THE BROOK DRIES UP in our lives....We all go through DRY SEASONS....
Times when it seems like NOTHING is WORKING for us like it’s supposed to.......
You may have been, like Elijah, Doing your best to follow the Command of God.....
You may Be RIGHT where God told you to be.....
or you may have just been Doing the Best you could do on your own.....
but EVERYONE faces Disappointments and Struggles in life.....
I know that most of you have heard me say over and over lately..... but.....I’m going to say it again....
What happens TO you is not Nearly as Important as WHAT YOU DO about what happens to you.
It’s been said that "Even though Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional."
I want you to know that.....Even though bad things happen.......God has not left you alone
In the Darkest Moment of your life.....
If you will Listen......You will hear the Voice of God.....
He’ll be Calling you......or Directing You......
Maybe You’ll Remember something the Bible Says.....
Something from Sunday School Years ago maybe.....
Or Maybe you’ll have an Urging to Call someone who Always gives you the Word of God about your situation.......
But the Point is.... God hasn’t Left You ALONE.....
David said "Where shall I go from your Spirit?or where shall I flee from your presence?"Psalms 139:7-12
You may FEEL like you’re without God and without hope.....
but that’s just because We’ve just not been properly Taught about the Mercy of the Lord....
2 Peter 3:9 says that God is "....not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
God didn’t Design Failure....but He did Design a Plan for Every Time we do Fail.....
Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3:21-23
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning:.......
We need to Understand like Jeremiah.....
God’s Mercy is the only reason We’re still here.....
Satan would have snuffed you out long ago if it were not for God’s Mercy.....
But thank God ....that....No Matter How Far Down in life we seem to get......
We can say like Micah 7:7 says.....I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
If we will Listen....Even when things seem the darkest....when there’s no hope in sight.....
God will speak to us....and the Entrance of His Word will Light our way.....
And so, Just Like Elijah did......
When the Brook Dries up......We need to Listen for the Word of the Lord.......
That’s the Very Next verse after the brook dried up....
1 Kings 17:8-9 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.
I want you to See....GOD HAS A PLAN to take care of you.......
With Every Temptation, Test and Trial.....God Makes a Way for you to Overcome......
Being a Christian doesn’t mean that Bad Things Don’t happen in your life.....
but it does mean that.........
Whatever the enemy Purposes in your life for Evil....God can turn it around for good.....
David said it like this in Psalms 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies......
That’s exactly what God did for Elijah.....God told Elijah to Go to Zarephath....
Zarephath was a city in Phoenicia and That’s where Jezebel was from.....
God sent Elijah to his enemies Hometown to Feed and Provide for him....
God Really did Prepare a table for Elijah in the Presence of his enemies......
I Know it may seem impossible to you......
how God could turn your situation around and Bring something Good out of the mess you’re in.....
But Jesus said "With God, ALL things are Possible"
Nothing is too hard for Him
What we have to understand is that WE HAVE A PART TO PLAY IN OUR SUCCESS or FAILURE.....
We are going to Reap what We have Sown .....Not what God has sown for us.....
Elijah had to Go Where God Told Him to Go to get the Provision God wanted him to have.....
You say "Well that’s fine for him, He was the Prophet of God....I’m just little ol’ me...."
Well, let’s talk about the other Character in this story.....
She wasn’t a Prophet.....she wasn’t even and Israelite.....
She was a Gentile widow woman.....One of the Neediest people in the land.....
but that didn’t hinder God one bit from Working FOR her and THROUGH her......
See, we’ve sold ourselves short in Worrying about what We’re Not....
when the Important thing is WHAT GOD IS.....not what we’re not......
This woman had the most Powerful thing for her provision that anyone could have.....
She had according to verse 9 a COMMANDMENT from God......
Deut 6:24 tells us that the commandment of the Lord is "...For our GOOD ALWAYS, that He might preserve us alive...."
Deut 8:1 says that in observing the commandment of the Lord "ye....live, and multiply and....possess the land...."
That widow saw that Scripture fulfilled, didn’t she?
By Obeying the Commandment of the Lord.....
She Lived through the famine.......she saw her Meal and Oil Multiplied......
You know......She really wasn’t any different than most of us though.....
She could scarcely believe it could be true.....
She was already making her plans to die.....
1 Kings 17:10 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.
12 And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
Often because we tend to Only look at our situations through Natural Reasonings.....
we can only see defeat and failure.....
Our minds tell us We’re Losing but He says that IN Christ we are More than Conquerors.....
Many times what Looks like the Road to Failure is Actually the Road to Success......
For Joseph...his trip to the Prison of Egypt LOOKED like Failure......
For Daniel.....It looked like the Lions Den was the End .....it looked like Failure for him......
The Cross at Calvary LOOKED like a Failure at first....but it turned out to be the biggest Success in History.....
We need to learn to Not be so quick to Judge based on WHAT WE SEE....
Paul said "We walk by faith and not by sight" because the things that we can see are only Temporary.....
That Widows Sight.....her natural thinking was challenged here when in Verse 13 Elijah said to her........
"......Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
Now she had a Decision to make......
This is where Victory is Won or Lost......
It’s in what YOU DO or Don’t do.....
We know this widow’s story because verse 15 says "....she went and did according to the saying of Elijah...."
We need to Understand.....
Nothing in our lives is going to Change for the Better Until we do the right thing......
In Eph 6:13 Paul said "....having done all to stand...Stand.....
Often times We’ve Done Nothing about our situation Much-less DONE ALL to stand.....
Until you do what you can with what you have.....
you can’t expect God to give you the Ability or Resources to do what you can’t do on your own.....
You say "but I only have SO Little...."
The Bible teaches that "Being Faithful in little PRECEDES Being TRUSTED with MUCH"
Often we live our lives like the "One Talent" guy from Matthew 25
We’re so afraid of Losing that we Miss All the Opportunities to Increase and Grow......
I want you to Realize today that......
God is FOR US and not against us.....
He wants to Give TO US .....not take away from us.....
God is not LIMITING your Success......He’s not Limiting your victories.....
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him........
God is Looking for someone to Bless and Provide for.....
That guy didn’t do anything with that talent because he didn’t see any benefit for himself in that situation....
We need to understand that Doing what God says always Pays Off......
....doing right will always Benefit us......
You can’t BE an OVER COMER unless you OVERCOME SOMETHING
It’s how you deal with the Obstacles in your life that set your course.......
The Brook May have dried up on you......
You may feel like your life is all but over......
It may look like it’s to late to turn your life around.....
.....it may look like all that’s left to do is lay down and die....
But.....If you’re Breathing.....You still have an Opportunity to BECOME AN OVER COMER......
Adversity Doesn’t Have to Ruin You......It doesn’t have to be the End....
It may mean you have to Go Somewhere you’ve never been.....
....or we have to Do Some Thing we’ve never done.........
But our Destiny is in our Own Hands......
It’s in the Choices we make or don’t make.....
I know the way seems hard to See at times.....
But keep on "Trusting in the Lord with all your heart....Lean Not to your Own Understanding....
In all your ways Acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths"
